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Henk Pröpper: 'Writers Unlimited has always opposed panting and short-term ambition.'

He is now a publisher, and the man who was director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature until last year will be quite happy with that. As director of the Bezige Bij, one of the country's largest publishing houses, he will surely never again have to submissively toast the sarcastic State Secretary for Culture Halbe Zijlstra. At least the relief was audible in Pröpper's... 

PEN Award voor Iraanse oprichtster ‘Stop Stenigen voor Altijd’-campagne #wu12

Ze woont inmiddels in Noorwegen, nadat ze haar vaderland Iran moest verlaten wegens eigen mening. Ze zat vijf dagen vast, en in de beruchte Evin-gevangenis in Teheran is dat een eeuwigheid. Nu is Asieh Amini vrij in een vreemd land, en krijgt ze van Oxfam-Novib de PEN-Award uitgereikt. Een mooie opening voor het Writers Unlimited Winternachtenfestival, dat met deze uitreiking… 

There it is: the final legislative amendment deciding the future of 16,500 FTEs and thousands of self-employed people

We do not have much to comment on Halbe Zijlstra's explanation. Other than that the state secretary of formerly culture breathes an almost legible sigh of relief now that he can almost close the 'arts' headache file. His "masterpiece", the amendment to the Specific Cultural Policy Act, is before the chamber and if it is approved (hammer piece), the state secretary does not really need to do anything more.

Woldhek receives Inktspot Prize 2011 for state portrait Henk Bleker

"A beautifully drawn portrait, sublimely expressing a mixture of cunning, intransigence and power-seeking, Implicitly and without text." So says the Inktspot Prize jury about the drawing Sigfried Woldhek made for the NRC of 30 March 2011. Pictured is Henk Bleker, former CDA party leader candidate and state secretary for former nature. Woldhek, who has been... 

The Broadway visitor: lily-white, woman, loyal and well above the Balkenende norm

These are data that somehow do not make the press here, because they are about America, which is not in the Netherlands. Still, it is interesting to take a closer look at the composition of the audience on Broadway. After all, that is where, in the wet dreams of VVD/PVV celebrities like Bart @deliefde and @halbezijlstra, the future of... 

Not two, but only one cultural major in 2010, and none in 2011

That was a bit of a shock for culture lovers in Utrecht and beyond. the dear youth theatre house Het Lab turned out to have an artistic director with an annual salary of 214,975 euros. A salary that made him equal to the dozens of air traffic controllers, medical specialists and broadcasting staff who all earn far more than the Balkenende norm (193,000 euros a year, including pension). But no. The ever amiable... 

Chinese growth is changing the art market faster and more radically than we realise

Ze maakten de betere Bordeaux-wijnen onbetaalbaar en in Zuidoost Azië worden dagelijks recordbedragen neergeteld voor westerse moderne en antieke kunst. Chinese verzamelaars en speculanten bepalen inmiddels wat telt en wat niet in de kunstwereld. Nieuwste ontwikkeling: ze ontdekken hun eigen kunstenaars. Inmiddels wordt voor een schilderij als ‘Adelaar staand op een dennenboom’ uit 1946 van de autodidact Qi Bashi meer… 

WWIK transitional regime until 1 July 2012: The grinding of De Kroms teeth echoes to the smallest municipality

The art sector's victory over government policy will last until 1 July 2012. Until then, a transitional scheme applies to artists who were eligible for WWIK benefits until 1 January 2012. This is because this highly successful scheme, which gives artists a chance to build a profitable professional practice at an amount of 70% of the welfare level, had been abolished by... 

We will follow the world's writers into their hotel rooms

Writers Unlimited The Dodo is coming back to life. On 19 January already. Then we plunge into the Hague writer's life. The four-day festival Writers Unlimited, formerly known as Winternachten, but thus changed its name because of the weather (not, but nice joke) will have a real dodo, but then again differently. We will LIVE BLOG. That means we'll be there.... 

Thunder or a minor storm in the Gouda Glasses? You may say

We received a letter on legs from Wim de Groot a while ago. Now we often get letters in paws, but here something seemed to be going on. Trouble of course because sorting it out takes time and money and that wasn't there for a while. (Look out for the donor campaign we are about to launch) But still. What's wrong with it? Wim de... 

Theatre photography in the spotlight at small Amsterdam gallery

Theaterfoto’s zijn een vak apart. Uit een toch al in scene gezet onderwerp kiest de beroepsfotograaf het pakkendste beeld. Er zijn mensen die er daarom op neerkijken, er zijn mensen die de theaterfotograaf juist daarom bewonderen. Wij zijn uiteraard meer geneigd tot het laatste. Maar het vak staat onder druk. Van smartphones, van afnemers die geen plek en geen geld… 

Austerity year review 2011. Or how the PVV cry 'Arts subsidies we abolish' was widely heard

While 2010 was still the year of PVV positions on culture that were suddenly shared by other parties ("we are abolishing art subsidies"), the year 2011 fell under their implementation. What was striking was the ease with which regional and local administrators also wielded this same machete, as PVV spokesperson Bosma did not fail to testify. For instance, in the municipality of Almelo, 30 % went àff from... 

