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

Paolo Giordano ©Marc Brester-aquattroman.co.uk

Where to find solace and safety in a shaky world? Bestselling author Paolo Giordano searches for a Tasmania

What do you hold on to when not only the world is tottering, but also your own life? Where then can you find a safe place, a future? That is what Tasmania, Paolo Giordano's new book, is about. Crisis What came first: the worries about climate change and other world crises, or the crisis in his own life? The first-person narrator in Tasmania, a... 

Amsterdam Museum - photo by Gert-Jan van Rooij

Amsterdam Museum books successful year 2022

The Amsterdam Museum - despite the impact of the corona pandemic and the move to a new temporary main location - had a successful year in 2022. The museum's exhibitions and public programmes attracted many visitors at various locations. The museum's pop-up exhibition at the National Monument on Dam Square was visited from mid-June to... 

Midjourney AI makes this at the prompt 'people giving donations to a journalist'

These 28 unique stories generated the most donations in 2022!

As you know, Culture Press is an important voice in cultural news coverage. We were founded in 2009, at a time when all newspapers and broadcasters were reducing their arts editorships, and many zzp arts journalists were on the street. Publishers no longer wanted to pay for what they called 'low-hanging fruit' (reviews, interviews, announcements). Culture Press jumped into that gap, and in the nearly 14... 

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Culture Council seeks young people and students for Youth Platform

Is art and culture of and for everyone? Is it also there for young people? What do they find important about art, culture and media? To get answers to these questions, the Culture Council is setting up a Youth Platform. The council is looking for young people aged between 15 and 20 who want to share their views on art, culture and... 

Cinedans WEB Special: Inevitable Dances.

From 16 to 18 December, Cinedans WEB presents WEB Special: Inevitable Dances. Available online at Cinedans WEB, the programme consists of the documentary When Arabs Danced by director Jawad Rhalib and four dance shorts by makers from Iran, Lebanon and Egypt. The programme is offered free of charge at https://cinedans.nl/inevitable-dances/ A donation is appreciated and benefits filmmakers in need. With. 

Advice sought on application and assessment process BIS 25-28

The Culture Council is expected to issue an advice to state secretary Uslu (OCW) in March 2023 on the application and assessment process for the Cultural Basic Infrastructure for the period 2025-2028 (BIS 25-28). This was requested by the state secretary. To arrive at the advice, the council has, among other things, appointed a temporary committee for the part of its advice request that... 

created by Midjourney AI with the prompt: black female artist exposition

The art world is still white and male.

The website where the Dutch umbrella organisation of museums, the Museum Association, keeps track of audience and number of people employed by its members was unreachable today. Perhaps that is because today the leading website Artnet also came out with revealing figures on the arts sector in the US. The report, titled The Burns Halperin Report, includes an overview of the... 

'Someday I will allow myself to cry.' Roberto Saviano made a graphic novel about his devastated life after 'Gomorrah'

Since Roberto Saviano published his book Gomorrah and incurred the hatred of the Italian mafia, he has been living in hiding. What that is like, the graphic novel I'm still alive shows and feels razor-sharp. Roberto Saviano is 12 when he witnesses at first hand the murder of a man in his neighbourhood by the mafia. Fifteen years later,... 

'Don't shoot the rapper!' - The 3 things I learnt from No Man's Land 2022 #nml22

1: The artificial distinction between pros and amateurs encourages exploitation. In the Netherlands, 115 writers can live off the sale of their books. The rest of the people who call themselves writers do so as a side income. In pop music, the figures won't be much different. Writers with a few euros earning on their Lira statement will not... 

'Versace broke the traditional male-female image' - exhibition on fashion designer and 'kitsch king' Gianni Versace at Groninger Museum 

Why is the largest retrospective on Italian designer Gianni Versace yet on show in Groningen? "Why not?" jokes Andreas Blühm, general director of the Groninger Museum. Indeed, it seems like a bizarre choice, but if you look a little closer, you will discover a few commonalities between the museum in the down-to-earth north and the maximalism of Gianni Versace, who on 2... 

IN PERSPECTIVE #12: Matthijs' Sizes - Lessons in leadership.

The first 10 years of leadership were over. It seemed high time for refresher training: take a breath, stand back, acquire new skills and knowledge. But what and where? There were no specific offers for leadership in the arts. There was the option of going to Banff, Canada, for a then unique culture-focused management course. A single cultural manager... 

Nerd podcast Live: Marijn Lems, Erik Snel and Bran Remie on the value of audience and the need for criticism

Culture Press' new series of geek podcasts is about how to make theatre connect with your audience, and what happens when professional viewers continue to watch in their own way. And it's about the ambitions of 'the region'. So we also talk to Bran Remie, author and creator of the successful Enschede theatre series 'Huize Enschede', elsewhere on... 

