Skip to content

For members only

This content is only available to Culture Press members. Become a member.

The 5 concerts not to miss on @oudemuziek

Utrecht is fast overtaking Amsterdam as cultural capital. Centrally located and easily accessible by train, bus, car, bicycle or on foot, and blessed not only with a host of beautiful churches but also with the imposing TivoliVredenburg, it attracts more and more music lovers to its city centre. For over three decades, it has hosted the Festival of Early Music,... 

Let zzp'ers keep the supervisory boards of cultural companies on their toes!

How next for boards in the cultural sector? Supervisory boards are under considerable pressure following publications about possible failures of supervision at Rotterdam's Wereldmuseum, Grand Theatre in Groningen and recently again from Rotterdam's Het Nieuwe Instituut. Previously, similar reports appeared about De Utrecht Games and the Groninger Museum, among others. In practically all cases, the cases involved a Council... 

Design Rotterdam CS has been seen before. In Monte Carlo.

Citroën lovers always got warm feelings at the sight of Rotterdam's new central station. Because indeed, that shark's mouth, with or without beach balls in front of it, is somewhat reminiscent of the iconic French car brand's logo. Well. As it turns out, the comparison goes further. Back deep in the 1960s, there was a Citroën pavilion in Monte Carlo in southern France. Citrophile... 

Heartbreak does not lead to great theatre - Volksoperahuis presents a rather long and winding road

She welcomes the audience to her small wedding chapel in juicy American. 'My name is Joe,' she says with a mischievous smile, 'I can't help it, my father was having a good time when he chose my name.' Today, in The Long and Winding Road by the Volksoperahuis, Manoushka Zeegelaar Breeveld will play a couple plucked from the audience 'in the... 

The 5 performances you should definitely see at @noorderzonnl

Groningen, that part of the Netherlands where the earth moves. I should know, with family in epicentre Loppersum. But nothing beats Groningen, especially during Noorderzon, the festival that combines theatre, music, literature and much more for ten days. Here are our five tips. Do you have any other tips of your own? Report them in the comments! Employee of the Year,... 

New work by Rob Scholte: Old children's money as high art

So you just keep looking at it. Like looking at a television in a shop window or on a stage, which always catches your attention. But this is not a television. These are marbles. Jaap Roell became fascinated by them. The art journalist and gallery owner has four works by Rob Scholte hanging and can't get enough of them. And frankly neither can we.... 

Vincent WJ Van Gerven Oei

Albania special (2). Vincent van Gerven Oei: 'This country is a better breeding ground than the Netherlands'

If anyone can give a good picture of cultural development in Albania, it is Vincent van Gerven Oei. This Dutch philosopher and artist has lived in the country for five years and, as an insider and outsider, therefore has a strong opinion. I meet him at café Bukowski in a hip entertainment district of Tirana. When the embassy told me about Van Gerven Oei... 

The 10 best films to get in the mood for SAIL

Boats and film, they have been linked since the very earliest cinema. The first moving shot is shot from a gondola in Venice, Georges Méliès already made Les haleurs de bateaux in 1896 and the much more sophisticated 20000 lieues sous les mers in 1907. With SAIL about to break loose, it is time to list the best nautical films.... 

Albania special (1): does Tirana want modern art?

Het laatste culturele geheim van Europa, zo wordt Albanië ook wel genoemd. Vooral omdat het kleine Balkanland lange tijd afgeschermd was van de rest van Europa: tot het communistische totalitaire regime in 1991 viel. Wat voor invloed heeft zo’n verandering op de cultuur? Ik raak tijdens mijn vakantie door deze vraag gefascineerd en spreek met een aantal mensen. Waaronder onze eigen ambassadeur, Dewi van de… 

Sierk van Meeuwen, Terrorist (source: zomerexpo.nl)

'Also nice. A hot chick with a kalashnikov.' Amateurs and pros in Haags Gemeentemuseum

The annual Summer Expo at Gemeentemuseum Den Haag is open to submissions from amateurs. But in the end, as many as 70% of the entrants turn out to have attended an art school, and even 80% of the selected entries were made by professional artists. With two guests, I visit the Summer Exhibition. Museum visitor Rob van Berlo picks his favourites. Gallery owner Nena Milinkovic I ask the same,... 

Orlando Festival is broad and varied - with one blind spot: the female composer

Thursday 20 August sees the start of the annual Orlando Festival again in Kerkrade. Established in 1982 by cellist Stefan Metz, this event has been luring young musicians to Rolduc Abbey for over three decades to train in musical practice. Named after the then renowned Orlando Quartet, the festival traditionally pays close attention to strings, but other instruments are not forgotten either.... 

Casual encounters in a sanatorium: @TFBoulevard has a real theme

Theatre festival Boulevard has a theme. This is new, and actually unusual for a large-scale festival like the one in Den Bosch. After all, how do you find so many performances for those claimed 120,000 spectators that are all about that same theme? The solution is simple: you don't have to. You can also attach a theme to a few appealing performances and a single part... 

