Audience, you have an asset!

• Thanks to the informal fanfare, this music storyteller sees a mega opportunity.

Trio

The big three. That's what I want to talk about. By which, for once, I do not mean the Flemish Damiaan Denys, Paul Verhaeghe and Dirk de Wachter. Writers Harry, Gerard and Willem F. I also leave out. Ask the listeners of this Music Storyteller and they'll surely know how to help you: music-makers-audience;* that's what I want to talk about.

Where the focus for now is on the third pillar: audience. The audience as an indispensable co-player. Audiences in front of you, that's what most creators want. Need. Love it. I, at least, do.

Samsam

During concerts (until 2010) and during presentations (present), I am lifted, nudged and sometimes prodded by listeners. My glowing ears give them at least gleaming eyes. And vice versa. Certainly applies to other creators too. The presence of curious listeners and their listening intentions contribute enormously to the elaboration of the performance. For audience and makers alike. There is busy back-and-forth. Exchange of energy.

Contact

Before you know it, boomerangs of sound, atmosphere and (above all) invisible but strongly palpable energy emerge. In such a case, it becomes a top-notch performance where the makers go to the limit. Audiences shudder, scream or, on the contrary, fall completely silent. With a force that has intangible, not necessarily reenactable, multi-sensory impact. Collectively palpable. The unique selling point from live performances. Contact through music.

Live

Live projects with live public so. Contact. Which is necessary for both sides. Which is sorely missed by all, because, of course, almost everything at this Corona moment takes place online. Virtual live attempts can hit and sometimes splash off the screen quite a bit, it will have to in the coming time. Because live stage projects are going to look very different in the near future. Áf they are still around.

More expertise please

That they are still there is already a miracle after some 15 years of austerity in a world where 'just no feeling have' with arts and culture seems to be a prerequisite for people in decisive positions in politics and in organisations.

Ó Whether the sector will stay afloat is very much the question given the government's current 'help'. A government with an incomprehensible lack of vision about and insight into this sector. A sector that, by the way, has a huge impact on other sectors. With effects beyond the sector itself. Something that does not seem to be noticed in word and deed. The actual figures seem to be strangely ignored in this.

Makers

Makers keep making music. Even now. Set up online actions while making themselves heard through advocacy organisations. Check I work for culture and #wijmakencultuur, for example. Less nice (and undermining the market) in this regard is then, of course, the free offerings of many. Well.

Organisations

Organisations are also developing their efforts to give makers a stage now. To help them get work. To feed audiences. There are organisations where makers are given opportunities to perform for pay just now. The Erasmus University, see video below, and the Music Instruments Fund surfaced after my call through my network. By Rietveldtheater Delft I was approached myself, which will be continued (but not for now).

Less successful projects, as far as I am concerned, are those where creators are given an online stage with a donation button by well-meaning larger theatres (with the 'exposure argument' sigh) in exchange for their performance with (required!) new work. I was actively approached for it. My first reflex: nice! After all, being approached means attention to your work. Attention to you. Because that's how personal it is, of course. In the end, it became a Non-Nein-No. I occasionally see yields of less than two tennies come up with 50 or so listeners in these kinds of projects. Ai.

Up close, I heard about arrangements made by a municipality in cancelled projects. Whereby promised subsidies go to organisations, but organisations are not obliged to channel those subsidies to the agreed target: the self-employed person who did make the new performance already. Wonder how that ends up. Au.

Ahum

Audiences, meanwhile, continue to enjoy arts and culture. Plenty of online discovery to experience these days. There's a but to that. And now I'm getting personal. And perhaps somewhat 'unsociable' to use the words of anthropologist Aminata Cairo to speak.
If nothing basic is going to change in future policy and appreciation of the arts, little will be left. Makers and organisations are making themselves heard. Where is your support? No doubt you buy tickets and CDs. Donate. But you probably know music lovers who choose their extra beer while gratefully continuing to consume free online music. Or the just-before-the-end-of-live-stream-away zapper to avoid the donation pitch? At large, quite a few organisations also participate in this in some way.

