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

Podcast! Editie 2022 baadt in zomerwarmte en vindt een nieuw hart. (lyrisch? Ja.) #tfboulevard

We maken halverwege deze editie van Theaterfestival Boulevard in Den Bosch de balans op. Host Wijbrand Schaap doet dat samen met Dana Kibbelaar, sinds dit jaar lid van de tweehoofdige directie (met Tessa Smeulers), schrijver en journalist Jowi Schmitz, danscriticus Helen Westerik, en de makers Oscar Kocken en Jellie Schippers. We hebben het over wat er zo bijzonder is aan… 

Boulevard opent midden in de tijdgeest met welkom ongemak en een ode aan fake news #tfboulevard

Het leek er even op of we in een live versie waren terecht gekomen van The Square, maar het was gewoon de officiële openingsvoorstelling van Theaterfestival Boulevard in Den Bosch. Nu staat dat festival mijlenver van de inzichzelfgekeerde elitaire kunstwereld die in die Deense film wordt opgeschrikt door een menselijke gorilla-act die volledig uit de hand loopt, maar ongemakkelijk was… 

IN PERSPECTIEF 8: Wil de laatste kunstenaar het licht uitdoen?

In de serie In Perspectief kijkt Erik Akkermans terug en vooruit naar ontwikkelingen in cultuurbeleid en -praktijk. Vandaag: kunstenaarsbelangen. Boven het kindercircus Op de begane grond van het pand aan de Passeerdersgracht in Amsterdam huisde kindercircus Elleboog. Op de tweede verdieping zaten de schaakbonden: de nationale bond en de internationale federatie FIDE van Max Euwe die je soms in persoon… 

Storytellers wanted for ILFU Storytelling Competition 2022

Deze zomer wordt voor de derde keer de ILFU Verhalenwedstrijd georganiseerd. De enige interdisciplinaire verhalenwedstrijd van Nederland staat open voor verhalen in alle vormen. Proza, films, poëzie, fotografie, non-fictie, columns, strips, spoken word, muziek of TikToks: alle verhalen zijn welkom. Want bij ILFU vinden we dat goede verhalen op allerlei manieren verteld kunnen worden. Er zijn vijf categorieën om in… 

Happy faces, a reunion with old acquaintances, water, cake and a magical moment: press presentation Of Cotton and Water

Happy faces, a reunion with old friends, water, cake and a magical moment that closed the day with a golden edge. On Wednesday, the Stadslab on the Indiëterrein in Almelo was the stage for the press presentation of the theatre performance Van Katoen en Water. The headline is off. Wednesday saw the kick-off of a unique city musical that will bring Almelo and the surrounding area... 

Playing with shapes in first Dutch solo exhibition by Andrea Canepa (Peru)

Voor haar eerste solotentoonstelling in Nederland heeft de Peruaanse kunstenaar Andrea Canepa (Lima, 1980) de Aula-ruimte van de Appel tot haar beschikking als de locatie voor haar voortdurende onderzoek naar de organisatie van de fysieke en sociale structuren, ofwel organisatiesystemen, die ons dagelijkse leven vormgeven. Canepa laat zien dat hoewel de ruimtelijke en architecturale parameters van deze organisatiesystemen duidelijk gemarkeerd kunnen lijken,… 

Podcast. Theatre Festival Boulevard prepares for grand edition: 'We have to keep looking for each other'

‘We zijn gewend om in uitersten te denken. Het is nog de enige manier om gehoord te worden. Luide actie is het enige wat nog telt, lijkt het. We moeten er daarom op blijven letten dat we nieuwsgierig blijven naar waar die actie vandaan komt, welke wens er leeft. Die persoonlijke aandacht is nodig, om onder dat actievoeren te kruipen… 

Anthony Heidweiller: Secretary of State, come up with a Delta Plan for a fundamental place of art in society.

Let's start yesterday with a fundamental dialogue with the entire arts sector, using the vitality and creativity of the arts as inspiration, both for the sector itself and for society as a whole. Our sector talking, thinking, participating, deciding! in good times and in bad times. Never be silent again ...

Into the open: dancing on stage and in the auditorium

A dance concert with a standing audience promises to be something new. Because how often does it happen that in the audience, whipped up by music and dance, you have to sit on your hands. This sounds like the outcome! We get to watch and move ourselves to Krautrock, mixed with trance-like repetitive parts. Lisbeth Gruwez and Maarten van Cauwenberghe invite us... 

There is still romance in the Royal Conservatory of Dance's dance performance. But for how long?

Amare hosted for the first time the final performances of one of the new residents of The Hague's cultural colossus: the dance department of the Royal Conservatoire. What stands out. The pandemic over Last year, in the old conservatory, a maximum of 50 visitors could attend the final performance, with mouth caps on and with two chairs away from each other. The new dance theatre in Amare... 

NOMINATIONS BNG BANK CIRCUS AWARD 2022

On 10 July 2022, the four nominees for this prize were announced for the BNG Bank Circus Prize 2022. From 32 graduation acts from the two Dutch higher vocational circus schools, the jury selected four that have a chance of winning the €5,000 prize. The nominees are; - Fenja Barteldres (Codarts) with her cyr wheel act 'Cyrrealism' - Harvey Cobb (Codarts) with his object manipulation act 'Something about Pink'... 

