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ACTUAL

All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.

6 Reasons why Holland Festival 2014 will be the best ever. And War Horse.

 "The only one who still dares to go for the elite". On the way to the car park under the Passengers Terminal Amsterdam, the retired newspaper reviewer who once had a page on music sighed at the feeling of his part of society. It was after the press conference where the programme of Holland Festival 2014 was presented. He was talking, as we sank deeper and deeper, about Pierre Audi, the artistic director of that Holland Festival, who this year announced his last - and most glorious - programme ever.

Read More "6 Reasons why Holland Festival 2014 will be the best ever. And War Horse.

The surreal break from Soesterberg is almost over. Now go and enjoy it.

Even if war breaks out today, fighter jets will no longer land there. 200,000 visitors a year is the minimum they need now, at Soesterberg. The former air base in the heart of the Netherlands, where until 2009 a squadron of F15 jet fighters stood ready to teach the then enemy, the communists, a lesson, is coming into the hands of the public. The developer is putting the finishing touches to the Military Aviation Museum there. Small parts of the five-kilometre-long runway are being ploughed over, and a few hangars are being put to use as repositories of art.

Read More "The surreal break from Soesterberg is almost over. Now go and enjoy it.

'Limited measurement': minister throws Berenschot report in wastebasket

Minister Bussemaker thinks it is far too early to sound the alarm about the cuts municipalities are yet to make on culture. Research firm Berenschot had earlier this year calculated that many percent would still come off the local culture budget. Our own resources told that Berenschot was still on the sunny side. According to the minister, however, the study is too limited: only 65 municipalities were checked, and besides, it is still far too early.

Read More "'Limited measurement': minister throws Berenschot report in wastebasket

Star. Five times. And then Symphony Orchestra.

Five-star Symphony Orchestra. This is how the Dutch Symphony Orchestra will be called next season. The former Orkest van het Oosten tried to become 'Dutch' but faced a lawsuit from the Philharmonic Orchestra, which was already 'Dutch'. 'Politics should get involved in the legal process. Because it can't go on like this. This is costing tons of money.' Says Harm Mannak.

Read More "Star. Five times. And then Symphony Orchestra.

Greco and Scholten divide attention between CCN Ballet Nationale de Marseille and ICK Amsterdam

Minister Filipetti has given the green light. Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten will be indeed the new artistic directors of CNN Ballet National de Marseille. A company with 30 dancers, 60 employees in total, in a building with 9 studios and a theatre. Who in the Netherlands still gets that done?

Read More "Greco and Scholten divide attention between CCN Ballet Nationale de Marseille and ICK Amsterdam

Emio Greco will 'maybe' lead CCN Ballet de Marseille.

[UPDATE 19-2-2014: meanwhile, the appointment is final]

This week, French media surfaced messages on that Emio Greco is the only candidate left to become Frédéric Flamand's successor at the CCN Ballet National de Marseille. However, the culture minister has yet to confirm the appointment, ICKamsterdam reported.

Read More "Emio Greco will 'maybe' lead CCN Ballet de Marseille.
Pascal Schut. Photo: Hans Gerritsen

The audience speaks: Pascal Schut and Davide Cocchiara best dancers of 2013

The winners of the Dans Publieksprijs 2013 have been announced. On Friday 14 February, the prizes, divided into seven categories, will be awarded at The Hague's Theater aan het Spui. Besides winners Pascal Schut (Introdans) and Davide Cocchiara (The Red Piece), they are choreographers Conny Jansen Danst for the performance 'How Long is Now' and Isabelle Beernaert for the performance 'Red, Yellow & Blue'.

Read More "The audience speaks: Pascal Schut and Davide Cocchiara best dancers of 2013

World premiere in Berlin of Dutch 3D experiment Above Us All by Eugenie Jansen

Contrary to what some expected a few years ago, 3D in artistic film is still a rarity. So then, when something pops up in this corner again, it immediately makes one curious. And so I don't mean Cathedrals of Culture, the 3D film project by Wim Wenders and five other filmmakers starring buildings. That Wenders is a 3D believer we already knew.

I mean that other 3D premiere at the Berlin festival: Above Us All of the Dutch

Read More "World premiere in Berlin of Dutch 3D experiment Above Us All by Eugenie Jansen

Breaking: Rotterdam art fair changes name for fear of trousers factory

You can still eat a raw egg in English, but you can no longer use the word RAW for almost anything to do with style. Therefore, the RAW Art Fair is to be renamed next year. Sources at the organisers of the Rotterdam Art Week Art Fair confirm that this may have avoided a dragging court case.

Read More "Breaking: Rotterdam art fair changes name for fear of trousers factory

Peter Eötvös writes DoReMi for violinist Midori

For years he was a conductor who also composed, but after operas such as Le balcon and Angels in America Hungarian Peter Eötvös (1944) is now a composer who also conducts. On Friday 21 February, he leads the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra in Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn in the Dutch premiere of his Violin Concerto No 2, DoReMi, which he composed in 2012 for Japanese violinist Midori. - I spoke to him last week.

