All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to receive the Dutch Music Prize here today. Not only all the people who have helped me during the years of my trajectory and given me so much inspiration and motivation, but also everyone who has supported me from an early age in my...
In its advice for the BIS period 2021-2024, the Council for Culture strongly criticises Cinekid. What does director Heleen Rouw think of this?
Let's just start with the good news: De Staat is a regular fixture in the Netherlands from now on. And so we are talking about the band De Staat. Who make fantastic music videos these days. They have been promoted from a four-year grant with the Performing Arts Fund to a four-year grant according to the Cultural Basic Infrastructure (BIS). With 55 other newcomers. All weighed...
This is the recording of the presentation: And here is the full text of the press release. Explanation follows, but we will read first. More room for innovation and culture outside the Randstad provinces 04-06-2020 | 14:00 | The Hague The Council for Culture advises giving more institutions with innovative cultural offerings and institutions from outside the Randstad provinces the chance to be on...
As a professional art visitor, I rarely find myself in empty halls. Premieres are always full, press viewings and vernissages too. Full is of course very cool. Although those full rooms I am in then usually cost more money than they bring in, because the tickets are free and the drinks on the house. Outside the premiere, but especially outside the premiere city, the...
Men of colour in public spaces have no value. Their lives and well-being mean nothing. Muhammed Ali said something about this very early on: 'We are not second class citizens, that would actually be great. We are last class citizens, just not human enough.'
Minister of Education, Culture and Science Ingrid van Engelshoven spoke today at the invitation of Theatre Festival Boulevard with organisations and individual creators from Brabant about the impact of COVID-19. In the presence of the culture aldermen of the major cities and the new deputy for Leisure, Culture and Sport, the impact of the virus on the performing arts sector was mapped out. AND there was...
There does seem to be some prospect of better recognition of the needs of the cultural sector. That sector which did now receive a support package worth 300 million, about which all sorts of things are going on. But the Ministry of OCW is not the only one that deals with culture. Home Affairs too has to do with culture,...
Creators in the cultural and creative industries affected by the Corona crisis will soon be able to appeal to the Rights Sector Support Fund. Agreement was reached on Wednesday 27 May on the establishment of the support fund, which has a budget of 10 million euros available. Members of the Authors' Union can also start appealing to the fund. Where will the support fund...
Ingrid van Frankenhuyzen's article on the high pay for some directors in the arts sector (Forget KLM and Booking: directors are big earners in the subsidised arts too.), and Wijbrand Schaap's commentary on it in the Cultural Press Agency newsletter lack context. Why do I think so? Salaries within cultural institutions follow collective agreements/wage guidelines that are in place in the industries...
The coronavirus outbreak has a major impact on artists, creators and organisations in the cultural and creative field. The cabinet has therefore taken several measures, which institutions and creators in the sector can make use of. These include cabinet-wide generic measures, specific measures for the sector and an additional package of €300 million. Minister van Engelshoven: 'Despite the...
A few months ago, I reported via this site that Eurovision Song Contest wanted an orchestra to perform, for less than no money. The post, including follow-ups, was read just under a hundred thousand times, so can be assumed somewhat familiar. Yesterday, I received a press release from a rather expensive public relations agency, which the culture world took action on...
Just like in the world outside culture (call it capitalism), in the cultural sector itself you also see a huge payment gap between creators and 'the plush'. Only you can't talk about that taboo without being seen as a traitor.
Albania's National Theatre, recently declared a protected monument by Europa Nostra, was unexpectedly destroyed on Sunday, 17 May, after two years of protests. Early in the morning, when it was still dark, the bulldozers came. A sudden wave of policemen wearing mouth caps chased activists and artists out of the theatre and formed a cordon around the audience....
'At the beginning of March we were still a bit smiley about the virus, but a week later it became clear to me that we would be in serious trouble this year.' Johan Gijsen, director and founder of the Utrecht-based festival that brings together the most surprising artists from all genres of the international music world every November, is still visibly...
'The spontaneous and creative initiatives and emergency solutions devised by creators and institutions during the current lockdown show that the sector excels in innovativeness.' According to the Culture Council, the solutions already being experimented with must be made available to everyone. The Netherlands' highest cultural advisory body considers this necessary if we ever want to move forward in the...
The theatre seats, which served as the tractors of the arts in North Brabant on Friday 15 May 2020, have had an effect. At least, so it seems. Indeed, the province's Provincial Executive has restored the word "culture" to the budget. However, it appears to be a Pyrrhus victory, because at the same time the province is also not going to follow the agreements with the State, and...
'When the economic interests of involved parties outweigh the interests of the cultural sector, you end up getting movements like the ones we are seeing now in Brabant. Art makes itself more important than it is, and that sets off bad blood.' We have a conversation with Alexander Plooij, entrepreneur and once active in the cultural sector as a professional trumpet player, manager of music schools and...
Whether the 'cry for culture' ten years ago was the best response to the cuts announced then, I don't know, but just like then, I feel the urge to do something now. In response to a spontaneous statement of mine on Facebook, a still modest group of people emerged this weekend willing to commit to an idea...
'I have only met one person for more than 3 minutes in five weeks. I live alone, I see people at the groceries, I take walks and bike rides, but apart from that I don't see anyone live.' Rainer Hofmann, artistic director of Spring, is experiencing a very different spring than intended, thanks to Corona. This month, the major Utrecht festival of innovative art was supposed to...
Cultuurpers bestaat 11 jaar, en dat wilde ik vieren met een leuke blik in het archief. En toen kwam ik deze tegen. Uit 2011. Kijk maar deze minuut video en weet dat het niet te verwachten is dat een minister president in 9 jaar honderdtachtig graden van inzicht kan veranderen. Hier moet de lobby rekening mee houden. Wat zegt Mark…
Five days after the opening of the exhibition Bruno Taut: beyond imagination, museum Het Schip had to close. Alice Roegholt, director of this museum dedicated to the Amsterdam School, saw two years of preparation go up in smoke. But after only a few days she thought: 'Let's turn it around and look at what is possible.'....
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. Right after that, however, there will be 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...
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