Small selection of great suffering for Christmas week

There will definitely be no investigation into a corporatisation of the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. According to the proposal, a council majority wants to have the opportunities to earn more money and save on expenses investigated. A political party earlier suggested that many more visitors and revenue could be brought in with a less elitist programme. At the Money Museum in Utrecht 

Culture in the Christmas package, Orientalis stops and all of Nijmegen-West without a library

Delightful news from the world of Christmas packages. 1/3 of interviewees said they did want to find a cultural experience in the Christmas package, as they visited a cultural actvity less often than they would like: 43% because of the crisis and 35% because of lack of time. Respondents said they would go more often if they got a discount. The proposed merger of... 

Krabbendijke loses library, North Holland 'saves' youth theatre, while Brabant 30% cuts further on arts

The cut-away Metropole Orchestra is getting some air from the minister. She is willing to use the necessary friction costs to support the transition over the next four years from the Media Budget, provided it stays there. That is, the orchestra may use its own severance payments to be independently 'on the market' from 2017. As much as it shows... 

"The city's leading free spirits have discovered and embraced classical music, but on their own terms"

An alternative scene for classical events outside the ice palaces of classical music is growing. Last month you could 'classical clubbing' at the Yellow Lounge at the Westergasfabriek venue. The club was sold out, indeed with a large

Investing in culture is economically valuable, but not with us ...

A Belgian professor was good enough to compare the own revenues by venues from the US, the UK and Belgium; in all three countries, the companies raise about 42% of their budgets themselves. The innovation professor also reiterated that research shows that investing in culture contributes to economic prosperity ... a wisdom that ... 

Secretary of State excels in inanity as cultural cuts rumble on

On radio, the State Secretary for Culture and Education once again reiterated his position that when making cuts, it is good not to know one's field of activity . As an example, he did not know who the painter of "The Scream" is (Edvard Munch) and brought up a definition of culture as a "grab bag": "The beauty of culture is, that... 

News from the national culture front

Positive news to start with: in The Hague, the municipality is doubling photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn's contribution to his youth culture fund Haagse Bluf by €75,000. Corbijn explicitly instructed the fund not to interfere in the subsidised cultural sector. So compensation for the cuts need not be expected. In Arnhem, the alderman is satisfied with the... 

Enterprising young theatre makers, Meermanno meets revenue standard, Eindhoven accepts collection, Amsterdam supports cultural education, et al.

Entrepreneurship is in young theatre-makers' blood (...) A new theatre circuit seems to have emerged in recent years. More and more young groups, such as Stichting Nieuwe Helden, PSTheater and Circus Treurdier, work relatively independently of subsidies and almost always outside the theatre building. They seek out their audiences anywhere, whether on the street, by a canal or in a... 

Benefit Giving Act, cultural budgets, Brabant, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Goes, Utrecht et al.

Tax benefits to be gained this year (...) With effect from 2012, under the new Giving Act, there is an additional tax facility for donations (incidental or via periodic donations) to charitable institutions (non-profit organisations) designated as cultural institutions. Those cultural donations may be multiplied by a factor of 125 per cent for the gift deduction. This... 

Slack start to art lottery, production houses don't fire, Krabbedans, Rivierenland Library, MuZIEum et al.

Poor economy hinders new art lottery The business market is not yet warming up to the National Art Lottery launched in July. The organisation is looking for sponsors, but the poor economic climate is playing tricks on the lottery. (...) The number of cultural organisations that applied to supply lottery tickets actually exceeded expectations (...) Only when there are enough sponsors will the... 

A'dam: big loss of art subsidies, fact-free politics at art colleges, sacred museum collections, N-H halts small cultural education, culture in abandoned railway station

'Amsterdam loses 127 million arts subsidy' (...) The 127.1 million euros is a sum of cuts from the state (70 million), the increase in VAT to 19% (45.6 million) and the announced municipal cuts to the 2013-2016 Arts Plan of 8 million annually. In addition, the so-called ID jobs (subsidised jobs) are being phased out more quickly. This will give Amsterdam's arts and cultural institutions another... 

Museums, Boxmeer theatre, IKON, ANP, regional broadcasters, impoverished library

MuseumgoudA not expelled MuseumgoudA may still remain a member of the Dutch Museum Association (NMV). A majority of the members were still of the opinion in September that the museum should be expelled because it had auctioned Marlene Dumas' The Schoolboys at the end of June without consulting other museums. That is against the NMV's rules. It did, however, decide to change the rules for the... 

Library not culture, EU money for visual culture, Corbijn in The Hague, VAT implications in Maastricht

Tropenmuseum a bit exotic due to international contacts (...) "The Tropenmuseum still seems to be an issue for political The Hague, but I don't hear anything about the library service and the theatre." There seems to be no question of transfer to subsidy by the Ministry of OCW. Heemskerk also wonders whether state secretary Knapen has sufficient insight into the importance of the library. "The library service... 

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