All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
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...
It is high time for collective action, now that arts organisations have closed and activities are at a standstill. Plea for a support fund for culture, to which governments, funds and companies contribute in unison. We all notice it: live cultural offerings are at a standstill due to the coronavirus. Much has been written and talked about the importance and value of culture in recent weeks. That...
'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...
Cultural institutions in the province of Utrecht say they "fear for the survival of the province's finely-meshed arts and culture sector" in a letter to the Provincial Executive and Provincial Council. They are sounding the alarm about the consequences of the corona measures. The letter was drafted by over a hundred institutions: venues, both larger ones in Amersfoort and Utrecht and smaller ones in other municipalities, museums,...
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....
The Advisory Multi-Year Policy Plan Arts and Culture 2021-2024 for The Hague was presented online on Friday 24 April. What stands out for dance in this City of Dance? Inclusion and diversity What at least stands out is that in the plan, the word 'inclusion' appears 110 times and 'diversity' 96 times. Then you know what time it is. Yet the Advisory Committee also gives...
'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...
It is with great regret that the Holland Festival is forced to cancel the 73rd edition, which was to take place from 4 to 28 June 2020. The corona pandemic's persistent, domestic and foreign restrictions and uncertainties make it impossible for the international performing arts festival to take place. The ongoing, restrictive measures that the central government had to announce 21 April last,...
The Cabinet is allocating an extra three hundred million euros to cushion the damage of the corona crisis in the cultural and creative sector. This is an important step in the right direction and will actually help a number of institutions get over the bridge. By doing so, the cabinet is also sending a signal: that culture matters. Moreover, Rutte and his...
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...
I love the passion and love with which everyone in the cultural sector works. There is a conviction and perseverance behind it that can be compared to a faith. The belief that art is essential to society. Driven by a primal feeling, we bite into it and won't let go. But weren't we all...
'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...
Netflix and the Netherlands Film Fund today announced the establishment of a new support fund. This is to provide help to collaborators on film and TV productions that have come to a standstill due to corona. Netflix is making €1 million available for this purpose. An amount comparable to the budget of a small Dutch feature film. This is part of a broader package of...
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...
Update Wednesday 15-4, 16:00: this afternoon, the government has decided to come over as yet with additional schemes for the cultural sector, which are now no longer taken out of the culture budget. Apparently, the massive pressure helped. We will let you know when more is known about it. Update Wednesday 15-4, 20:00: Drop in the ocean arrived, leaving the below message only....
The Culture Council will soon be commissioned to produce a plan for the cultural sector to survive the one-and-a-half-meter society. The commitment of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science is, to solve this within the existing financial frameworks. This is what sources at the top of that ministry have reported.
'When the lockdown came, we actually decided right away to continue, but online. So we opened digital studios.' Like so many others, the Hague Theatre House also entered the digital world of Zoom, the app with which Culture Press also records podcasts remotely. 'People rehearse for presentations and performances. We have created a talent environment for that. An online place with films,...
We take a post from the site 'Cultuurmarketing.nl', adding that the main purpose of the scheme is also to compensate the creators, the performing artists. So don't think: "my theatre gets subsidy, right?", because that subsidy is usually just enough to pay the rent. Performances are almost always paid for directly from ticket sales: Comin' To...
We always try to look for a bright spot anyway, but sometimes you just have to let it go. On Monday 6 April 2020, we brought you a post on how the corona crisis is having long after-effects, which have been casting their shadow for at least a year. Today, we talk to Victorine Plante and Erik Snel of Alum, the bringer of that first post. In the...
Earlier this week, Minister Van Engelshoven appealed to the public to start donating en masse "to your favourite (cultural) institution". She also hinted at her willingness to explore within the cabinet the extent to which donations to cultural institutions can be made extra attractive as an income tax deduction at this very moment. Meanwhile, however, within...
Utrecht-based theatre group Aluin is in dire straits. Like all other theatre companies, they cannot do their work, and performances have been postponed or cancelled. That it does not only apply to ongoing tours is now apparent. Performances scheduled for autumn and next spring have also been cancelled. The company reports this in a press release. Alum would...
Lot Douze delivers to your home. By bicycle. With her bookshop Over Het Water, she focuses very specifically on her neighbourhood, Amsterdam Noord. Now that everyone has to stay at home as much as possible because of the corona situation, she experiences an increase in demand. Online, customers in Amsterdam Noord now also know how to find her well. Because of her customer focus, she has a...
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