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ACTUAL

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

Culture Press podcast, the Holland Festival edition: the most feminine festival ever?

The first half of the Holland Festival is pretty much over, so time for Team Culture Press to take a look at what that first half has brought us. A lot, according to Helen Westerik and Wijbrand Schaap, and also many real highlights. 'Perhaps the best edition in years.' Among other things, we discuss the intimate installation 'Evolution of Fearlessness', look back... 

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14 June Action Day Screenwriters Everywhere: Dutch screenwriters and directors in solidarity with striking US colleagues

On 14 June 2023, the Authors' Association's Screenwriters Network and the Dutch Directors Guild are joining the global day of action Screenwriters Everywhere. In doing so, we support the 11,500 members of the Writers Guild of America West and Writers Guild of America East, who have been on strike since 2 May. Actions are planned in more than 20 countries. Screenwriters in the... 

Summer concerts New Notes Amsterdam in Plein Theatre

This summer, Plein Theater and Nieuwe Noten Amsterdam present three contemporary music concerts, and after the summer, again monthly on Sunday afternoons! On the weekend of 17 and 18 June, the concerts are part of New Music NOW's Day of the Composer. NEW NOTES AMSTERDAM New Notes Amsterdam provides a stage for contemporary chamber music. New compositions and leading musicians, in... 

Seas and mountains of women in Walzer by Frieda Gustavs and Leo Erken

Banners from the Women's Suffrage Association, Haarlem Division show that things have changed over the past century. But banners of London suffragettes demanding equal pay for men and women make it clear that it is far from enough. The opening night of Walzer, the new VR installation at Eye celebrates women's lives. Dolle Mina's, suffragettes, Aletta Jacobs, nameless women who... 

image by Prophetiques by David Kadoule

Dancing into the night - Prophétique (on est déjà né-es) by Nadia Beugré splashes off the stage.

Sometimes the run-in to a performance is so pleasant that you hope everyone will continue to drone on for a bit. Make it last longer! It feels like you're at a rehearsal, or a private party, at a private event, where you can peek in. That is certainly the case with Prophétique (on est déjà né-es) by Nadia Beugré, which... 

Elon Musk's exploding rocket

What the Culture Council can learn from Elon Musk

News from the Culture Council: 'The four teams developed several building blocks, which they further concretised. In addition, the teams tested and enriched each other's ideas. At the end of the day, using visualisations, they presented their building blocks to members of the council.' This quote, titled 'Last meeting design teams new cultural system' is from the... 

The Dry Piece, Keren Levi, photo © Anna van Kooij

Take your time with The Gaze of Anna

In the world of culture inside, but also outside Utrecht, you cannot ignore Anna van Kooij. I got to know her early this century as an always attentive, but never intrusive photographer, who could look sharp and gave all her portrayed subjects an empathetic glow. Anna has been ill for some time, and recently it became clear that she will not recover.... 

Hans Eliens, source: press release DOX

HANS ELIENS NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR DOX

Hans Eliens will be DOX's new general director-director from 1 May 2023. Together with artistic director Hildegard Draaijer and artistic director a.i. Melvin Fraenk, Eliens will shape the policy for the new arts plan period 2025-2028 in the coming months. Eliens was director of pop venues Mezz and Luxor Live, among others. Since 1 January 2018, he has been working as a self-employed, interim manager and coach on cultural... 

Susan Neiman (Image provided by Publisher Lemniscaat)

Susan Neiman: 'I see the woke as people with good intentions and confused theory'

'People who consider themselves traditionally on the left don't want to criticise woke because they are afraid they are aiding and abetting the right, and they certainly don't want that. And yet they feel that there is something wrong, something that is not really left-wing about woke discourse. That's what I'm trying to untangle.... 

young creators (source: Council for Culture)

YoungMakersPlatform: Sustainability requires collaboration

Members of the Council for Culture's Young Makers Platform feel a responsibility to contribute to sustainability themselves, but also point out that sustainability is something that needs to be taken up structurally. This emerged during a conversation with the council on the subject. The makers told about how they try to take it into account in their creative practice and life,... 

Wilbert Mutsaers. image provided by Council for Culture

Wilbert Mutsaers appointed as member of the Council for Culture

Mr Wilbert Mutsaers is appointed as a member of the Council for Culture. The Council of Ministers has agreed to this on the proposal of State Secretary Uslu of Culture and Media. The appointment will take effect on 1 May 2023 for a period of four years. Mutsaers studied Communication Science at Radboud University Nijmegen and until recently was Head of Music at Spotify Benelux.... 

Writer Nhung Dam is increasingly embracing her Vietnamese roots. 'My background is also a gift.'

Writer and theatre-maker Nhung Dam (38) tried to be as Dutch as possible, but is increasingly embracing her Vietnamese roots. Because these are precisely what make her unique, she now realises, and offer a wealth of stories. Including for her second novel, Definition of Love. Two worlds Nhung Dam (38) more or less grew up in two worlds. Her cradle was in... 

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Conflicts of interest in culture sector affect mores.online. What about subsidies?

