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Comfort in times of Corona - Why adult animated films are so effective. (With Podcast)

Last year it was suddenly buzzing around: Dutch animation film is going to break through, a real animation industry has emerged. The occasion was the premiere of Heinz, Piet Kroon's whimsical and out-of-print film version of Windig and De Jong's comics. Not a children's film. And certainly not a Disney clone. We are talking about feature-length animated films, and there are many of those in the Netherlands.... 

Read More "Comfort in times of Corona - Why adult animated films are so effective. (With Podcast)
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UPDATE: House passes motion. Minister works on 'support package'. Culture Council sounds alarm. (And look what the eastern neighbours are doing!)

UPDATE Friday, March 13, 9:30 a.m.: After the Culture Council sounded the alarm on Thursday night, the Lower House passed a motion urging a support package for the affected cultural sector. The text of the motion, tabled by D66, Groen Links, PvdA, Partij van de Dieren, Denk and 50Plus, reads as follows: 'The Chamber, having heard the debate, whereas meetings with... 

Read More "UPDATE: House passes motion. Minister works on 'support package'. Culture Council sounds alarm. (And look what the eastern neighbours are doing!)

Fred Goessens leaves ITA: 'In every group there is such a reliable lobster as me'

Fred Goessens has been dead, but is still alive. As uncompromising as ever. The Netherlands' most reliable actor makes an interim will after twenty-two years with Toneelgroep Amsterdam. 'I had shit on everything' This interview was published 10 years ago in TheaterMaker, the trade magazine for the theatre sector. As Fred Goessens is now leaving ITA, the company where he once... 

Read More "Fred Goessens leaves ITA: 'In every group there is such a reliable lobster as me'

PLATFORM COMMENCEMENT! LET'S BEGIN

On 2 March, Platform Aanvang! launched the petition Nederland maakt kunst / art makes the Netherlands at the Solidarity evening in ITA. An evening that opened the conversation for a solidarity sector, but most of all sounded the alarm for the planned downsizing of the arts sector. The petition was signed by more than 11,000 people in a week. When we saw the... 

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When it suddenly feels complicated to clap. Play based on Rodaan al Galidi's novel delivers necessary discomfort

Talent ontwikkel je vaak dankzij forse tegenwerking. Rodaan Al Galidi kreeg talent voor het leven dankzij meer tegenwerking dan een witte, voormalig blonde Nederlander als ik ooit zal ontmoeten. Hij ontsnapte uit Irak en bracht vervolgens jaren door in het vagevuur van de IND en het COA, de afkortingen die de grens van Nederland bepalen. Hij schreef op wat hij… 

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That's how you give your city a real vision. (How Manchester became a leader in international arts in just a few years)

I have often resisted thinking of the Netherlands as a business. After all, a country cannot lay off people, or divest unprofitable sectors to make more profit. So anyone who speaks of the BV Nederland has not understood it. There are no competitors that you can fight out of the market while being entrepreneurial on those few square kilometres of polder land,... 

Read More "That's how you give your city a real vision. (How Manchester became a leader in international arts in just a few years)

Why the 4 March parliamentary debate was totally unnecessary.

After all, we did spend just under three hours on something completely nonsensical. Stupid, of course, because we had already written ourselves on 27 November 2019 that today's little debate in the Troelstra Room of the Lower House would be totally pointless. Everyone already knew that too, not least the movers of the motion, including Lodewijk Asscher ... 

Read More "Why the 4 March parliamentary debate was totally unnecessary.

Paolo Cognetti: 'The mountains give me a lesson in humility every time.'

Met zijn roman De acht bergen brak de Italiaanse schrijver Paolo Cognetti (42) in 2017 internationaal door. Ook Zonder de top te bereiken speelt zich weer af op grote hoogten. ‘De bergen geven mij elke keer weer een les in nederigheid.’ Zonder de top te bereiken is het reisverslag van Cognetti’s bergwandeltocht eind 2017 door een hoogvlakte in Nepal bij de… 

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Hide the books, if you want people in the library. (Lessons from Manchester, episode 2)

A real estate agent once confided in me that a bookcase in the living room saves thousands of euros in the resale value of a house. In a negative sense. This fact always does well at parties, and book lovers (my network is full of them) grudge it. On a tour of Manchester Central Library, the head librarian proudly told us that the café... 

