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Wijbrand Schaap

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.

"A viral has to have humour"

They can do quite a bit, at Fitzroy. Always fun to attend presentations, as the Amsterdam-based marketing agency showed at the Performing Arts Congress on 29 and 30 May 2012.

Fitzroy must be doing something right. Otherwise you won't be in such an office.

In full partnership with marketing, multimedia and web agency wecross (the creators of this website), we interviewed 10 people who came to represent the performing arts world at that conference,...

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Hit in the heart by opening performance by Alain Platel, and then find solace. #hf12

At two-thirds, the lump shoots in to not go out until the end. It happens at every Alain Platèl performance. Heartfelt sobs from the audience, lots of swallowing around you and the inevitable tears welling up like a natural disaster. To call the Flemish choreographer's work predictable because of this is going too far. What he and his company Les... 

Read More "Hit in the heart by opening performance by Alain Platel, and then find solace. #hf12

Opening Holland Festival on twitter and facebook: tenue de wtf, ns-#fail, sublime dance theatre and mozzarella sticks #hf12

[View the story "Opening Holland Festival 2012" on Storify]Opening Holland Festival 2012On 1 June, the Holland Festival opened at Theater Carré. We were there, saw Platel's C(h)oeurs and tasted the atmosphere. Although it almost went wrong. Here's what to make of it on social mediaStorified by Cultureel Persbureau - Sat, Jun 02 2012 08:37:18The Dodo goes... 

Read More "Opening Holland Festival on twitter and facebook: tenue de wtf, ns-#fail, sublime dance theatre and mozzarella sticks #hf12

Unforgettable stage version of Man Without Qualities gets undeserved dessert from Yves Petry #hf12

Maybe it is also just the wrong choice to see part three immediately after the first two parts. Maybe after a day of you or some settling down you will be able to appreciate Petry's text, on its own merits. Imagine a three-star dinner. A sensuous succession of small and medium-sized dishes, prepared with the... 

Read More "Unforgettable stage version of Man Without Qualities gets undeserved dessert from Yves Petry #hf12

Discussing the value of reviews in the night

We at culture press have nuanced views on reviewing. Once upon a time when there were only newspapers, reviews were fairly unique pieces of writing by people appointed by the newspaper to proclaim The View to its so many hundred thousand readers. Since then, those so many hundred thousand readers have become newspapers themselves, and so have about as many reviewers.
The question it ended up being about tonight was: what is the value of a reviewer if you know beforehand wa...

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Still 8.5 million needed to get Culture Card back to old level

The culture card has been saved. This is wonderful news, so soon after the rock-hard slap in the face of the schoolgoing youth of the Netherlands that the now outgoing cabinet dealt in 2011. On improper grounds, as the Court of Audit revealed, the negotiators of PVV, CDA and VVD already scrapped during the formation this opportunity for schoolchildren to gain knowledge at steeply discounted... 

Read More "Still 8.5 million needed to get Culture Card back to old level

'Community Art is Slow Art': Margreet Bouwman and Eugene van Erven on the Community Arts Festival 2013 #vvu

 Young people from Guatemala, nightingales from Northern Ireland and theatre-makers from the interior of Peru. Just some of the guests at the Community Arts Festival held in Utrecht in June 2013. Music, film and theatre with ordinary people behind and in front of the scenes, accompanied by professional artists. What else do they have in common? They all make art in an environment where murder, manslaughter and war are more natural than peace.
This 'How to survive a war' theme is a...

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Newsflash: Symphony X is a spectacular finale to 34 years of Springdance

Summarising 34 years of Springdance festival is impossible. Nor can we actually evaluate. Mourning because this year was the last? Perhaps. The festival that sailed past lows and highs in its young adult life is merging into a new festival, and no one knows at this point, 28 April 2012, what that festival will be called, and what it will... 

Read More "Newsflash: Symphony X is a spectacular finale to 34 years of Springdance

Halbe Zijlstra has made history.

After the presentation of the Rotterdam and The Hague arts advisories, and a few days to weeks before the harsh judgements of the Culture Council, and a few months before the scathing reports of the Performing Arts Fund, it is starting to become clear how drastically the Dutch cultural sector is being hit by the Rutte administration's cuts. Halbe Zijlstra has ensured that his cut of 25% to the entire sector, and up to 50% to the performing arts, has become law.

A personal o...

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Tuesday News Springdance about pace, time, reality and alienation, and sometimes boredom

This Tuesday was all about daily acts that became art, or art that became daily acts. We are not quite there yet. Daniel Bertina, Fransien van der Putt and Maarten Baanders discuss Field Works: Office by Heine Avdal and Yukiko Shinozaki, A gesture that is nothing but a threat by Dias and Roriz,... 

