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.
'The experts have written an inspiring guide, which demonstrates the importance of good music education and also makes clear which steps need to be taken to achieve this. The experts spoke to representatives of primary education, teacher training institutes and the cultural sector. The guide has broad support. Like the experts, I believe that good music education is a responsibility of...
A small miracle did happen, in recent months. The result of that miracle can now be found in letter Jet Bussemaker, minister of OCW, sent to the chamber yesterday. And actually, it is not one miracle, but three. We list them for you. 1: The art world pulls together. Artists often find actors...
Of course it is ok, that cultural and creative summit we had here. Bussemaker could suddenly talk at a high level again and art suddenly appears to matter again. After all, the creative industry is also about art again. Even if it is just our old art, because at such a conference with those Asian countries, of course, it is usually about...
In the presence of WAKVN*), our culture minister Jet Bussemaker gave a speech to other culture ministers today. It was about creative industries, as a conference on that is now underway in our country. Exchange of knowledge between Asian culture ministers and the Netherlands is already quite unique. For the Netherlands to drop the word 'art' in a meeting on the creative industry is thereby...
With a new government in Belgium, the debate on art subsidies has also erupted there. The issue there is only 0.7 per cent of the national budget. The cut of a mere 10% is less substantial than in the Netherlands under the PVV's noose, but the arguments are the same. Though they are often better articulated. Josse de Pauw, international...
This post should have been a video. I was planning to go into my garden with the ipad, to tell you, in the company of my dog Rufus, how important video is in contemporary art communication. And not a good, beautifully shot and rap edited video, but wonky, home-made, not very to-the-point video. Which is very personal though....
Forty roofless hotel rooms, and then hearing your own story back as you see yourself reflected in the distant ceiling. Or: walking behind a guide through the Lombok district of Utrecht, while being provided with an overload of extra information on your headphones. About your guide. Or not. About yourself. Welcome to the universe of Dries Verhoeven, since a small...
We can make a long story short. September and early October are raining awards. Every performing art form celebrates its own party. Theatre does it with Theo and Louis, cabaret with the Poelifinario, a Cricket is awarded somewhere, and then you have the Musical Awards and of course the Swans and the Dioraphte Prize. You can already feel it hanging: there...
There was, of course, that ceremony on TV. But there was also a ceremony on Twitter. Which started much earlier than that ceremony on TV. The calves were already falling from the sky while we were still watching the news. We listed the celebration. From half past two, Friday afternoon. [View the story " Calvert tweets from Utrecht....
While all of us at the Stedelijk were dwelling on Arnoud Mik's more than impressive work, realising it was new, we forgot to look elsewhere. On our own screen, that is. Because on Youtube, Twitch and more platforms like that, it's happening right now. That's where pimply adolescents with...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'The amateur arts. I have personally experienced the cutbacks at the Utrecht Centre for the Arts in Utrecht. First, they were heavily cut back there back in 2001 under Leefbaar. They survived that, and now they were just recovering a bit...' Joop Daalmeijer: ' ...and now everything is going to the schools.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'There are...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Just one more point. Then we're almost through.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'Continue quietly, we have until half past five.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'We have a problem with real estate. A lot of inner cities are empty. Shop premises are empty, downtown office buildings are unrentable. What do the municipalities say? Put artists in them. Cost nothing, because for free rent they do...
23,000 signatures and a host of public meetings have caused Brett Bailey's impressive Exhibit B in London to be cancelled. The show, or rather, the event, has previously been seen with great success in the Netherlands, and garnered nothing but praise in Edinburgh too. We too went to see it, and we were impressed. In...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'The basic infrastructure was keelhauled by Zijlstra while it was not yet ripe. That, in its smaller version, now runs the risk of leading to further rigidity.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'That's a good observation. We are also working on that in our Culture Exploration. We are having a lot of discussions, which we are also taking out into the country. We are starting...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Now on the role of cities. One of the reactions on our site is about the role of the randstad in cultural policy. Melle Daamen puts the primacy in the randstad, and goes further than the council in this.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'The council has no position yet.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'But there is something in the Culture Outlook. Cities form...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Next hot issue. Copyright is mentioned in a few passages of the Cultural Exploration. I am also affected by that in various ways. There is, of course, that new author's contract law, which is going to be discussed in the chamber one day, maybe. Nice about that is that the creator's position in that law has been strengthened.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'Rightly so.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'But.
Wijbrand Schaap: 'There has been much talk about the change in Council attitudes under your leadership. After the confrontation course under your predecessor Els Swaab, you seemed appointed by Halbe Zijlstra to act as a kind of applause machine.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'I was not hired by Halbe Zijlstra, I was appointed by the queen. Isn't that nice?...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'When it comes to talent development and embedding in society, it also has a lot to do with the absolute basics. It also touches on the minister's two functions: education and culture. Arts education in primary schools does not really help embedding. No attention has been paid to art in the pedagogical academies for years....
Joop Daalmeijer: 'I never authorise. I find that such nonsense. A journalist should just do his job properly.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'We agree on that then. We write up everything in full, but because conversations about everything tend to be endless, I want to hang it on the Culture Exploration. That's the most concrete piece and the most topical, and it...
We're going to talk about everything, because Joop was a bit fed up. All this criticism of the Council for Culture. That on his leadership it had degenerated into Halbe Zijlstra's lapdog, and that Jet Bussemaker laughs out loud at them. And that they conduct discussion behind a paywall. That's why we're going to talk to Joop Daalmeijer. The President. We agreed...
Sunday is the Gala of Dutch Theatre. In a sober yet festive setting, the theatre sector celebrates the fact that it still exists. Quite an achievement, even if the minister doesn't think so. Be that as it may. We are going to present awards. And not Oscars, Olivers, or Césars, but Louis, Theo, Colombina and Arlecchino. How that came about? Tradition....
Drama reviews mainly fill a need among artists and journalists. Newspaper readers hardly use them. In London, this has been studied. Only 36 per cent of theatre-goers say they read reviews. Much more value fans place on tips from friends and family. Last Saturday at Amsterdam's De Balie debate centre, there was a discussion between theatre-makers,...
"Grand opening, right?" Jeffrey Meulman, the man who as director of the ailing Theatre Festival gave the word "inspired" a new dimension, was delighted. It was Thursday night, September 4, 2014. Shortly before, I had seriously considered jumping from the 1st balcony of the Stadsschouwburg, rather than applauding Tauerbach, the opening performance of The Theatre Festival. It is...
Art has rapidly become unimportant. Artists have been effectively dismissed by populists as subsidy-addicted scum. Media leaves no opportunity to downplay the consequences of the cuts that followed. Putin is about to bring a third world war to Europe. In Amsterdam on Saturday, September 6, three of the Netherlands' last daily newspaper critics talk to artists about...
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