Skip to content

ACTUAL

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

Erik Whien moves on the inclusion wave, in dialogue

Director Alida Dors is pushing for inclusion at Theatre Rotterdam. What does this mean for a 44-year-old white director with great success with traditional audiences, as now with 'Sadness is the thing with feathers'? A Q&A. "Erik Whien's theatre is all about the human being. About the head and everything that happens in it. Every human being has thoughts, in the mind... 

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... 

How do we reclaim irony from extremists? 

Anyone who sees anything other than irony in the work of the painter Rein Dool, completely unknown to me until now (as the painter also described it in an item on TV), has not been paying close attention in literature and art history lectures. Rein Dool painted a portrait of the then Board of Governors of Leiden University in 1974. We see... 

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 blaring like an elephant, violins like imploring songbirds and an oboe rippling a scale like a brook: 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.... 

Logo of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

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,... 

Logo of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science

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... 

November Music presents Music Hub Night: 'This collaboration is truly a Brabant thing' #novembermusic

FLEMMING, Remme, Nona, Sanne Rambags and Rianne Wilbers. Names that are not unknown to residents of Brabant. These young artists were supported in their musical and personal development by the Music Hub Brabant programme. This one-year post-master trajectory focuses on the development of ten young creators. Each talent follows a tailor-made development path and is... 

For God's sake, keep an open mind! Rolf Orthel on Making is Most Beautiful

Making is most beautiful, Rolf Orthel's latest film, is an ode to making and its makers. Why does the process of making fascinate? What is creativity or artistry? We meet at bodega Keijzer in Amsterdam, where the waiter knows his coffee preference. We talk about film, parents, getting older, primary school, forests, taking detours to see new things. If... 

The cultural sector needs to be protected from itself. Maryam Hassouni makes that crystal clear in What the Fak!

Patronisation! Woke terror! These were some of the reactions from the film world when there were calls for the appointment of an intimacy coordinator at Dutch film productions. As if anyone could allow or display sexually transgressive behaviour in a studio with 40 other staff around it. Impossible! Yesterday, the book Wat de Fak! by award-winning actress Maryam Hassouni was published and in it, it states... 

HARVEY COBB WINNER OF THE BNG BANK CIRCUS AWARD 2022

On Sunday 30 October, the winner of the BNG Bank Circus Prize 2022 was chosen at the special closing performance of Festival Circolo in Tilburg. Despite sitting at home with corona, Harvey Cobb managed to convince the jury with his video presentation of his hilarious act ' Something about Pink'. A fellow nominee received a cheque for €5,000 for him from the hands of... 

'We will be surrounded by fiction.' Jeroen Olyslaegers on his new novella, the illusion of possession and modern escapism

They are quite the characters, the main characters in the books of Jeroen Olyslaegers (55). Laughingly, he talks about Wilfried Wils, the protagonist of his 2016 bestseller Wil, who never stopped talking to his creator. 'He kept commenting. I hadn't experienced a book staying alive like that before. When the book was awarded... 

'In the life I invent, the darkness disappears.' Writer Thomas Verbogt on his new novel 'Make it beautiful'

Make it beautiful is the title of his new novel, but actually it was a book Thomas Verbogt (69) had been carrying around inside for many years. Now that it has finally been written, he feels lighter. Good person How can you be of essential importance to another person? And what do you have to do to be a good person?.... 

The attack on The Girl with the Pearl Earring is the provisional low point of Instagram madness.

A temperature record will be broken in the Netherlands on 28 October. Yet another, and it is indeed incomprehensible that on this day people still book a plane for a weekend in Barcelona. It is unfortunately also incomprehensible that on this 27th October 2022, a young man sticks his head next to the head of The Girl with the... 

Inez Wolters creates family performance with Strawinsky circus: 'I believe ten-year-olds can handle a lot' #festivalcircolo

Tilburg-based chamber orchestra Kamerata Zuid, with dancer and choreographer Inez Wolters, performs Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat as a family performance. The performance will premiere this week at Festival Circolo, Holland's largest circus festival, also in Tilburg. Wolters is an all-rounder. With Swarmers, she stages dance on location, with audience participation. She also leads with her wild and... 

