All about politics, policy, society and how those things relate to culture and art.
The House of Representatives elections are less than a year behind us. The start of the new cabinet a month. Local council elections are coming up. And in the meantime: the clash between municipalities and the state, as witnessed, for instance, in January 2022, sharp statements by VNG chairman Jan van Zanen. If nothing changes, freshly elected municipal councillors are going to have a tough time with the...
A day like any other. Simply, on the road. To work. Going home. You know it. You know the road, the car, it's quiet. No oncoming traffic, virtually no side roads... You relax behind your dashboard. One of those days, then, like all kinds of others. Until that message, that moment... that changes everything. For her and for him and above all: forever. SMART is a...
Belgian composer Stefan Prins rattles the conventions of musical practice with his innovative approach. His brand new inhabit_inhibit is a visionary work, based on the ideas of Timothy Morton, in which man's loss of control over his environment is made audible and tangible in a penetrating way. To do so, Prins uses spatially arranged instruments, electronics and feedback loops. Follow the news,...
A rather voluminous (331 pages) report was published today by UNESCO, the UN organisation that deals with culture, development and education. In it, the organisation evaluates the extent to which the goals set by the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity have been met. The picture is not rosy. Mainly because of Corona, job losses are...
While in most countries in Europe, cultural life is already well underway, Dutch audiences still have to wait for full-fledged programming of concerts, film and theatre performances, festivals and night culture. Great is the desire, gone is the mental stretch. The new cabinet presented a glimpse of its new strategy. But the most important thing of all is missing: a...
On nomination by the cabinet, Mariëtte Hamer will become government commissioner for sexual transgressive behaviour and sexual violence. Several incidents in recent years expose a broader issue on which action is required. With the new government commissioner, the cabinet wants to do more to raise awareness and create a safe culture, because intimidation and abuse do not belong in the Netherlands. In doing so, among other things, the culture should...
With the performance Krant, Dutch playwright Joeri Vos of De Veenfabriek aims to criticise the major Belgian newspaper operators in the Netherlands. But it also paints an unflattering picture of journalism. Vos, he revealed beforehand, has serious concerns about the independence of news supply. After all, Dutch dailies such as AD, Telegraaf, Volkskrant and NRC, as well as many...
Today, the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce sent yet another letter in draft form to the ministry of OCW. In it, the assembled umbrella of all creative and cultural organisations reiterates its earlier criticism of the relaxation of coronagraph measures, which brings no relief to the cultural sector and nightlife in particular. Special attention is given to DJs and...
In terms of religion, we are badly off with a single supreme and omniscient god who is also Love. Theologians and philosophers have therefore been earning a fat living for a couple of decades explaining all the misery in the world where God is only love. No. Then the classical Greeks. With them, free will ruled. Not...
Sometimes I dream of a subsidy system where artists can actually carry out their wild plans all the way, to the extreme. Or, indeed, are obliged to do so. That, for example, if you make a musical, you actually have to put a live band on stage, and are not allowed to use a studio recording. And that you then have to pay money for that...
The Supervisory Boards of Stichting Theaterfestival Boulevard and Stichting Bosse Nova announced on 1 February that Tessa Smeulers and Dana Kibbelaar will be appointed as director-directors of both foundations. They will succeed Peggy Olislaegers from 1 April, who, as interim director-director, was tasked with finding a new governance model for the festival, appropriate to its mission, environment,...
Under the title Shochiku 100, Eye presents a magnificent programme in February that covers a century of films from one of Japan's most important studios. Here, previously unknown work, alongside titles by celebrated directors such as Masaki Kobayashi, Nagisa Oshima, Takeshi Kitano and especially Yasujiro Ozu. Four Ozu films, including Tokyo Story, go out simultaneously in movie theatres.
Snow, Dog, Foot is the great title of the first book translated into Dutch by Claudio Morandini, published by Koppernik, a publisher specialising in literary gems. The novel, which was already published in Italy in 2015 and received rave reviews, is set in the region where the author lives, the Valle d'Aosta. Main character Andelmo Farandola...
