Utrecht - Last Saturday 30 March, cultural free port De Nijverheid received the Harm Lambers Bouwsteen for Special Art in Utrecht. This honourable challenge trophy was presented by Utrecht dance company De Dansers, which received this biennial award for the first time in 2022.
Laudatory words from the jury
Josephine van Rheenen of The Dancers was laudatory in the jury's report on De Nijverheid:
"This is where art grows. The Industry makes raw beauty flourish and live on one of the last, rare frayed edges of our city. You immediately feel at home here and inspired to be your most creative self, whether you have a studio, come to perform, visit an exhibition or just come for a beer. A maker city like Utrecht cannot do without places like De Nijverheid."
The Industry is honoured
Jonathan Straatman and Daan Bramer, initiators of De Nijverheid, accepted the leaden Bouwsteen: "We are enormously honoured - as a raw makerspace for emerging artists in the visual and performing arts - to receive the Bouwsteen. Especially as it is an award that welcomes connection and innovation in the maker field. We are proud to receive this award from such an inspired and cross-disciplinary company as De Dansers and are going to do our best to follow in their footsteps, to do the award justice."
An award for connecting art and the city
At De Bouwsteen, as a symbol of building the connection between art and the city, De Nijverheid will host an evening which it will programme as it sees fit to further inspire Utrecht residents and fellow artists. The municipality of Utrecht will contribute financially to the realisation of the special programme that De Nijverheid will present in spring 2025. The award is named after former director of Theatre Kikker, Harm Lambers, who passed away at the end of November 2021. It is an initiative of theatre-makers Paul Feld and Erik Snel in cooperation with Theater Kikker and especially intended for Utrecht artists and collectives, who seek a connection between art and the city.
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