This weekend, Mariëtte Hamer came out with a strong recommendation for the hotline mores.online. The club where cross-border behaviour within the arts and media world can be reported had itself become discredited. For example, the chairman, as partner of the discredited Tom Egbers at NOS Sport, had not reacted skilfully to the fuss. It did not contribute to the trust... 

Pr-picture The Toneelmakerij by Rachel Schraven

Paul Knieriem on his Hamlet for Amsterdam youth: 'Here you feel what representation and recognition does to a room'.

In mid-March, I went to see the Toneelmakerij's Hamlet, a performance specially made in and for Amsterdam-West. I had some questions about that performance, I wrote in the review, and we would discuss those questions in a podcast with Abdelkader Benali, the adaptor of the text, and Paul Knieriem, the director. An hour and a half before the recording... 

Photo: Marc Haegeman

Tchaikovsky rules over Swan Lake at the National Ballet

You can see it right from the first portrait prominently displayed on the front screen during the prologue. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky looks towards the audience like a czar of ballet music, exactly as choreographer Rudi van Dantzig and master designer Toer van Schayk intended. Here is a man who struggled with his identity, his desires and the obligations that his... 

Tryater at Oerol 2014, photo Saris den Engelsman

Royal family experiences preview Tryater performance Sâlt

On Wednesday 9 May, the Royal Couple on Terschelling will get an exclusive sneak preview of the show Sâlt, which Tryater is bringing to Oerol in the summer. The couple will visit Terschelling in a tour of the Wadden Islands. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will be informed about the main topics in an extensive programme. Of course, Terschelling's Oerol is part of the visit:... 

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Culture Council issues opinion on cultural funding application process

The application process for cultural subsidies from the state could be simpler and clearer. The sector would also benefit from a less non-committal assessment of applicable codes of conduct around fair practice, good governance and diversity and inclusion. This requires something from institutions, but it also ensures a more future-proof and resilient sector. This is stated in an opinion by the Council for Culture 

Author's photo - Niccolò Ammaniti

Niccolò Ammaniti on his new book and protagonist: 'I had actually fallen a bit in love with her'

In his new novel, Italian bestselling author Niccolò Ammaniti (56) wittily holds up a mirror to modern man. His protagonist, the wife of the Italian prime minister, is afraid of being blackmailed with a sex video. "I don't know if I would have the same courage as her in such a situation," he says. Storytelling fun With novels like I Pick You Up, I Take You and I... 

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Scenario industry awards presented: Silver Curly Tails for The Year of Fortuyn and El Houb

The Zilveren Krulstaarten were awarded on Saturday afternoon 25 March in Amsterdam to the writers of the best film and television scripts of 2022. Once started as a giants' prize due to the lack of a Golden Calf for screenplay, the Zilveren Krulstaarten have now become the Dutch professional awards for screenwriters. The winners are chosen annually by members of the Authors' Association's Screenwriters Network.... 

Source: Rijksmuseum. CCO

'Drawing lots for subsidy might be fairer': listen to podcast with Renée Steenbergen and Ellen Hardy

'We have had the Top Income Standardisation Act since 2013. That means that in the semi-public sector, the highest in an organisation are not allowed to earn above a certain standard. There are conductors who earn as much in the evening as the entire orchestra costs. That, of course, is bizarre. Then I always wonder how it is that they can escape the dance.' This... 

Culture Council deploys design power for renewal of cultural system

The Culture Council will be given room to elaborate on the renewal of the cultural system from 2029. State Secretary Uslu of Culture and Media has asked the council to issue its advice on this before the end of this year. "As a council, we cannot wait to take up this question together with the sector. To that end, we have now launched an innovative... 

Debate point during the Authors' Union's symposium on diversity. flnr: Gustaaf Peek, shariff Nasr, Canan Marasligil and Chris Kelemand

Dare to ask. 4 lessons in diversity&inclusion for the Authors' Association

Diversity is a fact, inclusion an act. Simple statement, if you come upon it, and Jenny Mijnhijmer, actress and writer, came upon it. She was asked during the pandemic to chair a committee for the Authors' Union to figure out how that advocacy group for writers could become more inclusive and diverse. She didn't really feel like doing that at all. After all, we already talk... 

Amare, the home of NDT and others in The Hague

Nederlands Dans Theater confesses colour in dog poop case. Why only after exceptional pressure from the dance press?

Whether I was on champagne. Just a question from an acquaintance in the dance world. The occasion was Nederlands Dans Theater's announcement that it does not want to continue with top choreographer Marco Goecke until he really apologises for his assault on dance critic Wiebke Hüster of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. After all, the company had previously taken up the mantle of... 

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Scheissegate #5: Contract with assailant and choreographer Goecke in Hanover dissolved. Nederlands Danstheater continues with him.

It was announced at a press conference at the Hanover State Opera this afternoon that the contract with choreographer Marco Goecke has been 'permanently terminated'. In addition, he has been denied access to the Opera's premises. This sanction follows a serious incident last Saturday at the premiere of a choreography by Goecke in Hanover, where he is ballet director. Because he behaved ... 

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