Since 26 January, the doors of the cultural and creative sector have been open again, but with conditions. There are still strict restrictions on the number of people in a venue and a mandatory closing time at 10pm. That is why, on top of the previous support of €195.1 million for the period from 12 November, the cabinet is drawing an additional €56.5 million...
Dear Library South-Kennemerland, I would like to apply for the position of 'Culture & Social Domain Programme Manager' that you published on the 'Cultural Vacancies' website. You see, I am a huge supporter of the idea that a library should associate itself with books as little as possible. After all, the clouds of dust are already smelling you up. Of course, you also knew all along that a bookcase...
3.5 years of permanent presentation, temporary exhibitions and programming The Amsterdam Museum will move to the Hermitage Amsterdam, where it will be open to the public from Saturday 5 March 2022. The Amsterdam Museum's current location, the former Civic Orphanage at Kalverstraat 92, will close due to a large-scale renovation. From March 2022 until 2025, the Amsterdam Museum will display...
Houses, monuments, shops and streets were wiped off the map. Nearly three hundred people died under the rubble. Franco Faggiani (73) wrote a gripping book about the earthquake that hit central Italy five years ago: Sometimes I'd like to be the wind. Success Whenever possible, Franco Faggiani treks into the northern Italian mountains. Once again, he finds himself in the Piedmontese...
'We are coming up with this heartfelt cry because we are genuinely concerned that the cultural sector is not overcoming the lockdowns of the past two years.'This is what the chairmen of the Supervisory Boards of a large number of cultural institutions are writing today in a letter to Ernst Kuipers, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, and Robbert Dijkgraaf and Gunay Uslu, Minister and State Secretary of...
By now, everyone with a modicum of fame in the Netherlands has participated in a show where secrecy is essential. This can range from the relatively innocuous concealment of the winner of De Slimste Mens to the extreme secrecy that is the subject of Wie Is De Mol (WIDM) and which ultimately leads to the strangulation contracts attached to talent shows like The...
Today, the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce presents its Opening and Recovery Plan to the cabinet and the House of Representatives. The aim is a predictable and careful corona approach for audiences, creators and cultural organisations. An approach where the policy reflex is no longer 'closing', but 'staying safely open'; an approach with prospects for recovery. In the plan, the Taskforce makes six proposals to...
No one understands yet why the theatres, museums and concert halls have to stay closed, while shops and contact professions are back in full swing. And rightly so: we all want a normal life again, going to the movies together, dancing at a cool concert, and strolling past art in a museum. We need relaxation. However, there is also a downside to this...
I suspect that the decision to keep the museums, concert halls and theatres closed, while sports and Bijenkorf can open, was not born out of cultural hatred. A year ago, I would have doubted it. Now it is clear that those of you from the OMT do not actually want relief at all, but want to curb the biggest threat of civil disobedience. Sportsmen and middle-class people are more likely to throw...
The Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce calls on the government to adopt consistent policies across sectors and assumes that: - now that commercial flow-through venues (such as the Bijenkorf) are reopening, cultural flow-through venues such as museums, monuments and presentation institutions can also open their doors. - now that indoor sports are possible again, active arts and culture will also be possible again. This...
Today, King Willem-Alexander announced that the Golden Coach will not be used for the time being. However, the restored Golden Coach, which will remain in a glass enclosure in the courtyard of the Amsterdam Museum until 28 February after more than five years of restoration, will be on display again. Indeed, the Amsterdam Museum is opening the gates to its courtyards
The façade of the Maaspodium in Rotterdam will be colourfully lit with children's drawings for the next few weeks. In the idea of "theatre gives colour to life", children could submit colour plates over the past few weeks, which the theatre uses to drag its façade through the dark days and a lockdown. Business leader Bernadette Stokvis: "Children literally keep our stage alive". A lockdown during the...
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