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ACTUAL

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

Bare-bones news: Give Act turned from monstrosity into monster, Brabant short 30% on performing arts, North Beveland no longer buys art.

House amends gift deduction in cultural sector (...) A majority of the House wants to limit Cabinet plans for tax deductions in the cultural sector. At the same time, it should become more fiscally attractive to make donations to sports and music associations. VVD, CDA and PVV submitted amendment proposals to this effect to the Giving Act of state secretary Frans Weekers (Finance) on Tuesday. (...) The PVV felt that far too... 

Arts Council 020 reacts to alderman for culture's austerity plan: 'don't make cuts!'

Je kunt je kont tegen de krib gooien, als kunstsector, maar je kunt ook iets anders doen, terwijl je met je grote konijnenogen in de koplampen van een aanstormend kaalslagmonster staart. En wat is dat andere dan, vroeg de Amsterdamse kunstraad zich af? Doodknuffelen, was het antwoord. Toen de Amsterdamse wethouder van Cultuur vorige week haar plan ontvouwde voor de… 

Discount news: cut in government websites and action for Metropole orchestra

Donner Zet Mes In Websites Rijksoverheid De ministeries beheren gezamenlijk bijna 400 websites, waarvan het merendeel niet aan officiële eisen van toegankelijkheid voldoet. Minister Donner wil eerst een sanering. (..) De gemeenten, waarvan slechts 2 procent volledig aan de webrichtlijnen voldoet, hebben tot eind 2012 om aan het laagste niveau te voldoen en nog twee jaar daarna om volledig te… 

We are going Liveblogging again! Monday, November 21, to be exact.

On Monday 21 November, the chamber has one more chance to stop the desertification of Dutch culture. After all, the disproportionate attack on the budgets for music schools, orchestras, theatre groups and drawing lessons will be debated by the chamber then. It all happens in the Groen van Prinstererzaal in the House of Representatives building, and it is of course broadcast on the... 

News summary: Children have nothing to do with free museums and opposition has effects of austerity calculated

Opposition: have arts cuts calculated (...) These are cuts by the state, provinces and municipalities. The aim is to clarify how big the total cuts together are and what exactly the effects will be on supply and employment. (...) "With this request, we want to counter the politics of the short-term agenda. Good policy, including austerity policy, takes into account... 

Halbe Zijlstra wanted to know what quality was, and got back 22 pages of vagueness.

Quality. It is such a nice civil service-political magic word. Sounds good and nobody can be against it. So shout as a politician that you want more quality and all heads start nodding busily. State Secretary for Cultural Affairs Zijlstra also likes quality. Says he. For instance, when it comes to cultural education. In his memorandum More than quality, he says he wants to make work of the... 

"Culture is not a top priority for this college," the Schouwen-Duiveland Labour Party believes.

Gorkum - Culture sector is in dire straits (...) The major austerity exercise will come in spring when the new Culture Policy, among others, is on the table. (...) In the meantime, further consultations are being held with cultural bodies, among others, such as the Toon Foundation and the Nieuwe Doelen theatre on 30 January. "They, like the Gorcums Museum, can come up with innovative, cost-saving plans.... 

Region review: chain letters in Rotterdam, only 1 year right to renewal in Zierikzee, and Eindhoven not happy with Chamber Choir

Groningen municipality cuts back on Gezinsbode The municipality is going to cut back 150,000 euros on publishing city notices in the Groninger Gezinsbode. The City Council wants to publish decisions and permits electronically from now on, for example on the municipality's website. (...) The number of pages in the Gezinsbode will be halved. (...) source: OogTV 10 Nov 11 Most councillors expect subsidies to be cut... 

Concertgebouw juicht over falende aandelenemissie

Het Concertgebouw liet gisteren juichend weten dat de aandelenemissie van september jl een doorslaand succes was. Immers, van de 1000 aandelen van 12.500 € waren er 400 besteld. Bijna 5 miljoen euro van particulieren binnengeharkt. Voorwaar geen geringe prestatie in dit zuinige landje, waarin iedereen klaagt dat mecenaat niets uitricht. De media, waaronder het Amsterdamse Parool, namen het juichbericht even… 

Distress call for theatre school Roosendaal at last minute, arts venue Veenendaal scrapped Discount news from all regions

(...) The Youth Theatre School Roosendaal received a project subsidy of 36,779 euros from the municipality in 2010 and 2011. The school also fulfils a regional function. Forty per cent of its 330 pupils come from the surrounding villages. The proposal is to end the subsidy from 1 January. It was only this week that this apparently dawned on Hofplein's management. Which immediately started a... 

Vanaf 2013 ziet het kunstleven in Amsterdam er heel erg anders uit.

Nu dan. 6,5 miljoen gaat er van de gesubsidieerde instellingen af. In Amsterdam. Qua gemeente. Het Rijk deed al iets meer dan 40 miljoen weg, wat 36 instellingen in hoge nood bracht. Nu heeft Amsterdam besloten om in ieder geval 13 instellingen op naam te behouden. Moeten we denken aan Toneelgroep Amsterdam, het IDFA, Holland Festival, Concertgebouw en het Muziekgebouw… 

Stormloop op festival met Nederlands jeugdtheater op Broadway

In het land waar Jan Klaasen Katrijn alleen met een luchtballonnetje in elkaar mag slaan, omdat een poppenkastknuppelpartij niet goed is voor de tere kinderziel, blijkt onverwacht veel vraag naar Nederlands professioneel jeugdtheater. Kortom, een heus Nederlands jeugdtheaterfestival in New York heeft inmiddels al 2500 kaarten verkocht, en het loopt nog steeds storm. Van zeker twee van de vier producties… 

Trouw: Ernst Veen fears big deficits New Church, Holland Symfonia in kicking seat

Trouw's commentary addresses the problems that are now beginning to be felt even at the top of the arts sector: Cultural entrepreneurship can produce great things. Ernst Veen, who brought De Nieuwe Kerk and Hermitage Amsterdam to great fruition as new exhibition spaces in the capital, is a successful example. Yesterday, he complained in Trouw that... 

