Tjitske Reidinga launched as star of new summer programming Amsterdam Delamartheater
The general public knows her as the rock-hard lawyer Claire from Gooise Vrouwen. Tone lovers have known her longer as that actress with the striking voice. A diplomat's daughter, born in Africa, later raised in Bussum. Tjitske Reidinga now dares to come forward:
'No idea what the consequences of my policies are'
"It is currently not possible to reliably predict the development of these characteristics of the cultural sector, let alone the impact of budget cuts on them. Movements in the things mentioned in the question depend on many factors. First, there is no
Wednesdays winner of Dutch competition Go Short
Last night the awards for best short films were presented at festival Go Short in Nijmegen. Winner of the Dutch competition is Woensdagen by Aaron Rookus, a small feature film that approaches the heavily charged subject of sexual abuse in the most subtle way. What begins as an emotionally stunningly well-struck impression of eight-year-old Kris' weekly outing...
CineCrowd shows at short film festival Go Short that crowdfunding works
In the short Dutch film Ceci n'est pas un rêve, which premiered at the festival Go Short (Nijmegen, 14-18 March), the cityscape of Paris slowly transforms into a dreamscape. You could call it a surrealist documentary, in which filmmaker Amos Mulder has incorporated influences from early German film pioneer Walter Ruttmann as well as modern computer animation. With further...
Theodor Holman seeks new frontiers
At the request of Amsterdam debate centre De Balie, Parool and Groene Amsterdammer columnist Theodor Holman wrote a play about a conversation between Anders Breivik and Geert Wilders. In an interview with Joost Niemöller of the opinion blog 'De Dagelijkse Standaard', the presenter and writer explained that he admires Breivik's analysis of the situation in Europe, which he also believes...
Boiling Frog is a beautiful stage story
Peter de Graef is not only a wonderful actor, he can also tell compelling stories. He also brings that talent with him as a writer. So in Boiling Frog, the show now on tour in the Netherlands, there are six Peter de Graefs on stage, and that is no punishment. Especially not because those six Peter de Graefs also...
'Only' 800 redundancies, but five thousand jobs will disappear.
For the unions, it is not all that bad: because of the mega-cuts to the arts, they have to 800 people laid off will be. That is almost nothing compared to, say, the bankrupt Nedcar, where redundancies at a single location may be double or more.
Eastern orchestras settle 40% rebate on musicians' salaries and union is sidelined
How two orchestras sold an international revenue model as regional
To bring in an extra five tonnes, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Gelderland Orchestra are pulling together. And with success: the provincial governments of Overijssel and Gelderland are absorbing the state's subsidy cut. However, it now turns out that the plans used to rake in that bailout are dubious. Politicians have hardly looked into it. Questions about the business plan came mainly from the PVV in Overijssel, but in Gelderland that same party enthusiastically agreed to the injection of millions after a - remarkably damning - counter-expertise.
Orchestras in eastern Netherlands go slating
Nearly thirteen million The Gelderland Orchestra (HGO) asked for the province of Gelderland. It got three-and-a-half. Just enough to absorb the reduction in the state subsidy for the next two years and to work towards a new organisational structure and a new revenue model, as described in a very ambitious business plan, which...... wait for it. We have already written about this, haven't we?
Subsidy was not invented by the Nazis, they did embrace it
Apartheid activist Martin Bosma started talking about it during one of his many hilarious appearances in the second chamber, but, as is often the case, was wrong. He said art subsidies were an invention of the Nazis and therefore pernicious. We knew better, because researcher Benien van Berkel is thorough and deals with facts. From her doctoral research...
Increase in 'wish headlines' in arts news around grant applications
The last opportunities for grant applications for 2013 and beyond closed today. Numerous mergers have been announced, new collaborations, high-profile relocations (Amsterdam in particular is emptying out). Many arts media now also carry news about those plans. News that is often presented as fact, while in almost all cases these are wishes. Applications are even fewer than ever...
Zijlstra investigates 'taking root' foreign art students
Many students studying at Dutch art schools are not from the Netherlands. At the request of PVV, supported by the government parties VVD and CDA, State Secretary for Culture Zijlstra is now investigating whether enough of these students also go to work in the Netherlands after their studies. Halbe Zijlstra made this commitment during a general consultation on the sector plan for professional arts education,...
"GaBritish government report breaks ground for arts education
A national arts education plan, guaranteed permanent extra money for arts education and a cultural passport for all children, which also records their cultural experience: a few recommendations from the Henley study, commissioned by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport. While Dutch MPs are still struggling with the reorganisation of arts education, Britain is giving...
Cultural merger fever could have serious consequences
In Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Theaterfestival, Toneelgroep Amsterdam and a few more clubs will 'work closely together'. In The Hague, this applies to Het Nationale Toneel and youth theatre house Stella Den Haag, while in Rotterdam
Theft of art on streets rises 20%
Copper is expensive, and bronze, the material from which many statues on the street are made, is largely copper. And if it's on the street, you take it with you. Even if it is bolted down. Rodin's Thinker in Laren was sawn down and partially melted down, and the same happened to Simon Carmiggelt and his wife. At Boris van der Ham's request,...
Rutteleaks
It started with Halbe Zijlstra shouting on TV that no one in the arts could be sure of his life. Then came Mark Rutte with his claim that there are 15 people sitting in the front row in 30 venues in The Hague every night. And then [wp_eStore_fancy2:product_id:1:end]
Free: Festival diary Writers Unlimited 2012
They were great days, the four days we reported on Writers Unlimited (v/h Winternachten) in The Hague. We saw a new self-aware generation of writers from Africa, experienced debates and played - in the foyer of The Hague's Theater a/h Spui - for VJ during the salsa dancing class. Daniël Bertina and Wijbrand Schaap did their best to attend as many...
Holland Festival: diary of the 2011 edition
On 28 February, Pierre Audi will present the programme of the 2012 Holland Festival at the City Theatre. As in 2010 and 2011, we will follow that festival closely with our online festival daily newspaper at www.dedodo.nl. That daily newspaper has now proven its right to exist, as more and more festivals want to collaborate with the Cultural Press Agency on this unique initiative. To the 'product-range'...
We have ebooks on offer
A website is nice, but often less suitable for quiet reading. And although our mobile themes now seem to work well, it is often still a lot of clicking and searching before you can read everything in sequence. We have now found a solution: ebooks. A handy way to read all kinds of related articles: on...
Originality rewarded at Oscars 2012
You can hardly claim it was a surprise result, because for weeks - what shall I say, months - The Artist had been mentioned as a surefire Oscar favourite. Still, the crowning of this largely silent French black-and-white film that pays tribute to the end of the silent film era in Hollywood is proof that originality still counts in...
Amsterdam takes Netherlands Symphony Orchestra to court
We already wrote extensively about the name change of the Orchestra of the East in the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra (NSO). The curious opera grant application based on a business plan that carries huge risks had our full attention. Regular partner the National Travel Opera was not amused.
Ambitions City Promotion made Grenswerk hopeless.
Festival Grenswerk was told on Tuesday 21 February that it must stop after three successful years because it does not match the ambitions of Stichting Enschede Promotie. The festival set up in 2009 was given a thick set of demands by the alderman that it could not meet after a scathing report by this revamped VVV.
Cultural balderdash or snake pit Enschede?
It looked like it was going to be something. With a church of huge Lego blocks and a programme that seemed to matter. But alas, Grenswerk, the festival that was supposed to bring the region around Enschede together, is no more. After three years. And it won't stop until 2013, like most arts institutions, but already in 2012. Too much had to change for that to happen. The municipality suggested...