Read More "Hide the books, if you want people in the library. (Lessons from Manchester, episode 2)

Herman Finkers' will: don't brood on this wonderful life

Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) was componist, wetenschapper, schrijver, dokter, mysticus en oprichtster van een klooster. Dus een katholieke non, maar dan een die wel het vrouwelijk orgasme onderzocht. Die laatste paradox resoneert, besefte Herman Finkers uiteraard toen hij het scenario schreef voor ‘De Beentjes van St. Hildegard’. De beschrijving van het orgasme door Hildegard luidde: ‘Als een vrouw de liefde… 

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Better late than never. Employers in the creative sector are asking for an extra 100 million. And counting.

While I was walking around Manchester with some cultural sector leaders, minister Ingrid van Engelshoven sent a letter to the House, telling it how much it would cost to enable state-subsidised arts organisations to get fair pay at the current offer. So that letter contained quite a few omissions: the minister was silent on the role played by regional and... 

Read More "Better late than never. Employers in the creative sector are asking for an extra 100 million. And counting.

Eva's Klage at TivoliVredenburg: Lera Auerbach takes on the smothered female voice

Russian Lera Auerbach (1973) does not shy away from big challenges. And that is an understatement. Most recently, she made a big impression with her cycle Goetia 72: in umbra lucis. She composed this setting of the names of 72 demons for the Netherlands Chamber Choir and the string quartet Quatuor Danel. A CD of 72 Angels: in splendore lucis, in which... 

Read More "Eva's Klage at TivoliVredenburg: Lera Auerbach takes on the smothered female voice

70th Berlinale, under new direction, opens with My Salinger Year and commemorates Hanau victims

"We are hopeful," is the reply when I speak to a colleague just before the start of the Berlin film festival. For curious as to how the choice of Carlo Chatrian as the new artistic director has fallen among German critics. Chatrian, previously director of the leading arthouse festival in Locarno, lies well, I understand. Whether this 70th Berlinale will see all that new momentum... 

Read More "70th Berlinale, under new direction, opens with My Salinger Year and commemorates Hanau victims

Netherlands Wind Ensemble launches second tour of The Unknown Chaplin an ode to Chaplin's artistry, with newly composed music

After its successful tour last November, the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble will tour again with The Unknown Chaplin. The second tour - from 3 March to 22 March - will take in venues in Ede, Helmond, Tilburg, Den Haag, Amersfoort, Enschede, Amsterdam and Rotterdam. www.nbe.nl/programma/the-unknown-chaplin/ Six hilarious, humorous and melancholic silent films by the great universal genius Charlie... 

Read More "Netherlands Wind Ensemble launches second tour of The Unknown Chaplin an ode to Chaplin's artistry, with newly composed music

Reinbert is dead, long live Reinbert!

'I get up with you and I go to bed with you,' I said jokingly. We stood in his kitchenette, where he made coffee for himself and tea for me. Reinbert's big startled eyes told me that my ironic remark had landed in the barren soil of his deadly seriousness. - It was not the first and not the last 

Read More "Reinbert is dead, long live Reinbert!

There is chaos in the Cultural Basic Infrastructure grant application process. Therefore, we leave you to read the email. 

That in the Netherlands the government's distrust of citizens has reached bizarre proportions is proven by the hassle with benefits at the tax office and the state of affairs at the UWV. Or your average housing landlord where you want to report a leaky tap. Thanks to a politics influenced by false entrepreneurialism and rabid populism that treats citizens as fraudsters... 

Read More "There is chaos in the Cultural Basic Infrastructure grant application process. Therefore, we leave you to read the email. 

‘Ik ben een vrijere schrijver geworden.’ Esther Verhoef over de nieuwe dimensie in haar werk

Korte verhalen schrijft Esther Verhoef (51) al zo lang als ze fictie schrijft – sinds haar zevende. Of ze nou tien of honderd pagina’s lang zijn, haar verhalen zijn Verhoef even lief als haar romans en thrillers. ‘Kijk,’ zegt Esther Verhoef, terwijl ze de flappen van het omslag van Labyrint – de verhalen  openvouwt. Op de binnenkant zijn oude, op… 

Read More "‘Ik ben een vrijere schrijver geworden.’ Esther Verhoef over de nieuwe dimensie in haar werk

Matthijs goes to Saturday night. That, of course, is the end of VPRO's Mondo (update: or not?).

