On Thursday and Friday 19 and 20 June, the Council for Culture paid a working visit to the cultural sector in the province of Friesland. Various cultural initiatives, performances and institutions in the province were visited. The council entered into discussions with makers, institutions and administrators about what is going well and where things could be improved. The visit is one in a series in which the council puts its feelers out for what is going on in the field.
In a recent letter to outgoing minister Bruins (OCW) the council drew attention to the importance of better coordination between the cultural policies of the state, provinces and municipalities. "If you know from each other what you want and what is needed, you can better align policies and strengthen each other," said council president Kristel Baele. "With this working visit, we underline the importance of this once more."
Alderman Hein Kuiken (Culture) said of the visit to his city of Leeuwarden: "The Council for Culture is the most important advisory body in the field of culture. In the run-up to the 2018 Capital of Culture year and the years after, Leeuwarden has continued to develop into a city with a strong cultural profile with the extra investments in culture. The people of Leeuwarden are once again proud of their city, proud of everything that happens here. That radiates to the entire municipality and we want to show that."
Brief programme review
The working visit kicked off on Thursday at arts initiative REST in Mirns. It then went to Drachten. There, the council met at cultural breeding ground The Lock Factory. It also visited Drachten Museum, Theatre De Lawei and Drachten Library. At the end of the afternoon, Art House followed SYB in Beetsterzwaag. The day ended with the performance The Revolution of the Rinsemas, a co-production of Orkater and De Lawei.
Friday was Leeuwarden's turn. Here they visited the multilingual theatre company Tryater, Stage Explore, Arcadia's Bouwurk, some exhibitions in Fries Museum and art initiative VHDG. Experiences and ideas were also exchanged during roundtable discussions with various Frisian cultural institutions. At the beginning of the day, there was a discussion with Leeuwarden's culture alderman Hein Kuiken and the Frisian deputy for culture Sijbe Knol.
Sijbe Knol states in Frisian: "De Raad voor Cultuur hat ferline jier glêshelder advearre dat der in earliker sprieding fan kultuerjilden oer Nederlân komme - in advys dat wy folslein stypje. It is nice that the council now even comes to Fryslân for a working visit. That lit sjen that Fryslân, and the region, der ta docht." (Dutch translation: "Last year, the Council for Culture advised in crystal clear terms that there should be a fairer distribution of cultural funds across the Netherlands - an advice we fully endorse. It's great that the council itself is now coming to Friesland for a working visit. That shows that Friesland and the region matter.")
Kristel Baele looks back: "We thank all parties involved for an inspiring and fruitful working visit, from which we came back fully charged." The working visit was co-organised by the Province of Friesland, the Municipality of Leeuwarden and Arcadia Fryslân. The Council for Culture is the statutory independent advisory body to government and parliament on culture, heritage, the creative sector and media.