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More cultural cooperation with Ukraine

Het kabinet maakt van Oekraïne een zogeheten focusland op het gebied van internationaal cultuurbeleid. Dat heeft staatssecretaris Uslu (Cultuur en Media) bekendgemaakt tijdens een overleg met Europese cultuurministers in Brussel. Door die status zijn er meer mogelijkheden voor culturele samenwerking, investeringen en uitwisseling. Staatssecretaris Uslu: ‘Juist nu is het belangrijk om ook op cultureel gebied samen te werken. Alles van… 

Amsterdam Museum acquires artwork Aukje Dekker about first female mayor

The Amsterdam Museum has acquired the work Woman on top (2022) by artist Aukje Dekker. The work, which Dekker uses to highlight the fact that Femke Halsema is Amsterdam's first female mayor, was officially unveiled on Tuesday in Mayor Halsema's office at City Hall. The work Woman on top (2022) by Aukje Dekker (visual artist, co-founder Sociëteit Sexyland) consists... 

Comfort Birds

Grieving well for the loss of a loved one does not lead to Prozac or a shrink. On the contrary, a little life skill helps, as in 'Grief is the thing with feathers' by Max Porter, Jacob Derwig and Erik Whien. Once, after tragedy struck my family, I used to console myself by reading aloud the picture book Frog and the Little Bird by Max... 

First names Holland Festival 2023

De Amerikaanse zangeres, componist en choreograaf Meredith Monk presenteert in de 76e editie van het Holland Festival de wereldpremière van haar nieuwe werk Indra’s Net. De Belgische regisseur Lisaboa Houbrechts ensceneert een familie-epos dat drie generaties overspant: Vake Poes; of hoe God verdween. De Mexicaans-Chileense choreograaf Amanda Piña blaast met voorstelling EXÓTICA nieuw leven in werk van de in vergetelheid… 

Erik Whien moves on the inclusion wave, in dialogue

Directeur Alida Dors zet bij Theater Rotterdam in op inclusie. Wat betekent dit voor een 44-jarige witte regisseur met groot succes met een traditioneel publiek, zoals nu met ‘Verdriet is het ding met veren’? Een vraaggesprek. “Het theater van Erik Whien draait om de mens. Om het hoofd en alles wat daarin gebeurt. Elk mens heeft gedachten, in de geest… 

Golden theatre formula attracts unreachable audience - Hundreds of students at Huize Enschede theatre series

How do you get young people into your auditorium? Almost every theatre struggles with that question. Bran Remie (35), programmer and theatre maker at Wilminktheatre and Muziekcentrum Enschede, succeeds. With the online and offline theatre series Huize Enschede, about student life in that city. Students are hard to get to the theatre. Theatres do their best, with targeted marketing and special promotions... 

Hoe winnen we de ironie terug van extremisten? 

Wie in het werk van de mij tot nu toe volslagen onbekende schilder Rein Dool iets anders dan ironie ziet (zoals de schilder het ook heeft beschreven in een item op tv), heeft niet goed opgelet bij colleges literatuur- en kunstgeschiedenis. Rein Dool schilderde in 1974 een portret van het toenmalige College van Bestuur van de Leidsche Universiteit. We zien… 

Monday debate day. Follow our famous pointing updates live! (not just via the birther network) #tkculture

We grew up with it: live tweets from the heart of our democracy. Now, of course, debates on culture in recent years have been a bit different from what we expect now. There is no longer a need to fight over the reputation of the arts, as there was during all debates until a year ago. What is it about now? Energy, thinking... 

Master Talk with IDFA guest Laura Poitras: why her work can be an inspiration to today's activists.

Following the screening of her Venice Golden Lion-winning All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, committed and critical documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras had a good chat with IDFA's artistic director Orwa Nyrabia at Carré. About her discovery of the documentary world, her outrage at American politics and how she also learned to see hope.

Van Binsbergen brings shimmering South African story in sound and language #novembermusic

A trombone screeching like an elephant, violins like imploring songbirds and an oboe rippling a scale like a stream: so opens A Skin of Sound, a performance featuring winds, string instruments, percussion, a South African poet and a pop singer. With bated breath, dozens of visitors in the Great Hall of the Bossche Verkadefabriek listened to the premiere of this shimmering piece.... 

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Millions for libraries

Millions of extra euros will go to public libraries in the coming years. State Secretary Uslu (Culture and Media) wants to use that money to ensure that every municipality has a future-oriented library facility. Specifically, that means filling gaps in the physical library network and expanding the online library. Linked to this, Uslu also wants to establish a duty of care for municipalities,... 

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The power of creativity - culture at the heart of society

Making culture more accessible, fairer remuneration for cultural and creative professionals, and making more use of creative brainpower in major social issues. These are key principles of cultural policy in the coming years. The Council of Ministers has approved the Long-term Letter on Culture by State Secretary Uslu (Culture and Media). In this letter, titled 'The power of creativity', the state secretary sets out how she will... 

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