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Call. Let culture workers take one-and-a-half metres of Space for the Imagination

Whether the 'cry for culture' ten years ago was the best response to the cuts announced then, I don't know, but just like then, I feel the urge to do something now. Following a spontaneous statement of mine on Facebook, a still modest group of people emerged this weekend to get involved in an idea I suggested in the process.

It was prompted to me, among other things, by the beautiful images of the demonstration (which, incidentally, had a very different cause) in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv a week or two back, which looked beautiful thanks to the observance of the prescribed 1.5 metres. This coupled with a nice post by Pepijn Zwaanswijk that I saw passing by, which aptly described how even the recording of the May 4 ceremonies, much appreciated by many, especially Grunberg's speech followed by music, had been so impressive thanks to the cultural sector. "Words, music, beautifully cut images, everything can be placed under the one heading: Culture".

Neurons of society

What if, I thought, just from my workplace, National Opera & Ballet, the staff, soon to be a few 100, stand at the recommended distance around the building. Then soon you won't fit into the square on the Amstel. What if the surplus spreads out and joins students and staff at the Film Academy and the AHK? Supporting culture is not just about sustaining the big subsidy recipients, but also nurturing the accretion. Students cross over to the Nes, meet Frascati and the Brakke Grond, NO & B moves up towards Carré. At the same time, the Concertgebouw Orchestra is on Museumplein, with all the museum staff, because that too is the sector, moving on from that square to Leidseplein, de Balie, ITA, de la Mar and de Krakeling. All those nuclei of culture, preferably throughout the Netherlands, connected by the neurons of cooperation and exchange.

Finally, before I knew it, I could see it all for myself: all those people in all that space, symbolising at the same time the imminent demolition as well as the space for new imagination that the current times call for. And working from questions, seeing unexpected perspectives, is precisely what creatives are made of! A drone was used to capture the necessary images, which a good editor - also cultural - would transform into a video for the social media that evening.

Maybe start the day with a pamphlet in the newspapers? In the afternoon the event and then in the evening, say during M, the colour gradually disappears from the screen, the lights slowly go into a fade-out, there is no musical interlude, or outro, everything belonging to the cultural sector falls silent for a while...

Connected in imagination, I thought. From the space now given to us by need looking for new possibilities.

Miriam Midderham

Mirjam Midderham graduated from the Actor's Training Programme in Maastricht, works at Nationale Opera & Ballet, as well as freelancing as a dramaturge. She gives introductions to dance performances in particular and is involved in the Safe Side Festival as a board member of the Zichtlijn Foundation.View Author posts

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