Insight

Fortunately, more and more members of the public know about it. Thanks to hard work behind the scenes by the likes of. Platform for Freelance Musicians there are concerned listeners. Rightly so, because worrying it is. The future of arts and culture is hanging by a thread. A sector that employs 350,000 people. A sector that is hugely valued (fig), yet faltering. Creators have anxious fans, friends, family, donors. I say from experience. Some express that publicly. But it needs to be bigger. Louder. More conspicuous. Don't want it to fall silent. Make yourself heard. Indeed, it is being asked for!

The informal fanfare

Let's hear from you. It will help if I am to believe the words of a well-known music maker with connections in the Binnenhof. I recently read his words through public channels: '(...) it often comes to my attention that I am advised that as culture makers we should not sit too quietly in a corner, but beat the drum more about the importance of art and culture for the Netherlands, if only for the economic value of the cultural sector.' I took a few morefactcheck. It is true. These are words spoken by employees of various ministries.

Klaboom

Quite a few things are said here via the informal tam-tam. 'Staying quiet in a corner'. No, makers don't drive a tractor. Don't barricade roads. So is shouting rewarded? It seems so. Insane. Typical of today's norms and values. Apparently there is too little movement visible-hearing-and-feeling in the Binnenhof (Inner Court) and the actions and values of art and culture still do not seep through to higher regions.

Which of course immediately makes me wonder what is actually being done at the Binnenhof. Surely these figures have long been known? What is being listened to, watched and compared? Are people listening at all? How are ears being used? As a professional listener, by the way, I can help with the latter.

Food for thought

In addition, creatives, journalists, economists, scientists and fine thinkers have long been expressing themselves about that palpable and immeasurable power of art and culture. With sometimes explicitly named its beneficial, economic, social, healthy measurable side effects for other sectors. Names? Joke Hermsen, Thijs Thrush, Christiaan Weijts, Paul Verhaeghe, Erik Scherder are some of them. Barbara Baarsma struck me recently.

I fear that this batch of political leaders is not only afflicted with short-term vision (thanks Barbara for your inspiring words about that), but also with a short-term memory. Not to mention the lack of creating togetherness, solidarity and taking numbers seriously.

Together

Anyway. Audience as indispensable third pillar. So making your voice heard is necessary. Is informally encouraged. Arts and culture creators include everyone behind the scenes with its 350,000s. Arts and culture lovers are many more. I estimate by about ... fat 17 million. Netflix viewers count too;). As do museum & cinema goers. And readers and co. There must be a platform that can unite fans. The Union of KC fans. The gang of KC practitioners. The Club of KC members. The mob of KC lovers.

Put some creatives on it for content and corporate identity. Get an overarching stage body to hook into this. This is a win-win-win situation. Everyone now has-just as with live perfomances- benefit from each other's energy: enthusiasts, organisations and makers. Another trinity. Allowing the music to keep ringing.

The life impact of everything you do in the arts and culture field apparently needs to be spelt out in large numbers in chocolate letters. Get active! Then in the meantime, creators and organisations simply lobby. Enne... they too will then do so in addition to their work.

Or get read from you.
Where is the hashtag #ikhouvanKC. Or #ikbenKCfan #morecontactbyKC, #ook me to care aboutKC, #ikwanttobestaytouchedbyKC, #ikmovebyKC, #withoutKCI won't get out of my bed, #neveradullmomentwithKC, #iklobbyformyKChobby.

Active

Sing, play, dance, write, rap, poetry and compose about it. Let politicians also notice the short- and long-term effects art and culture have on your life. In what ways it colours your life. It lifts your work. It enhances your well-being. Makes sense. Tap into your network. Preach outside your own parish. If necessary, do it only for your own sake. Become a major investor in arts & culture. Lobby for your hobby and thus keep creators working. Can we all keep playing together wonderfully on- and offline.

Oh yes, my words read for free. Appreciate can be done via ... ahem ... donation (it took me a day) or by sharing the article, for which thanks!

Together, fair, solidarity.

A suivre!

*feel free to replace music with other forms of performing arts and read this write-up with a broad view of everything that falls under arts and culture.