No art without sacrifice! @TFBoulevard shows 2 faces of youth theatre

Last year, theatre festival Boulevard launched a competition giving young creators the chance to create a performance. Requirements: the target audience (young people aged six and over), the length of the performance (roughly 20 minutes) and the theme (Vincent Van Gogh). This weekend the first two winners could be seen, next weekend the other two. Above all, the first performances showed the two faces ... 

NJO Symphony Orchestra shakes former broadcasting station to its foundations

While the young musicians of the NJO Symphony Orchestra emit fearsome war sounds, behind them we see two toddlers frolicking uninhibitedly across the Veluwe moor. Moving and at the same time oh so appropriate, because although Carl Nielsen composed his overwhelming Fourth Symphony during the First World War (1914-16), he remained convinced of the good in man. He christened it Det Uudslukkelige, which means as much... 

Which eurosceptic dares to go to Het Zuidelijk Toneel at @TFBoulevard?

  Whether a TED talk catches on is often largely down to the speaker. This global craze of pimped-up powerpoints could become a global craze because these 'talks' are delivered by heart in front of an audience. So they are theatrical things, these TED Talks, and that makes them interesting to watch even on a screen. Lucas De Man, director,... 

Curve Boukje Schweigman

By Boukje Schweigmans Curve to higher consciousness on @TFBoulevard

  Some say there is a tunnel of light you pass through when you die. Could be, there are people with near-death experiences who describe such a thing. Personally, I find the paintings depicting such tunnels of light rather kitschy. Clouds with a scary eye or a man with a beard at the end.... But now sculpture-dance-design artist... 

Learned on @TFBoulevard: Young creators, please, fail big!

  That you wake up at night and there is a full-blooded hipster sitting at the foot of your bed. One of those whose beard has two points of rap, whose hair is in a messy bun and who has a tuft of hair bulging out of his right ear. This pretty much sums up my worst nightmare. Well struck, then, by Lisah makes Roozemoes, to... 

World Press Photo wants to start selling photos. To help photographers.

Een betere plek om persfoto’s te vertonen dan een kerk is er eigenlijk niet. Tenminste, zolang het zo’n Nederlandse kerk als die in Naarden is. Witgepleisterde muren, geen afleidende beelden en schilderingen. En dan toch die gewijde sfeer die een beetje hoort bij wat al die winnaars van World Press Photo 2015 uitbeelden: verschrikkelijke verhalen, glorieuze overwinningen en mysteries die… 

Star Wars, cute kittens and the new Wilco for free: try to beat that

Brilliant marketing strategy: call your new record Star Wars at the time that trailer is the most viewed ever, put a cute cat on the cover, temporarily give the album away for free and then let social media do the work. 'If you can't beat them, join them' squared away. And meanwhile merrily mixing old Bowie with Captain Beefheart with a... 

Amstel Quartet surprises with chansons

The CD Sax avec Elan! is the latest project by the ever enterprising Amstel Quartet. The four saxophonists made their name with impeccable and inspired performances of contemporary music, but do not shy away from the beaten track. For this CD, they joined forces with French chansonnier Philippe Elan. To my pleasant surprise, the... 

Assessment error Performing Arts Fund has major implications for future grant applications

Those who apply for grants but do not receive them must be given insight into the applications of others who have been honoured. That is the most remarkable ruling by the Council of State in the case Holland Opera won against the Performing Arts Fund. Much more important for the company itself, of course: according to our highest court, the Performing Arts Fund decided in 2012 to grant Holland... 

Important performances now available in full on Theatre Encyclopaedia

Watch Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf by the Dutch Comedy in 1964, or Live, the 1979 video ballet by the Dutch National Ballet. You can now do so at the Theatre Encyclopaedia. Thanks to the crowdfunding campaign Being/Not Being. For some time, the Theaterencyclopedie had wanted to put videos of some of the crown jewels of Dutch theatre performances on the internet. A nice start has now been made on that. Through a Voordekunst action, even more money has been raised... 

Marjolijn van Kooten's 'Schijtluis' is honest and disconcerting

Cabaret artist Marjolijn van Kooten (43) has an anxiety disorder. With her book 'Schijtluis', she wants to break a taboo: if you suffer from an anxiety disorder, you should not be ashamed of it. Van Kooten writes extensively about her fears in 'Schijtluis'. It makes for a quirky and disconcerting book. Schijtluis is a diary. Openly and honestly, Van Kooten describes... 

Small Cultural Membership
175 / 12 Months
For turnover less than 250,000 per year.
Posting press releases yourself
Cultural Membership
360 / Year
For cultural organisations
Posting press releases yourself
Collaboration
Private Membership
50 / Year
For natural persons and self-employed persons.
Exclusive archives
Own mastodon account on our instance
en_GBEnglish (UK)