Fascinating front-page news and headliners for all talk shows: Matthijs van Nieuwkerk quits DWDD after 15 years. Obviously a disaster of national proportions. The book industry proclaims the end of the world, bands can no longer break through, and the successor to De Correspondent can never again meet its crowdfunding target in six minutes. An institution disappears, and everyone panics. Who... 

Read More "Matthijs goes to Saturday night. That, of course, is the end of VPRO's Mondo (update: or not?).

Why I hope to meet those youngsters from that particular reading club here: Olga Neuwirth composes soundtrack to Die Stadt ohne Juden

Emerging fascism is becoming increasingly parlous. Especially among young people, I discovered recently at a concert by the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra at the Concertgebouw. A reading club of twenty-somethings said they enjoyed James MacMillan's Second Percussion Concerto. They joined me in denouncing the draconian cuts to culture. But suddenly it sounded carefree: 'We are all voting for Thierry.' When I was dismayed... 

Read More "Why I hope to meet those youngsters from that particular reading club here: Olga Neuwirth composes soundtrack to Die Stadt ohne Juden
Frida, poignant images of a tormented soul. Or vice versa.

Full-length classical ballet Frida once again creates the Annabelle effect

How many female choreographers do you know who create a full-length ballet for a top classical ballet company? - I thought. Before going to Frida, I get word that a Latin American young woman has been hospitalised. Loss of a lot of blood, and unborn child. The happy-go-lucky girl I know weakly raises a thumb from the hospital bed on WhatsApp.... 

Read More "Full-length classical ballet Frida once again creates the Annabelle effect

Five stars. Or more. Why we need heroines like Tina Turner. 

What. Have. We. Terrible. Much. Too. Learning. If there is 1 thing the musical Tina makes clear, it is that. Especially at the stormy premiere, Sunday 9 February, a few hours before storm Ciara blew the last bubbles out of the Utrecht champagne glasses. An almost completely white auditorium, in Black Tie, that is, with only a few people from... 

Read More "Five stars. Or more. Why we need heroines like Tina Turner. 

Retrospect Opera presents Fête Galante by unjustly forgotten Ethel Smyth - Buy that CD!

'Had I not possessed three things unrelated to music, I would have perished early on from loneliness and disillusionment,' wrote Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) at 60. Those three things were: 'Iron health, a distinct fighting spirit and a modest but independent income.' Whereas women in the nineteenth century were condemned to compose 

Read More "Retrospect Opera presents Fête Galante by unjustly forgotten Ethel Smyth - Buy that CD!

'For a year I dragged Ravel's scores everywhere' - Bart Visman orchestrates 'Ondine'

Dutch composer Bart Visman (1962) has already written many wonderful works of his own, but makes his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with an orchestration of 'Ondine'. This is the first movement from Maurice Ravel's three-part piano cycle Gaspard de la nuit. It forms the prelude to an integral orchestration, to be premiered next season. 'I am of the same... 

Read More "'For a year I dragged Ravel's scores everywhere' - Bart Visman orchestrates 'Ondine'

The self-employed are to blame for everything. Now also for the downfall of regional arts journalism.

In april 2020 stopt de Persgroep, tegenwoordig DPG Media omdat dat internationaal beter bekt, met regionale kunstbijlages in zijn kranten. Geen kunstreportages en interviews meer, nauwelijks recensies. Lokale boekwinkels verliezen hun podium in alle Nederlandse regio’s, want de uitgever van Volkskrant, Trouw en AD heeft een regionaal monopolie. Het bericht, gebracht door een verslaggever van het Eindhovens Dagblad, viel op… 

Read More "The self-employed are to blame for everything. Now also for the downfall of regional arts journalism.

Opinion deputies Culture: 'For Culture, set the navigation a bit more often on Eastern Netherlands!'

The new year often starts with new insights and resolutions. A critical reflection can then help. We were therefore delighted to read the Volkskrant of 2 January, in which columnist and theatre critic Merlijn Kerkhof concludes that in 2020, he wants to enjoy all that the Netherlands has to offer in terms of culture a bit more often outside 020. And that is only right,... 

Read More "Opinion deputies Culture: 'For Culture, set the navigation a bit more often on Eastern Netherlands!'

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