Cultural journalist since 1996. Worked as theatre critic, columnist and reporter for Algemeen Dagblad, Utrechts Nieuwsblad, Rotterdams Dagblad, Parool and regional newspapers through Associated Press Services. Interviews for TheaterMaker, Theatererkrant Magazine, Ons Erfdeel, Boekman. Podcast maker, likes to experiment with new media. Culture Press is called the brainchild I gave birth to in 2009. Life partner of Suzanne Brink roommate of Edje, Fonzie and Rufus. Search and find me on Mastodon.
Let's just start with the good news: De Staat is a regular fixture in the Netherlands from now on. And so we are talking about the band De Staat. Who make fantastic music videos these days. They have been promoted from a four-year grant with the Performing Arts Fund to a four-year grant according to the Cultural Basic Infrastructure (BIS). With 55 other newcomers. All weighed...
This is the recording of the presentation: And here is the full text of the press release. Explanation follows, but we will read first. More room for innovation and culture outside the Randstad provinces 04-06-2020 | 14:00 | The Hague The Council for Culture advises giving more institutions with innovative cultural offerings and institutions from outside the Randstad provinces the chance to be on...
As a professional art visitor, I rarely find myself in empty halls. Premieres are always full, so are press viewings and vernissages. Full is of course really cool. Although those full rooms I am in then usually cost more money than they bring in, because the tickets are free and the drinks on the house. Outside the premiere, but especially outside the premiere city, the...
Musicians' society Splendor has survived the corona crisis so far, despite the fact that the two halls could not be used, rehearsal rooms fell and the bar could not open. Mattijs van der Woerd, baritone, talks about it in our podcast/video. How can that be, such a small concert hall standing so strong? The secret, which also keeps Culture Press afloat, and which this month also...
There does seem to be some prospect of better recognition of the needs of the cultural sector. That sector which did now receive a support package worth 300 million, about which all sorts of things are going on. But the Ministry of OCW is not the only one that deals with culture. Home Affairs too has to do with culture,...
A few months ago, I reported via this site that Eurovision Song Contest wanted an orchestra to perform, for less than no money. The post, including follow-ups, was read just under a hundred thousand times, so can be assumed somewhat familiar. Yesterday, I received a press release from a rather expensive public relations agency, which the culture world took action on...
'I did get startled at first by being so laconic under the lockdown. I thought: don't I care enough to step over it so lightly? I also fully understand that people are very sad that it's all off, but apparently I'm a bit more fatalistic about that.' Greg Nottrot, playwright and enigma maker,...
'At the beginning of March we were still having a bit of a laugh about the virus, but a week later it became clear to me that we would be in serious trouble this year.' Johan Gijsen, director and founder of the Utrecht-based festival that brings together the most surprising artists from all genres of the international music world every November, is still visibly...
'The spontaneous and creative initiatives and emergency solutions devised by creators and institutions during the current lockdown show that the sector excels in innovativeness.' According to the Culture Council, the solutions already being experimented with must be made available to everyone. The Netherlands' highest cultural advisory body considers this necessary if we ever want to move forward in the...
The theatre seats, which served as the tractors of the arts in North Brabant on Friday 15 May 2020, have had an effect. At least, so it seems. Indeed, the province's deputies have restored the word "culture" to the budget. However, it appears to be a Pyrrhus victory, because at the same time the province is also not going to follow the agreements with the State, and...
'When the economic interests of involved parties outweigh the interests of the cultural sector, you end up getting movements like the ones we are seeing now in Brabant. Art makes itself more important than it is, and that sets off bad blood.' We have a conversation with Alexander Plooij, entrepreneur and once active in the cultural sector as a professional trumpet player, manager of music schools and...
'I have only met one person for more than 3 minutes in five weeks. I live alone, I see people at the groceries, I take walks and bike rides, but apart from that I don't see anyone live.' Rainer Hofmann, artistic director of Spring, is experiencing a very different spring than intended, thanks to Corona. This month, the major Utrecht festival of innovative art was supposed to...
Culture Press is 11 years old, and I wanted to celebrate with a fun look at the archives. And then I came across this one. From 2011. Just watch this minute video and know that it is not to be expected that a prime minister can change his views one hundred and eighty degrees in 9 years. This is what the lobby needs to consider. What does Mark say...
We are fairly bombarded to death with online theatre experiences. Frankly, I avoid them. I always thought theatre was something to be experienced live. Bobbing shoes are terrible, visible consumption when speaking is something I can't stand at the moment and the sound is always mediocre. I want live theatre, and nothing else. Leave TV to the TV makers, they have studied for that. Still...
Naturally, I stand speechless along the sidelines watching Dutch art get hit by a 'perfect storm'. Two, maybe three deep depressions crossing each other at the worst possible moment, creating a surge that sinks even the strongest ships. In this case: an extremely weak minister, a cultural sector divided to the bone ...
(8 May: updated to clarify that the cut is probably 100%) The new provincial government of North Brabant is still going to help the heavily corona-affected cultural sector to overcome this year's blow. Immediately afterwards, however, it will be followed by a cut of at least 25 per cent in the total 'leisure' budget. According to the...
'At some point, you get it again. then you just have to start paying again. Unless there will somehow be remission, but that is not the case for now.' For Paul Baltus, director of museum dome Amersfoort in C, a big challenge awaits if the intelligent lockdown will slowly be lifted. How can...
'If you can put only a quarter, or even less, in a hall that normally holds 600 people, then the tickets do become very expensive, because your costs don't change. Then my popular heart starts beating again: should we really want something so elitist?' Bernard van Gellekom is an important figure in the Amersfoort pop scene. In his home...
The cultural sector should listen more closely to the minister's mother. Who said: 'You can be sad for a long time about what you didn't get, also be happy about what you did get.' Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven cited her mother in the closing stages of the inserted budget consultation on the incidental aid to the sector, which was declared last week....
'We would have actually been presented with the award last week at the premiere of Grimm. That was our big production this season that was to play 30 times. But after the second rehearsal, we were able to stop. It seriously looks like we won't be seen in theatres this year. When in autumn the...
'Yes, of course it was something we already saw coming in every way. That made me mentally prepared. But then when you actually hear it... It's just SO sour. It's every time - I don't blame anyone, to be clear - but every time you get bad news, you try...
Right now they are all still zooming or in an MS Teams meeting, the dozens of advisers and committee members appointed to assess the hundreds of grant applications for the new arts plan 2021-2024. But in all likelihood, they are no longer talking about the applications, but about how to deliver the news that the procedure is stalled. The province of Zeeland...
80 million it should cost, and it should hold a lot of people, with three theatres, and it should all happen on the lot now occupied by the Theater aan de Parade in Den Bosch. That has proved so difficult that there has been fuss about it since 2006. Now there is a draft, approved and all, of...
'Last (Silent, ed.) Saturday we ventured out to dinner at friends', my husband and I once again. We were tired of just talking about Corona. Then we agreed to have a music night. We all work in classical music, but agreed to listen to precisely no classical music. It became a...
While the Belgian government has just announced the cancellation of all festivals until 31 August, Mark Rutte in the Netherlands pronounced two very difficult words: 'theatre' and 'museum'. This was followed in Hilversum by a worship service for the minister led by the high priest of our culture, Cornald Maas. While they sat at the non-existent make-up, the...
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