Culture Press does things differently. We bring you professional journalism, but don't put a pay wall around it. Instead, we ask you, the reader, to decide for yourself what these stories are worth to you. Want to post a general donation? You can: Contribute to Culture Press!
Sometime in 2022, if you can again, please go to a theatre where you can see 'Sadness is the thing with feathers'. There you can watch and listen to Jesse Mensah's phenomenal talent - if he hasn't won the Song Contest before then - and experience the magic that sticks to Jacob Derwig. Forget, before then...
What does culture visit after corona look like? The topic came up regularly on this site in recent months. I myself wrote two personal contributions on it. Now that cultural institutions may almost reopen their doors, the crystal ball is giving way to reality. In my article on 'the promise of the empty hall', I noted a reluctance to...
With its closing chapter, the International Film Festival Rotterdam celebrates its 50th anniversary from 2 to 6 June. And the celebration of cinema. At least online. But whether audiences can experience the real festival feeling again in the theatres is far from certain. Opening film is The World to Come.
'The book is a declaration of love to Niña, I dedicated it to her unborn child.' Writer Maartje Wortel (38) lived right by Amsterdam's Oosterpark until recently. Her friend and fellow writer Niña Weijers lived on the other side. For five years, they walked laps of the park together, sometimes several times a day. In The Groove, Carrot tells about...
Actually, all his female characters are based on his powerful mother and grandmother, says Vamba Sherif (47). In his new, autobiographical book Unprecedented Love, the Liberian-born writer tells his troubled life story to his daughter Bendu. An ode to his homeland and the most important women in his life. I was born into a learned and influential family. The Sherifs...
Arts '92 means business. The umbrella of all umbrella organisations in the arts sector, which kept on poldering when everyone had long since gone into business for themselves, is angry. And rightly so. Enough has happened this week to break down the last shred of trust between the art world and the government. To the point where there was even note-busting over whether the opening up of sex work and...
Jeroen Bartelse is not only director of TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the former director of the Council for Culture is also a prominent member of the Taskforce that lobbies for the cultural and creative sector to support culture in times of Corona. Marijn Lems and Wijbrand Schaap look back with him on the first corona year, summarised in...
As part of its 75th anniversary, Eye Film Museum is making 75 restored classics available on this year's Eye Player. A fine collection, even if something is sometimes left to be desired.
A devil child she was called, and that is how her parents treated her. Angélique van Deursen (51) was mistreated and abused for 25 years. It marked her for life, but did not completely destroy her. Even though it would have been close. Angélique van Deursen (r.) and journalist Maria Genova (l.) Two fathers 'As a child I felt I had two fathers....
With journalist Bianca Stigter's book Atlas of an occupied city, you walk through today's reality, as it were, with historical virtual reality glasses on. An extra layer appears over the familiar backdrop of Amsterdam's streets: of World War II occupation. What wartime past is hidden in the streets and behind the facades? Atlas...
Today, both Koninklijke Horeca Nederland and the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce announced that testing to enter somewhere is controversial as far as they are concerned. The Taskforce wants to enforce testing for entry only in extreme cases, and not for cultural attractions that are already demonstrably safe. In fact, the hospitality industry finds testing completely unmentionable,...
It was Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of OC&W who, under pressure from the unions, called for the Fair Practice Code in the cultural sector. One of its components is fair and market-based payment of artists. And what is the first thing that happens, now that society opens up somewhat during the Fieldlab Events? The artists are doing this for free, pro...
Distributor Cinéart, which specialises mainly in European arthouse, presents the Directors' Collection. New and old work by leading film authors.
'Why I commemorate? Because I am so afraid of what might happen if we forget.' I said this to my iPhone a few weeks ago, relatively happily, on my easy chair in the sun in the backyard. I had a glass of white wine in reach and I was enjoying the suburban spring - a white, content...
Many avid readers will dream of their favourite author sitting at their table one day, talking about her work. Perhaps just as many avid readers will take their dream author on a stroll, want to drink lamb on a café terrace or take them to a darkroom. Or to a classical concert at the Concertgebouw. All can be done. Some will even just...
For years, writer and reviewer Dries Muus (36) beat around the bush. Until he realised he could, or rather had to, use a drastic event from his own life for his debut novel The Deviation. Stiff Two accomplished manuscripts ended up in the bin before Parool reviewer Dries Muus' debut novel saw the light of day. But third time's the charm, and after...
TivoliVredenburg is a building like a festival. countless stages, bars, a café and a restaurant, hundreds of people at work, thousands inside on a night. I always came there too little. But when I did get there, it was a party. A building run by and attended by super-motivated people with only one goal: as much music as possible for as many people as possible. Until...
'We think we can think diversely, but ultimately there has to be an exchange in that thinking. Then you also have to let other perspectives come in. So you don't have to come up with it all by yourself.' Samora Bergtop has views on theatre criticism and how it could come out of its white bubble. Marijn lems and yours truly enter the conversation
The 35th(!) edition of Reis door de nacht, the classic novel written by Anne de Vries, was published recently. As a ten-year-old boy, I sympathised intensely with the war adventures of Jan de Boer and his family members. The book is also a metaphor for my own struggle against darkness. It is a lovely spring day. In the ditch, a duck swims with her...
A night walk where, for once, it is not about talking to each other, or exercising the muscles, but about being very aware of where you are. Mindfulness as a theatre experience, then, and if all the coronagraph remains against us, the only part of the Holland Festival that can go on live because of sufficient distance and outside. It needs to be that bad...
Is the government generous and generous for once, it's no good again. You could say that after I received questions from various quarters about the corona grant for free productions announced by the Performing Arts Fund last week. The amount in question is €27 million, for a total of 251 producers, so an average of a tonne per application. With that...
'The task force is critical of the costs and the course of events surrounding the assignment to the Open Netherlands Foundation. Parliamentary questions have now been asked about this; we await the minister's answers to these.' So it is somewhere at the bottom of Kunsten'92's weekly update, but it is clear. That whole pilot with quick tests evokes rather mixed feelings. The interest group...
Last Friday, we reported on the rather mysterious and lacking in transparency surrounding the pilots to reopen theatres and museums. The questions we asked in that article have now been partly answered thanks to the efforts of 3 contributors to Follow The Money (FTM), and the answers they found are not reassuring. Just a recap:...
When Jeffrey Meulman (52) took office as director of the Theatre Festival in 2005, it needed to become more audience-friendly. Instead of a presentation of 'the most important theatre', the board that appointed him wanted to make a celebration of the most beautiful theatre. Meulman went to work, successfully, but the most important thing he did was to establish a 'fringe': an alternative...
Godfried Bomans died half a century ago. Almost immediately afterwards, the Netherlands' best-loved writer sank into oblivion. It is time for a reappraisal of Bomans' literary work and even his political views. I delved into the archives, also looking for the few traces of Bomans in Amersfoort. First some round figures. Seventy years ago, he delivered a lecture...
Payments are made via iDeal, Paypal, Credit Card, Bancontact or Direct Debit. If you prefer to pay manually, based on an invoice in advance, we charge a 10€ administration fee
*Only for annual membership or after 12 monthly payments
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français
You must be logged in to post a comment.