All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
The dance industry is not doing very well at all, people say. I spoke to a dance marketer who told me that venues are often only a quarter full. And that includes dance makers who have a Oscar for dance have won. What does attract a lot of audiences are fairy tales. And Isabelle Beernaert.
What explains the success of this Belgian choreographer?
Watching the emotional pulse of the world live, designed as a screen full of dancing dots. That was possible last night at IDFA during the live cinema event, presented by internet artist Jonathan Harris.
Way back when fast food had just been invented
Erwin Olaf heeft iets met behang. De kunstfotograaf, bekend van zijn verstilde en onheilszwangere composities, vindt wat er op een muur zit minstens zo belangrijk als wat er zich voor die muur afspeelt. Het Nieuwe Instituut heeft dat idee nu mooi weten te combineren in een tentoonstelling die zowel de decors van Erwin Olaf’s beroemdste werken laat zien, als een paar behangontwerpen uit de kokers van grote kunstenaars.
A bit decadent it was last night. In a festive mood with glass in hand to the kick-off of the 26th edition of the documentary festival IDFA in Tuschinski, and then an hour and a half of watching the fortunes of a group of Syrian rebels in the completely destroyed city of Homs.
Five reasons to go to the ''Schoenberg & Kandinsky'' exhibition at the Jewish Historical Museum. And two why you can omit a visit.
We were actually still missing a good video event, and the people behind Annex.tv, the online TV channel for XS4all subscribers was still missing a good online presence in the cultural sector. And so that's where we could help each other. We thought. So we try out what we can do together.
20 per cent more visits to museums thanks to the museum year card. This will earn museums a sloppy 14 million euros extra this year. The jubilant press release about the study by a renowned agency does not lie. Or does it? After all, six months ago featured in NRC Handelsblad still read that the Museum Card Foundation was in cash trouble.
Dat je na je afstuderen moeilijk aan een baan komt, is ook in de danswereld bekend. Gezelschappen zetten daarom, mede op aandringen van de overheid, in op talentontwikkeling. Ze hopen ook op een betere aansluiting met scholen. Jonge dansers staan nu eerder in de frontlinie van ballet: het theater, en dat is goed nieuws voor het publiek. Want de energie is fris en het niveau is flink opgeschoten.
Culture debate 2013: Rutte and PVV shake hands. It was about Caro Emerald. About Zwarte Piet. And the classic: subsidy on opera tickets. And briefly about carnival. And it made all the news. Geenstijl. Radio 1,2,3 and 4. What else was the debate about? Um... no idea.
We kept a liveblog. Nice and old-fashioned, from the days when every month there was uproar somewhere about the government's handling of art. Now there is peace in the tent, as the PVV sardonically points out, because 'The Left' is now the bearer of policies devised by the PVV. The PVV predicts a black future for 'The Left' once the PVV comes to power.
Protests abound again tonight at a concert conducted by Valery Gergiev, this time at London's Barbican. Many of the protesters are demanding that the orchestra emphatically distance itself from the Russian star conductor and speak out openly against gay legislation in Russia.
Even before she graduated from mime school, Boukje Schweigman swore off language. She worked out a wordless philosophy in her performances. She seeks the mystery of life. However vast and elusive her starting points may be, her performances give the audience the most direct, immediate, skin-tight sensation imaginable in a theatre.
Jet Bussemaker is satisfied. For the next few years, there will be little whining about the subsidies under her regime. She states this in her letter this weekend. After all, the basis of the system is fixed: there are great museums, symphony orchestras, opera and theatre clubs whose subsidies are cast in concrete. Or rather carved from classical marble, because money gets you
A reduction in the ww premium spend on a scheme to keep more people in work is not going ahead because more and more people are becoming unemployed, forcing the premium up. See here the positive effect of austerity by the government. The less you spend, the deeper the problems, the less you can spend, the worse it gets, the less you can spend. And the arts may again be the first to make that clear.