Why you wish every artist peace of Camiel Corneille #festivalcircolo

There he sits, at the top, enjoying the view. Camiel Corneille has just conquered his own work, a hellish instrument made of a four-by-four wooden plate that can turn in all directions except the right one. A moving balance beam that can also give you a big whack. Camiel Corneille designed it himself and tackles the thing... 

House of Circus kicks off in drag and brothers Simon and Vincent Bruyninckx open Festival Circolo hanging by their teeth

After another year of dreaming and planning, the 10th edition of Festival Circolo - the largest circus festival in the Netherlands - is finally here today! Until Sunday 30 October, Tilburg's Spoorpark will transform into an oasis full of spectacle, acrobatics and humour. The opening shot was given on 20 October 2022 at 20:00h by two circus performers... 

Contemporary version L'Histoire du Soldat premieres at Festival Circolo - Unique costumes, acrobatics and live music by Kamerata Zuid in collaboration with Inez Wolters 

L'Histoire du Soldat, Stravinsky's famous work, has been performed in many performances. But never as in this new production by Tilburg-based orchestra Kamerata Zuid i.c.w. performer Inez Wolters. Dressed in extravagant costumes, she interprets the various characters in this musical tale. Together with live music by Kamerata Zuid and input from circus performer Júlia Campistany, this... 

'My interest took on some obsessive traits.' Inge Schilperoord delved into the appeal of faith for her new novel

Seven years after her acclaimed debut novel Muidhond, Inge Schilperoord's new book is published. She delved into the experiences of a young Dutch girl attracted to the Islamic faith. When Inge Schilperoord (49) was a forensic psychologist in 2017, she spent time providing psychological examinations at the terrorist ward of a prison, where people suspected of having ties... 

Identity and diversity in circus: not hype but fascinating innovation #festivalcircolo

Nick van der Heyden, queer circus performer, garnered approving laughter from a room full of circus students in Tilburg. He just explained that he had found a new lease of life by doing his performances as an acrobat from now on as a drag queen. 'They thought something of that here at school. There, the new circus was mainly a matter of making it as simple as possible... 

Jesse Huygh balances high level with cystic fibrosis #festivalcircolo

When, at the end of his performance, he stands on top of a five-metre high pole, struggling to keep his balance, the audience holds its breath. As does Jesse himself, but he does not do so voluntarily. We watched him struggle for a performance with oxygen hoses and blood meters, pausing regularly to get air again. What if... 

Four performances in Tilburg of acrobat with cystic fibrosis

Festival Circolo presents a special performance at four special locations in Tilburg in the run-up to the largest festival for contemporary circus in the Netherlands. 'Circus is my way of dreaming and giving hope. To live fully, whatever the conditions'. Jesse Huygh is a circus performer and suffers from cystic fibrosis, or cystic fibrosis, a genetic lung disease. Despite his illness,... 

Lightness was in the genes. Dieuwertje Blok discovered her Jewish mother's war diary

Fourteen years after the death of her Jewish mother, presenter Dieuwertje Blok found her war diary. With her debut Dragging Lightness, Blok pays a warm tribute to the woman who gave her life. A profession in the spotlight - Dieuwertje Blok is no stranger to it. Her grandmother Saartje, who as the daughter of fishmongers grew up in the Joden Houttuinen... 

Small Membership
175 / 12 Maanden
Especially for organisations with a turnover or grant of less than 250,000 per year.
No annoying banners
A premium newsletter
5 trial newsletter subscriptions
All our podcasts
Have your say on our policies
Insight into finances
Exclusive archives
Posting press releases yourself
Own mastodon account on our instance
Large Membership
360 / Jaar
Voor culturele organisaties
No annoying banners
A premium newsletter
10 trial newsletter subscriptions
All our podcasts
Participate
Insight into finances
Exclusive archives
Posting press releases yourself
Own mastodon account on our instance
Collaboration
Private Membership
50 / Jaar
For natural persons and self-employed persons.
No annoying banners
A premium newsletter
All our podcasts
Have your say on our policies
Insight into finances
Exclusive archives
Own mastodon account on our instance
en_GBEnglish (UK)