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There are also problems with the region in Limburg (and people suspect the advisers of being arbitrary and pre-emptive)

The cultural centre of gravity in Limburg has been in the south for years. However, to encourage southern institutions to programme outside the region, only 1 extra point is available. Examples of the problem of geographical spread also exist at the Council of Culture and the Performing Arts Fund.

David Grossman: 'I know what it's like to live on with trauma'

More than 20 years ago, David Grossman's phone rang. A woman by the name of Eva Panić Nahir had something to say about an article he had published in an Israeli newspaper. Grossman smiles at the memory. 'What my piece was about I don't remember, except that she thought I had not gone far enough in my criticism of the government. I did find it refreshing to be attacked for once by someone from the left, instead of - as usual - the right wing.'

Gaudeamus: as a 75-year-old younger than ever

Anno 2020, Music Week is buzzing like never before. Even corona has barely caught on. How many 'Mozarts' have emerged by now I will leave open, but the rich and varied off- and online offerings create some choice stress. At 75, the organisation is younger than ever: Gaudeamus is the place to be.

Creation returns: Nederlands Blazers Ensemble and Bart Moeyaert on tour again

In October, the Blazers and Bart Moeyaert will tour again with De Schepping, the first part of this successful musical theatre trilogy. During this performance, Bart Moeyaert (winner of the 2019 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the 'Nobel Prize for children's literature') tells the story using a self-written text to this old, but never performed this way, music by Haydn.

'There was a lot that was great about Joost, but this was him too.' Arielle Veerman on her tumultuous marriage to Joost Zwagerman

An ambitious young writer turned Dutch celebrity - Joost Zwagerman's life was turbulent, as was his character. That his marriage ended in divorce after almost twenty years, he could not bear. A year later, on 8 September 2015 - so exactly five years ago today - he ended his life. In her book The Longest Breath, his ex-wife Arielle Veerman looks back. There appears to be no resentment, only sadness.

Burn letter from festivals: 'It's going wrong with the performing arts in the Netherlands'

A fire letter from the United Performing Arts Festivals. One of more than a hundred lobbying organisations in the arts, but a very important one. After all, the festivals are the place where audiences were introduced to arts and entertainment in its full breadth. That doesn't happen anywhere else. And beautiful: they stand up for all performing arts, because, as loyal readers of this site know: they are quite the hare, and become even more the hare with every half-hearted rescue.

Dutch focus on November Music 2020: Ticket sales start Thursday 10 September

This year, November Music awards 10 commissions to Dutch and two to foreign composers, including a choral work for Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho. Traditionally, November Music opens with the Bosch Requiem on Friday 6 November, which of course takes on an extra charge this year. Korean-Dutch composer Seung-Won Oh draws inspiration from the YeonDo death ritual that links Korean funeral traditions with the Catholic faith. After Kate Moore and Calliope Tsoupaki, she is the third female composer of the Bosch Requiem in a row.

Milo Rau at opening Theatre Festival: 'Maybe we should deliver a little less and listen a little more'

Things need time and distance to become a story. Good, then, that in his 'State of Theatre,' the traditional opening of the theatre season, Rau did not take the floor himself, but handed it over to people who are now in the midst of the confusing time of austerity, coronasteun and political turmoil. Because the 100 international makers he asked for a book entitled "Why Theatre?" could not come because of the pandemic, six Dutch makers were invited. 

'Sender Boulevard': Intimate and grand. A successful exercise in getting closer.

Under the banner 'Sender Boulevard', the organisers of Theatre Festival Boulevard signed up for six weeks of live encounters in 's-Hertogenbosch. More than 40 different projects delivered an extraordinary variety of performances, performances and installations. Based on the theme 'Nader de ander' (Closer to the other), Boulevard more than ever entered into dialogue with makers and audience, which led to an intense dialogue with results.

logo authors' union

Aid schemes authors: counter opened

Writers and translators hit by the corona crisis can now apply for three support schemes set up especially for them. They can apply for up to €5,000 for a project grant or income support. The first submission deadline closes on 30 September 2020. Membership of the Authors' Association or affiliation to Lira is not compulsory.

Romana Vrede, Photo: Bas de Brouwer

The three-quarters empty hall gives more intimacy than a full hall. HNT always plays; warming and confusing

What impressions, what images stick? Why am I enjoying this so much? The performances during the corona crisis deliver great gratitude: that I get to experience this, that actors, writers, directors and collaborators are faithful to perform for me for weeks or even months on end. The declaration of love is mutual.

Down with the veil! Three gutsy girls found Iranian Women Composers Union: 'We want to form a global home front'

Things can change. In 1979, Iran changed from a Western-oriented secular state to a spiritual dictatorship, where Islamic leaders call the shots. Women must henceforth go through life veiled and music is banned as extremely sinful. Four decades later, three women founded the Iranian Female Composers Association. In America, though. 'Music is like a drug, those who feel... 

Where did things go wrong between culture decision-makers and the region?

It could have been so beautiful. In a not so grey past, the Council for Culture, then under a different management, initiated a movement that would give more authority to the region outside the Randstad. That was three years ago. Now there is an (entirely justified) angry letter in the newspaper from the culture deputies of 9... 

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