"Children are the best judges of what makes a good children's film," a member of the Cinekid children's jury spoke confidently. There may be room for improvement on that, but the fact is that at the awards ceremony on the festive closing night of the Cinekid festival, there was remarkable agreement with the adult jury.
Not only did both juries nominate the same film twice
We had still so decided not to say anything about the Black Peters Discussion. But still. Whoever is right, and whatever has been said, written and fantasised about it historically, we now have images. In those images, from 1935, we see Sinterklaas (a starring role by the famous actor and director Eduard Verkade) (thanks Peter van Bokhorst for the info), surrounded by men in some kind of noble costume, on horseback. We thought for a moment
It would have been so nice: The National Ballet together with The National Opera at The National Theatre, like you have in the capital of any self-respecting country. But so that didn't happen. The home of our National Opera and Ballet clubs is now called 'Nationale Opera en Ballet'. The National Theatre made sure of that, which, like the Nederlands Dans Theater, is not in our capital Amsterdam, but in its residence in The Hague.
Those who think the library's collection is so important then, should see how they fund its preservation. So says culture minister Jet Bussemaker in response to questions by MP Bergkamp (D66). Bergkamp had asked these questions in response to the message That the post-1950 collection is not considered heritage by the ministry, and therefore shreddable is.
A joint press conference by two companies. In the post-Zijlstra era, that often does not bode well. A merger then seems obvious, especially when it involves the two largest opera companies in our country: De Nederlandse Opera and the Nationale Reisopera. Only now we have to turn that around: the Netherlands Opera will become the National Opera. And the building will be called National Opera and Ballet.
De fotodocumentaire die fotograaf Rob Hornstra heeft gemaakt over de voorbereiding van de Olympische Spelen in Sotchi, is toch in Moskou te zien. Althans, dat hopen we, nu na een eerdere plotselinge afgelasting er een plek gevonden is in het Sacharov-huis in Moskou. Vrijdag aanstaande kunnen de Nederlandse liefhebbers de opening vanuit de Amsterdamse Stadsschouwburg (zelf bier meenemen) bijwonen. Tenzij
The Amsterdam City Theatre is looking for a manager for its restaurant. Happens more often, but this time it is news. You see, the Amsterdam City Theatre has a place to reclaim. On the restaurant. When that restaurant opened a few years ago after a major renovation of the 19th-century building on Leidseplein, the Stadsschouwburg had suddenly become sort of untraceable.
Er wordt op internet veel geld verdiend met de verspreiding van tekst en muziek, nieuws, foto’s en films. Dat geld komt binnen bij internetproviders, diensten als Apple, Amazon, Netflix en Spotify en bij de grote platenmaatschappijen en filmproducenten, die vrijwel altijd ook aandeelhouder zijn van eerdergenoemde organisaties. Zo goed als niets van dat geld komt terecht bij de mensen die al die films, composities en boeken of artikelen maken.
The Money Museum will close in a month, but its collection (as far as important) will go to De Nederlandsche Bank. The Tropenmuseum has been disbanded, but the collection will be housed elsewhere. However, only half of the library will be saved: everything from after 1950 is not interesting enough to preserve, according to minister Bussemaker. This is evident from the answers given by Culture Minister Bussemaker to questions by the SP.
Goed nieuws van de VSCD: dit jaar zijn er meer theater- en concertkaarten in de voorverkoop verkocht dan vorig jaar. Het persbericht dat dit meldt, raadt nijvere journalisten echter aan om niet bij het lokale theater te gaan checken of dat klopt. Het gaat volgens de propaganda van de schouwburgdirecties immers om een landelijk gemiddelde, en om ‘dingen die ze horen van hun leden’.
An enthusiastic press release in times of severe headwinds. It calls for further reflection. Last Friday, a survey on the state of cooperation in the Dutch museum world was presented. After all, cooperation should be from Minister Bussemaker and kind of the Council for Culture. So it's nice that things are already going ok. Can we get back to fun things.
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