Read More "Tuesday News Springdance about pace, time, reality and alienation, and sometimes boredom

'More room for proven talent'

Historical material, shall we call it. The letter from Halbe Zijlstra, outgoing State Secretary for Culture, and Uri Rosenthal, the equally outgoing Foreign Minister on the international cultural policy of populist Holland. As cold and matter-of-fact as the fallen Rutte government dealt with culture, so is the formulation of cultural policy in an international perspective, according to the... 

Read More "'More room for proven talent'

Springdance Journal: "Dutch dance is very well behaved compared to what we have seen here"

Our team agrees: Springdance really took off on Saturday. With Ibrahim Quraishi's installation 'Wildlife Take Away Station' for sure. Reviewer Daniel Bertina made his own recordings, which will appear in his review. And it was even more tasty for him at '(M)imosa. Twenty Looks or Paris is Burning at The Judson Church (M).... 

Read More "Springdance Journal: "Dutch dance is very well behaved compared to what we have seen here"

Opening Springdance explores the two extremes of what the festival has to offer

Experts in particular were upset with the official opening performance of Springdance 2012. "The Rodin Project" by Russel Maliphant was special for that reason alone. Rarely has there been so much talk about an opening performance, especially since it is also Springdance's last opening performance. The 30-year-old festival of innovative dance and performance is ceasing to exist. Partly due to pressure from subsidy cuts from... 

Read More "Opening Springdance explores the two extremes of what the festival has to offer

The Cultural Press Bureau goes full steam ahead for ten days with The Dodo at Springdance

 It may be a crisis and the cultural winds may also be blowing from the wrong right corner, but that doesn't stop The Dodo from flying. The festival day newspaper we launched two years ago as a new commercial product is ready for another 10 days of Springdance. We're going to review a lot of performances, and compare even more. And we're going to make a journal. It... 

Read More "The Cultural Press Bureau goes full steam ahead for ten days with The Dodo at Springdance

'No shit, everybody rich', but also: 'alarm, alarm, all poor'

Art subsidies are better abolished if artists have to reach large audiences. Because then, after all, you distort the market. Logical. You could also decide to subsidise everyone. And that sounds stranger than it is.
In recent months, there have been a couple of theatre performances that did very well with the general public. Because these were performances made with subsidies, it stirred up pens in a few newspapers. Hein Jansen of De Volkskrant argued i...

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Their carnival is already more fun, too. Brazilian arts budget grows by 10% a year.

Brazil has 10% more to spend on arts, sports and entertainment every year, plus an extra 600 million this year. street art in Brazil If we in the Netherlands ever start growing the economy again, we can choose between the Chinese and Brazilian models. In China, growth goes mainly to puissant wealthy entrepreneurs, and wealthier citizens buy en masse... 

Read More "Their carnival is already more fun, too. Brazilian arts budget grows by 10% a year.

'Theatre club' from US takes to the web.

 In fact, after 1 click, you're totally in. The latest project from Philadelphia-based New Paradise Laboratories (NPL) (USA) takes the internet experience to a new level. The creators don't just do anything with a website, but create a virtual existence, which they sustain for at least a year. In their latest project Extremely Public Displays of Privacy,... 

Read More "'Theatre club' from US takes to the web.

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:

Read More "Tjitske Reidinga launched as star of new summer programming Amsterdam Delamartheater

'Only' 800 redundancies, but five thousand jobs will disappear.

For the trade unions, it is not too bad: because of the mega-cuts in art, 800 people are to be laid off. That is almost nothing compared to, say, the bankrupt Nedcar, where redundancies at one location are likely to be double or more. For the Ministry of OC&W, it's already a small celebration too, because this way the so-called 'friction costs' will be contained. And the sector itself, with its moaning and shouting, is of course back in the picture. It v...

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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,... 

Read More "Zijlstra investigates 'taking root' foreign art students

Arts colleges hopelessly divided

It was a 'roundtable discussion', so that is extremely informal. Lower house members of the ministry of OCW's 'lead committee' listen to people from the field. In this case, all people who are involved in, or lead, arts education. It was an awkward meeting.

Horror story of theatre show Coast overwhelms its narrators

Exactly how Little Red Riding Hood was eaten by the wicked wolf, the fairy tale does not tell. Fairy-tale-telling parents limit themselves to the before and after. And that the evil wolf is cut open by the hunter, freed from Little Red Riding Hood and filled with stones eventually ends up in a well to die is part of the winding down of the happy ending. Enough... 

Read More "Horror story of theatre show Coast overwhelms its narrators

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