On Tuesday afternoon, 25 August, Hans van Beers (Eindhoven, 1941) passed away. He was an important figure in our cultural life, his curriculum is seemingly endless. Among other things, he was alderman of culture in Den Bosch, co-founder of Pinkpop, chairman of the Mondriaan Fund, interim director of the Stedelijk Museum, director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the VPRO and the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music, board member of the NOS and interim director of the Muziek Centrum Nederland, which ceased to exist in 2013.
Van Beers grew up in a Catholic milieu in Brabant and, after training at the teacher training school, worked as a teacher for several years. But he soon ended up in the cultural sector, not only as a director, but also actively. For instance, he was indirectly involved in the New Electric Chamber Music Ensemble, founded in 1966 by Remko Scha and Toon Prüst, which organised anarchist happenings and did not hesitate to attack cymbals with circular saws and drive motorbikes across a stage.
Calm charm
But his strength was mainly on the administrative front. With his calm charm, he quickly emerged as a unifying element in the many organisations he worked for. No wonder he was increasingly hired as interim manager by companies where conflicts were piling up until they hardly seemed manageable any more. In many cases, he succeeded in restarting the stalled relationships: he called a spade a spade, did not have a double agenda and always showed respect for his interlocutor.
In 2003, when he swapped his management position at NOS for an interim job at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, where Rudi Fuchs had left due to huge row with the municipality, he told the Volkskrant: 'I find it very interesting to work for organisations where things are equally bad.' He did not want to be called a trouble-shooter, but he was looking forward to helping the Stedelijk Museum 'out of its troubles'. He spoke the prophetic words: 'Renovation, new building, whatever it will be: there will be a magic formula that will soon make the Stedelijk look its full glory again.'
Hans van Beers was a firm believer in poldering, including in the arts sector. He warned against following the "grammar of the art cosmos", which sings the praises of the inspired artist, and condemns the skimpy accountant. 'There is always a tension between people of imagination and people of money. But you shouldn't cultivate that contradiction.'
- Too bad Van Beers is no longer among us, to smooth the polarised relations between culture and politics with his relativising input.
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