All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
Amersfoort's cultural scene is in turmoil over a series of possible austerity proposals. In recent weeks, the public was allowed to give its opinion. The city council will make final decisions in May. Meanwhile, beloved theatre De Lieve Vrouw is already in dire financial straits. Amersfoort has been under financial supervision by the province of Utrecht since the end of 2014. The municipality mainly suffers...
Lately, you are inundated with predictions in the media about the increasing impact of artificial intelligence on our lives. Take for instance Nicholas Carr's book The Glass Cage, which analyses the revolutionary impact of new technology in the workplace. These are developments that have not passed Imagine programmers by. The 31st edition of the film festival, which...
Boekreview “A whole New Mind” door Daniel H. Pink Tussen alle negatieve berichten over de toekomst van de kunsten poppen zo nu en dan ook andere geluiden op. 1 van de meest indrukwekkende tegengeluiden is voor mij het boek “A whole new mind” van Daniel H. Pink. Volgens Daniel gaan kunstenaars en creatieven het de komende jaren helemaal maken. We zitten…
Indeed, you couldn't release this message on 1 April, because nobody would have believed it. But it is coming, then. Bowie, The Musical. But from the man himself. Sort of. Ivo van Hove, the boss of Toneelgroep Amsterdam who is now more famous in America and England than in the Netherlands, is going to direct Lazarus. That's a new...
The money at HET Symphony Orchestra has run out. Despite all the extra millions from the province and after years of writing off tons of general reserves, the end is in sight. And so the orchestra is scrapping concerts, will be seen less in theatres in Deventer and Zwolle, stops CD recordings and shuns any risky performances. To keep the...
Het theaterproject ‘Snorder‘ begon ooit als de soap waarmee de lange avonden op het festival Hollandse Nieuwe werden afgesloten. Een festival voor nieuwe toneelschrijvers, eerst in theater Cosmic, later in MC. Beide Amsterdamse theaters bestaan intussen niet meer, Hollandse Nieuwe ook niet. Maar regisseur John Leerdam en zijn crew hebben nu de ruimte gekregen voor een revival in de Balie…
Bring 50 distinguished and cross-disciplinary artists together and things will crackle tremendously. That will be the thinking behind the new Academy of Arts. The installation of 16 new, high-profile members already gave a taste of this. Actor Gijs Scholten van Aschat (board member) and visual artist Barbara Visser (president) expressed themselves a little cautiously a while ago about what the Akademie...
Sanja Mitrović is a theatre maker with a theme and a secret. She builds on the theme with each performance. And the secret is right on the heels of her work. Her theme is the collective: how it grows, what it is based on, how deep the mutual love can be, how the euphoria can turn into rage, how it comes from within...
The sixth edition of CinemAsia kicks off on 1 April in Amsterdam. The festival offers a broad and surprising overview of films from Asia. Ranging from anime from Japan to a documentary on Indonesian action films or a contemporary Filipino relationship comedy. Culture Press already dived into the programme. In itself, of course, there is plenty to choose from when you look at all those prolific studios in China, Japan, South Korea,...
'Not ripe for decision-making'. That is the verdict of the Amsterdam Arts Council today on the plan presented by culture councillor Kajsa Ollongren last week. In that plan, the role of the arts council would be minimised, and a system would be set up with a basic infrastructure of large institutions, and a bunch of loose stuff that would be subsidised through a fund. This model, derived...
It sounds great, that Amsterdam Arts Plan 2017-2020. The city is increasing the culture budget to almost 90 million a year. And there suddenly seems to be a vision: away with all those different advisory bodies, one capital 'basic infrastructure' and for the rest there is the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK). The municipality should stick to the main lines, not with individual subsidies....
Ze hadden het niet beter kunnen uitkiezen, daar in Groningen. Want wie bel je, als er net een overambitieuze theaterdirecteur de kas van het ooit roemruchte Grand Theatre leeg heeft gebluft, een Raad van Toezicht heeft zitten dutten en er vervolgens 22 mensen ontslagen zijn omdat het geld op is? Dan zoek je iemand die daar ervaring mee heeft. Bij voorkeur…
The Amersfoort museum Flehite has been able to acquire two masterpieces with the support of an antiquities association. The oil painting Still life with rose and anemone (1933) by Albert Fiks (1908-1945) and the 'canvas' Dahlias in ginger jar (1917) by Jakob Nieweg were added to the collection. Both paintings are among highlights of the Amersfoort artists' oeuvres. Jakob Nieweg (Hogebeintum 1877) was trained as a pastor....