Orchestra members fired without waiting pay? A new collective agreement could cause that

On Thursday 27 October, FNV KIEM, the Nederlandse Toonkunstenaarsbond (Ntb) and NAPK sector orchestras discussed the terms of employment of musicians employed by the Randstedelijke and Regionale Orkesten that fall under the collective labour agreement Dutch Orchestras. Out of a total of 11 Dutch orchestras, nine are covered by this collective agreement. The orchestras of the Muziekcentrum van de Omroep and the... 

Even if they quit, Halbe Zijlstra is cracking down on culture clubs

Letters from Culture Secretary Zijlstra are dangerous, especially when they are about figures and schemes. And we haven't seen the latest one for now. So right now, it is about 'friction costs' for the cultural sector. These are the costs that subsidised institutions have to incur when their existence ends due to the subsidy freeze. Think redundancy payments, damages, flower arrangements for funerals of suicides and selling real estate at a loss.

Performing Arts Fund announces plans; institutions must perform with performances

Since the decision in June to reduce the BIS, many eyes have focused on the Performing Arts Fund, which has an annual budget of €60 million to give away. However, the Fund is also facing a cut: the budget for the multiannual scheme will be reduced by 40% from 40 to 24.5 million euros. The multiannual scheme is meant for... 

"22 fascinating, deeply engaging pages on human failure, for which we can only be very grateful.

''Look mum! You have that book too!'' Harry Mulisch's granddaughter points to a book on the reading table named after her grandfather at the Café Américain in Amsterdam. Mulisch's entire oeuvre is displayed on the table at which he loved to sit. In the café that was dear to him. Anna Mulisch smiles. She and her sister Frieda, the... 

Libraries hope for more digitisation as well as more readers of collection, after TNO study

The joint public libraries in the Netherlands have asked TNO to study the size and costs of digital collections between 2012 and 2016. State Secretary for Culture Halbe Zijlstra is consulting with provinces and municipalities on amending library legislation. That law will also determine how much purchasing digital collection (e-books and music) costs. To... 

Arts colleges to cooperate more and get "partly or wholly" the same budget

On 5 July, the HBO Council came out with a sector plan for art education. Following the report of the Dijkgraaf committee and the Brinkman committee, it was concluded that the autonomous fine arts courses will reduce the intake of first-year students by 25%, the conservatoires with direction of classical and jazz by 10%, and the rest by 20%. This is to be achieved in a period... 

Sports sponsor pays top price, culture sponsor sits front row for a pittance and expects no less

The smallest opera company in the Netherlands beats the biggest. Not in visitor numbers, not in subsidy received, but in bringing in sponsorship money. On closer inspection, however, it becomes painfully clear once again that there is no giving culture in the Netherlands and sponsorship is limited to a pittance. A rattling giving law will not change that.

Elektra: only five singers worldwide who can handle this part. Linda Watson sings scathingly Nietzschean.

The Netherlands Opera's fourth revival of Elektra is over halfway through. In the final performances, two fresh dramatic sopranos take over. Why does an opera get revived, even as many as four times? With the sleep-inducing Don Giovanni in the previous season of De Nederlandse Opera - also a revival - this might have been a logical question. The decision turned out to be... 

"Battle of the Orchestras" kicks off with name change Orchestra of the East Netherlands Symphony Orchestra

The Netherlands has a new orchestra: the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. At least, new in name. The Orchestra of the East does not seem to be waiting for possible forced mergers, and is already claiming its position as the national orchestra outside the Randstad by means of this striking name change that was made public today before the start of a concert with the Jussen brothers.

Reply Zijlstra (culture) to question on friction costs confirms chamber did not pay attention in June

It came as a shock that still hasn't quite worked out. Haf September, dozens of arts organisations received a letter from the State Secretary for Culture, informing them that they could start using the subsidy they thought they were getting for projects until 31 December 2012 for redundancy procedures, selling property at a loss and staff lawsuits against... 

Weekers (finance): 'No reason yet to reverse VAT increase' despite dramatic start to season

The story continues. On 1 July the VAT increase came into effect, on 8 July NRC quoted Halbe Zijlstra as saying that 'it was not the most mature scheme' of this cabinet, words he later nuanced during parliamentary questions. In late August, the Berenschot report came out with startling figures: the VAT increase would mainly cost the Netherlands money rather than generate it. Meanwhile, the Music... 

Sculpted Ovation for 'ingenious' conductor Iván Fischer

"Programmatic ingenuity goes hand in hand with Fischer's ebullient and finely crafted performances". So when someone says that about you, you have earned a prize. So that is what the jury of formerly the Classical Music Prize thought of Iván Fischer, the Hungarian-born conductor who was therefore awarded the 'Ovation' on Monday 17 October 2011. And so then the 'Ovation'... 

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