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A rather voluminous (331 pages) report was published today by UNESCO, the UN organisation that deals with culture, development and education. In it, the organisation evaluates the extent to which the goals set by the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity have been met. The picture is not rosy. Mainly because of Corona, job losses are...
With the performance Krant, Dutch playwright Joeri Vos of De Veenfabriek aims to criticise the major Belgian newspaper operators in the Netherlands. But it also paints an unflattering picture of journalism. Vos, he revealed beforehand, has serious concerns about the independence of news supply. After all, Dutch dailies such as AD, Telegraaf, Volkskrant and NRC, as well as many...
Today, the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce sent yet another letter in draft form to the ministry of OCW. In it, the assembled umbrella of all creative and cultural organisations reiterates its earlier criticism of the relaxation of coronagraph measures, which brings no relief to the cultural sector and nightlife in particular. Special attention is given to DJs and...
In terms of religion, we are badly off with a single supreme and omniscient god who is also Love. Theologians and philosophers have therefore been earning a fat living for a couple of decades explaining all the misery in the world where God is only love. No. Then the classical Greeks. With them, free will ruled. Not...
Sometimes I dream of a subsidy system where artists can actually carry out their wild plans all the way, to the extreme. Or, indeed, are obliged to do so. That, for example, if you make a musical, you actually have to put a live band on stage, and are not allowed to use a studio recording. And that you then have to pay money for that...
Under the title Shochiku 100, Eye presents a magnificent programme in February that covers a century of films from one of Japan's most important studios. Here, previously unknown work, alongside titles by celebrated directors such as Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Oshima, Takeshi Kitano and especially Yasujiro Ozu. Four Ozu films, including Tokyo Story, go out simultaneously in movie theatres.
Snow, Dog, Foot is the great title of the first book translated into Dutch by Claudio Morandini, published by Koppernik, a publisher specialising in literary gems. The novel, which was already published in Italy in 2015 and received rave reviews, is set in the region where the author lives, the Valle d'Aosta. Main character Andelmo Farandola...
Dear Library South-Kennemerland, I would like to apply for the position of 'Culture & Social Domain Programme Manager' that you published on the 'Cultural Vacancies' website. You see, I am a huge supporter of the idea that a library should associate itself with books as little as possible. After all, the clouds of dust are already smelling you up. Of course, you also knew all along that a bookcase...
International Film Festival Rotterdam, online this year, screens films from all over the world. Four years ago, for the first time there was also a programme block featuring Rotterdam films: RTM. Until now, somewhat underexposed, so time for an update. Programmer Ronny Theeuwes tells something. Plus an impression of RTM 2022.
Houses, monuments, shops and streets were wiped off the map. Nearly three hundred people died under the rubble. Franco Faggiani (73) wrote a gripping book about the earthquake that hit central Italy five years ago: Sometimes I'd like to be the wind. Success Whenever possible, Franco Faggiani treks into the northern Italian mountains. Once again, he finds himself in the Piedmontese...
Five years ago, Rome was rocked by a brutal, bloody murder. Under the influence of cocaine and alcohol, two near-thirties murdered for no reason a young man they did not know. Writer and journalist Nicola Lagioia, like many other compatriots, was gripped by the case. 'This is not just a story about a murder, but above all about loneliness.' Manuel Foffo and...
'We are coming up with this heartfelt cry because we are genuinely concerned that the cultural sector is not overcoming the lockdowns of the past two years.'This is what the chairmen of the Supervisory Boards of a large number of cultural institutions are writing today in a letter to Ernst Kuipers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, and Robbert Dijkgraaf and Gunay Uslu, Minister and State Secretary of...
By now, everyone with a modicum of fame in the Netherlands has participated in a show where secrecy is essential. This can range from the relatively innocuous concealment of the winner of De Slimste Mens to the extreme secrecy that is the subject of Wie Is De Mol (WIDM) and which ultimately leads to the strangulation contracts attached to talent shows like The...
No one understands yet why the theatres, museums and concert halls have to stay closed, while shops and contact professions are back in full swing. And rightly so: we all want a normal life again, going to the movies together, dancing at a cool concert, and strolling past art in a museum. We need relaxation. However, there is also a downside to this...
The Dutch cinema industry presented its annual figures. 14.3 million visits means a very lean year, as a result of the corona measures. No Time to Die was the best-attended film, accounting for 12% of the year's total. Plus point is the good Dutch market share. Theatres should reopen soon, the industry believes.
I suspect that the decision to keep the museums, concert halls and theatres closed, while sports and Bijenkorf can open, was not born out of cultural hatred. A year ago, I would have doubted it. Now it is clear that those of you from the OMT do not actually want relief at all, but want to curb the biggest threat of civil disobedience. Sportsmen and middle-class people are more likely to throw...
It all goes into effect only in 2023, at the earliest, but the first gusts of fresh wind blowing through the Performing Arts Fund are stirring the treetops. Under new director Viktorien van Hulst, the Fund wants to put an end to the many subsidy schemes that in recent years, under the guise of 'customisation', have become a bureaucratic jungle...
In honour of David Bowie's 75th birthday on 8 January 2022, the long-awaited album "TOY" will be released on 6×10-inch vinyl, cassettes and a 3 CD set a day before. In fact, this previously unheard album is part of the Brilliant Adventure boxset, which fans have been able to buy for 150 euros since November 2021. Is this a long-awaited sign from the afterlife, or...
These are the stories that stirred mouse arms and click fingers in 2021, and this is exactly the material from which Culture Press derives its raison d'être. It is the top ten most read stories, in a year that saw over 250,000 page views. Fear and trembling in the culture sector: the dark side of the 'trickle down' Ingrid van Frankenhuyzen did...
Marijn Lems has a hobby that coincides nicely with his work as a reviewer for NRC Handelsblad, Theaterkrant and Cultuurpers. After all, he plays countless games, sees bizarre amounts of television series and also goes to the theatre more than many colleagues can afford. Every year, he creates a top list, which he posts on Facebook. Once it was the...
In the third episode of the podcast KunstZINnig, journalist Jasmijn Huisman talks to Amsterdam city poet Gershwin Bonevacia about how poetry gives meaning to his life: 'There is always a fire inside me that I cannot deny. I didn't make the choice to write, I just can't do anything else.' Gershwin Bonevacia is...
Rutte 4 says sorry to Rutte 1, 2 and 3. We cannot explain the new coalition agreement very differently. Almost all the crown jewels of 11 years of neoliberal policies have been abandoned. That the budget for the cultural and creative sector is now (including marginal repairs during Rutte 3) back to 2010 levels is almost unbelievable. That...
She could barely tell a sparrow from a wren, and almost gave up bird watching. But now writer Nicolien Mizee effortlessly recognises a barred siskin or a dipper. Nicolien Mizee's Bird Book is meant to encourage laymen like herself. 'You just experience so much more of your surroundings.' How romantic: the wild swan brought writer Nicolien Mizee and her husband Rob...
The opening images of West Side Story (2021) already tell a whole story. It is contained in a few frames. A billboard showing a grandiose new housing project. The camera glides past it almost casually as we glide over rubble of a New York slum, not with the characteristic fire escapes along the facade, as in the first film adaptation (1961) of this 1957 musical theatre piece,...
A safety net scheme for freelancers in the cultural sector: fifty interest and industry organisations this week appealed once again to the cabinet and the Lower House for financial support for this large group. This concerns 70 per cent of so-called cultural workers, i.e. a majority who do not have permanent employment. Due to the just reintroduced evening closure of venues, they are seeing their income once again...
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