Read More "Peter Eötvös writes DoReMi for violinist Midori
Art Rotterdam Van Nellefabriek

The 15 toppers of contemporary art in Rotterdam, for those who missed it

Art Rotterdam is the leading contemporary art fair in the Netherlands. This year, as many as 96 galleries presented artworks by many more artists. Added to this, the same fair featured a video art section under the title Art Rotterdam Projections, a section of affordable art at WeLikeArt! and a section that featured as many as 92 artists featured in 2012 were honoured with a start-up grant from the Mondriaan Fund. The Van Nelle factory was bursting at the seams from it.

Read More "The 15 toppers of contemporary art in Rotterdam, for those who missed it

Nymphomaniac Vol. I in Berlin: half an hour longer, still the same film, still just as good

Lars von Trier is present at the Berlinale, wearing a T-shirt with the Cannes logo and the text 'persona non grata'. This refers to the riot at Cannes after his failed joke about Hitler. Since then, he has said nothing to the press. So we see on the monitor in the press room on Sunday afternoon

Read More "Nymphomaniac Vol. I in Berlin: half an hour longer, still the same film, still just as good

64th Berlin Film Festival opens with Wes Anderson's eccentric tragicomedy Grand Budapest Hotel

Imagine an old-fashioned sophisticated comedy, but filmed with modern speed, in the colourful and baroque style of a richly detailed comic strip full of plots and escapes, rounded off with a perfume of melancholy. Then you come close to The Grand Budapest Hotel, the new film by

Read More "64th Berlin Film Festival opens with Wes Anderson's eccentric tragicomedy Grand Budapest Hotel

4 reasons why the arts are going to lose a lot more. Municipal culture congress wrongly optimistic

It was ball in Rotterdam on Thursday, 30 January. At the Municipal Culture Congress, a few hundred officials, local politicians and arts organisations gathered to talk about where they could help each other. It was supposed to be a positive day. There had been long enough complaining and arguing: look ahead, hopeful into the future. Even if the worst is yet to come.

Read More "4 reasons why the arts are going to lose a lot more. Municipal culture congress wrongly optimistic

5 lessons from a Tilburg riot: superficial newspaper determines superficial cultural politics

Regional newspapers hardly do any real cultural journalism anymore. We know this, because it was the reason why we Culture Press once founded have. How bad things are now, five years later, with art in the region and the way the newspaper handles it, was evident this month in Tilburg.

Read More "5 lessons from a Tilburg riot: superficial newspaper determines superficial cultural politics

Municipalities pass on most cuts to the arts

Culture cuts have now reached 450 million euros. The Lower House earlier decided on cuts of 200 million. The cut in the municipal budget by the same House of Representatives now leads to a further cut of 250 million euros. This is calculated by research firm Berenschot in a report which will be presented on Thursday 30 January in Rotterdam.

Read More "Municipalities pass on most cuts to the arts

Reinbert de Leeuw defies limits of orchestra in Saturday Matinee

Reinbert de Leeuw turned seventy-five last September, but already in May the VPRO honoured him with three full-length broadcasts on Radio 4. Together with Aad van Nieuwkerk, I made a selection from his best recordings of Kagel, Ustvolskaya and Louis Andriessen, among others, about which I also let him speak. This was followed in September by a real Reinbert festival and his own magazine. The magazine not only highlighted him... 

Read More "Reinbert de Leeuw defies limits of orchestra in Saturday Matinee

Video: why women don't play a role in art history, and how to (not) fix it

A sitcom they already have. Women. Girls is a resounding success, so who better than slightly snobby Girls star Jemima Kirke to explain why women have been kept out of art? Indeed. No one, they thought at the rather innovative Tate, and so they had her explain in a cheerful but also aptly-named way where things went wrong between the art world... 

Read More "Video: why women don't play a role in art history, and how to (not) fix it

Research shows: music taste is a matter of appointment and habituation

That we have a scale the way we do, and that we perceive certain chords as beautiful, is because we have learned it. And what we have learned is the result of agreements. In music, as in fine art or theatre, there is no absolute ideal to which artists should aspire. No absolute beauty, no divine spark, no heaven to which we all long to return, just a set of agreements.

Read More "Research shows: music taste is a matter of appointment and habituation

43rd Rotterdam Film Festival celebrates 25 years of Hubert Bals Fund with opening film Qissa

9,000 euros was the amount with which Indian director Anup Singh's Qissa got off the ground a decade ago. That money came from the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) affiliated Hubert Bals Fund (HBF), which has been supporting filmmakers in developing countries for 25 years now. Last night, Qissa opened the 43rd edition of the Rotterdam festival. This makes the port city world capital for independent film for ten days, as business director Janneke Starink stated at the opening in the Doelen.

Read More "43rd Rotterdam Film Festival celebrates 25 years of Hubert Bals Fund with opening film Qissa

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