The misery in Groningen is a bit bigger than we thought. Meanwhile, the Grand Theatre appears to be at least 250,000 in the red. And counting. Money that the theatre subsidised by the city of Groningen owes mainly to artists. Choreographer Dunja Djocic, for instance, had received €90,000 in subsidies to create performances at the Grand for 2 years. Theatre-maker Andreas Denk had received...
Britain's Arts Index stands at 111. This puts the cultural AEX of a country that likes to call itself the world's cultural No 1, four points lower than last year, but still a point higher than in 2012, the year when the government also began cutting subsidies in Britain. The 'National Campaign...
82% cut in Overijssel's culture budget No, the VVD did not become the largest party in Overijssel in the last provincial elections, the PvdA attracted 1.6% more voters, but if there is a province where Halbe Zijlstra's nationally initiated policy had an effect, it was that province. Residents soon noticed this, but research by consultancy firm
The latest edition of the Movies that Matter festival kicks off in The Hague on Friday 20 March 2015. A fitting location for a festival that occupies a unique position with its focus on human rights and cinema. On Culture Press for a preview of the programme. Movies that Matter, like previous years, offers an interesting mix of documentaries and fiction films that will give you a...
You haven't seen this before: stop-motion animation with figures made of Chinese porcelain. In the short film Mr Sea Chinese artist Xue Geng has recreated an ancient legend about an explorer, a prostitute and a snake
"Of course I don't have to get rich from it..." It's pretty much the most frequently heard comment when you hang out with artists and creatives a lot. "Why not actually?" I then ask. Startled, they look at me. Appalled that you dare to question this universally held truth. In reply, something extraordinarily vague like "Well, just.... money isn't the most important thing, is it?" comes in.
We took another close look at the news surrounding the near bankruptcy of Groningen's illustrious Grand Theatre. Yesterday, it became clear that that theatre is in serious financial trouble. Problems that the municipality does not want to solve simply by an extra injection of thousands of euros. And they are right. After all, the Grand's coffers are as leaky as...
In early March, The Great War Machine, the new play by director Joachim Robbrecht, premiered at Theater Frascati. A week earlier, at the Rotterdam Schouwburg Swamp Club to be seen, by French director Philippe Quesne. Both performances address the current political climate. Whereas Swamp Club is explicitly silent about the world it calls into question, The Great War Machine is instead a rhetorical spectacle, constructed from quotes from TEDtalks. Both performances make mechanisms felt, rather than pointing out culprits. Voluntarily withdrawing or being shut out, the neoliberal order does not seem to allow much more choice. There is no question of resistance.
The crisis is over. Especially if you are in the fine art business. In 2014, the global art market grew by 7% from the peak year of 2013. In total, the art trade turned over a value of 51 billion euros last year, making that market almost as big as the economy of Uzbekistan. The internationally authoritative website artnet reports that today
The Grand Theatre in Groningen is dying. Yesterday, the city council of the northern university city decided that no more money should be poured into the theatre, which is in acute cash trouble. Bills from suppliers and independent artists have not been paid for several months, and financial reserves are more than depleted. We have received reports from artists...
Will Ivo and Jan join this impressive list? Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Joan Littlewood, John Gielgud, Alec Guinness, Peggy Ashcroft, Harold Pinter, Peter Hall, Judi Dench, Alan Bennett, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Alan Ayckbourn, Maggie Smith, Gillian Lynne and Michael Frayn. All big names of British theatre. International celebrities, all of whom have been awarded an Olivier, say the British...
Tree monuments make visible the unexpected and violent strike of death. Usually along public roads but sometimes in more remote places. Amersfoort-based photographer Jeroen Hansen photographed hundreds of them in recent years, resulting in the recently published photo book Signs of Life. A bunch of flowers tied to a dented crash barrier. Candles, photos or a teddy bear at a sharp...
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