Shabnam Baqhiri (born 1996) studies Writing for Performance at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU). She wrote the autobiographical text Kankerthee, which she is developing through this summer in residency with Theatre Group Aluin.

Shabnam and Theatre Group Aluin meet as part of her directing internship for the performance I Say Sorry. Aluin considers it important to give young people with an interest in text theatre the opportunity to develop as autonomous creators. Being able to create alongside your writing can be a great added value. This residency gives Shabnam... 

November Music 2022 presents 30th edition with record number of concerts and premieres

 3 to 13 November in 's-Hertogenbosch Never before have so many new works been heard as during the upcoming edition of festival November Music. With no fewer than 50 premieres by makers and performers from home and abroad, 21 composition commissions and more than 100 different concerts, the 30th edition of November Music shows how diverse and vital the latest music is. November Music... 

Louise LeCavaliers Stations is a dialogue with space and the limits of the body

Expectations are high for Stations, the latest work by dancer and choreographer Louise Lecavalier. She has been a household name in the dance world for decades, first as dancer and muse of Edouard Lockes La La La Human Steps, and since 2006 with her own Fou Glorieux. Her intensity and athletic abilities are impressive, she terrifies the limits of her body. Also. 

Getting rich off corona: Rick Engelkes makes a bid for top prize with non-existent musical

Nice scoop from the Noord Hollands Dagblad today. Rick Engelkes, the perpetually wobbly soap opera actor who learnt the trade as a successful producer at Joop van den Ende, devised a musical that was never performed because of coronasteun. It earned him millions. Read the story here. Tl;dr: Engelkes announced in 2020 that he was working on a musical to... 

Rotterdam heading for 'new triangular relationship' with culture

There has been quite a lot going on around Rotterdam's Arts and Culture Council recently. For instance, based on a ramshackle investigation, to say the least, the alderman had rather bluntly decided to abolish the independent advisory body. It is too self-serving for his officials. His decision was debated at length at a City Council meeting in late June. Redundant debate... 

Peter Brook died. He gave theatre the ability to be universal

It was announced today that the great theatre innovator Peter Brook has died. He was 97 years old. In those years, he became one of the world's most influential directors and theatre innovators. He sought world-wide stories and told them through actors who were as diverse as the stories he told. I visited his theatre a few times,... 

IN PERSPECTIVE 5 - From order and power to student and power - On mergers and discomfort in arts education

"Miss, please give me the minister!". Henk Vonhoff's voice sounded as commanding as it was eloquent as he addressed his secretary over the intercom. Vonhoff was commissioner of the Queen in Groningen, but also chairman of the supervisory committee of the Groningen State University of Applied Sciences, the only college still directly under the minister. We, faculty directors, were at... for the umpteenth time. 

Perhaps we are all ready for low-incentive art

4 million Dutch people have a brain disorder. The Brain Foundation comes up with that figure in a campaign to make people more aware of the consequences of brain injury. Often that injury leads to extreme sensitivity to stimuli. Then loud noise, bright light or sharp smell is suddenly a big problem. People affected by these can find it difficult to go outside. That is why ... 

Carlos Gonçalves (Rotterdam Arts and Culture Council): 'According to the alderman, we have committed mortal sins.'

When he was appointed chairman of Rotterdam's Arts and Culture Council in December 2021, nothing seemed wrong. But less than six months later, he is virtually on the street now that Arts alderman Said Kasmi (D66) has decided to disband the Rotterdam advisory council. After 17 years. Gonçalves is baffled, certainly... 

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Incidents of cross-border behaviour just tip of the iceberg

Grensoverschrijdend gedrag in de cultuur- en mediasector is een hardnekkig en urgent probleem dat niet eenvoudig kan worden opgelost. Het oplopend aantal meldingen van de afgelopen tijd laat alleen het topje van de ijsberg zien. Dat staat in het advies ‘Over de grens, op weg naar een gedeelde cultuur’ dat de Raad voor Cultuur vandaag heeft aangeboden aan staatssecretaris Gunay… 

Turning against the dying of the light at the direction of Katie Mitchell #HF22

If humanity goes extinct, there has been a woman somewhere who was the last not to have a child. To whom does that honour belong? At the Holland Festival, an ensemble of 12 performers now perform a requiem for that last non-mother. Actress and singer Joy Wielkens is the extraordinarily disarming high priestess in this at times quite heavy evening, in which the end of... 

Yemandja, in setless version, is very much neatly American though.

Het getuigt of van enorm lef, of van grenzeloze naïviteit, om een musical te maken waarin een slavenhandelaar in Afrika door een liedje bekeerd wordt tot een leven in liefde en respect voor de medemens. Toch is Yemandja, het stuk dat in een decorloze uitvoering werd gebracht in het Holland Festival, eigenlijk precies dat.  Ik zou het ook kunnen uitleggen… 

IN PERSPECTIVE #4: International solidarity.

In the series In Perspective, Erik Akkermans looks back and ahead at developments in cultural policy and practice. Today: international solidarity. When Hans van Manen does want to receive Russians Scene 1. White House lawn On the lawn in front of the White House, first lady Pat Nixon1 walks past the assembled choirs singing to her. Suddenly, during a silent moment, the... 

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