The repair of cultural subsidies by more than 18 million, announced by culture minister Bussemaker on 8 June 2015, mainly concerns a perpetuation of earlier patchwork. That patchwork was necessary in recent years to smooth the crudest consequences of the cuts by her predecessor Halbe Zijlstra. That predecessor is now in the chamber as a coalition partner, to ensure...
What happened to the five million Overijssel gave the orchestra in 2011 to 'get more money from the market'? This was also what councillor Van Abbema wondered, and the answers the province gave her mostly raise more questions. What is abundantly clear is that the province wants to keep the orchestra no matter what and of no merger
Tonight, the Arnhem city council will take an important decision on the renovation of Musis Sacrum, the monumental concert hall located at a prominent point in the city. But the real news is not in what will be decided tonight, but in the far-reaching consequences. Musis Sacrum dates back to 1847 and is part of the cultural heritage. The venue complex is in dire need of refurbishment and with...
Relief for Amersfoort's cultural organisations. In the proposal for the multi-annual budget 2015-2018 (presented last night by the college to the city council), they remain largely unaffected when it comes to cuts. Only theatres De Flint and De Lieve Vrouw have to make cuts. It is possible they will merge in 2017. Recently, there has been a lot of unrest in the cultural world. The...
There is too little money for two travelling opera companies. Quality is at risk, something must be done. But the Culture Council does not offer a solution.
Amersfoort's cultural scene is in turmoil over a series of possible austerity proposals. In recent weeks, the public was allowed to give its opinion. The city council will make final decisions in May. Meanwhile, beloved theatre De Lieve Vrouw is already in dire financial straits. Amersfoort has been under financial supervision by the province of Utrecht since the end of 2014. The municipality mainly suffers...
The money at HET Symphony Orchestra has run out. Despite all the extra millions from the province and after years of writing off tons of general reserves, the end is in sight. And so the orchestra is scrapping concerts, will be seen less in theatres in Deventer and Zwolle, stops CD recordings and shuns any risky performances. To keep the...
Municipal cultural politics are often about 'bricks and mortar'. People put up a cultural building and then pray/hope that great things will happen there, which the city council in turn has no money for/power over. Take Enschede. In a council meeting in which it was decided to reinvest in cultural bricks by means of a €475,000 loan, there was actually some unrest. No, not about those bricks, but about...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Just one more point. Then we're almost through.' Joop Daalmeijer: 'Continue quietly, we have until half past five.' Wijbrand Schaap: 'We have a problem with real estate. A lot of inner cities are empty. Shop premises are empty, downtown office buildings are unrentable. What do the municipalities say? Put artists in them. Cost nothing, because for free rent they do...
Since the Amsterdam Uitmarkt is no longer run by the Uitburo but by a separate foundation, things have become a tad more commercial. The folder-fair-with-bands that has become the national opening of the cultural season over the past decades has to. The government has found art scary for a while now, usual suspects are pulling out as sponsors, and malaise is hitting...
Minister Filipetti has given the green light. Emio Greco and Pieter Scholten will be indeed the new artistic directors of CNN Ballet National de Marseille. A company with 30 dancers, 60 employees in total, in a building with 9 studios and a theatre. Who in the Netherlands still gets that done?
We kept a liveblog. Nice and old-fashioned, from the days when every month there was uproar somewhere about the government's handling of art. Now there is peace in the tent, as the PVV sardonically points out, because 'The Left' is now the bearer of policies devised by the PVV. The PVV predicts a black future for 'The Left' once the PVV comes to power.
A joint press conference by two companies. In the post-Zijlstra era, that often does not bode well. A merger then seems obvious, especially when it involves the two largest opera companies in our country: De Nederlandse Opera and the Nationale Reisopera. Only now we have to turn that around: the Netherlands Opera will become the National Opera. And the building will be called National Opera and Ballet.
According to NRC Handelsblad Culture cuts became fatal for 'only' 11 theatre institutions. In doing so, they assume groups that actually dissolved themselves. In their overview, however, they overlook the companies that voluntarily dissolved themselves by merging with another company. In addition, there are a number of institutions that disbanded before the new round because it was already clear that they would not receive any money. If we do count those, we come to at least 34 companies. That is already 25% of what was on offer before the cuts.
On 8 September next, pianist, composer and conductor Reinbert de Leeuw hopes to turn 75 and this will be celebrated with a range of events. These include a three-day festival dedicated to him in The Hague and Amsterdam at the end of September, and next season he will be
This week, the curtain officially fell on the Theatre Emabassy, a club of inspired people who had Dutch artists collaborate with artists in developing countries such as Honduras, Bhutan and Congo. The resulting performances were only sporadically seen in the Netherlands, but every now and then a project made a broad impression here too, such as a 'On Hope of Blessing', played by real fishermen, but from Mali.
After the presentation of the Rotterdam and The Hague arts recommendations, and a few days to weeks before the harsh judgements of the Council for Culture, and a few months before the devastating reports of the Performing Arts Fund, it is starting to become clear how drastically the Dutch cultural sector is being hit
Experts in particular were upset with the official opening performance of Springdance 2012. "The Rodin Project" by Russel Maliphant was special for that reason alone. Rarely has there been so much talk about an opening performance, especially since it is also Springdance's last opening performance. The 30-year-old festival of innovative dance and performance is ceasing to exist. Partly due to pressure from subsidy cuts from...
To bring in an extra five tonnes, the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra and the Gelderland Orchestra are pulling together. And with success: the provincial governments of Overijssel and Gelderland are absorbing the state's subsidy cut. However, it now turns out that the plans used to rake in that bailout are dubious. Politicians have hardly looked into it. Questions about the business plan came mainly from the PVV in Overijssel, but in Gelderland that same party enthusiastically agreed to the injection of millions after a - remarkably damning - counter-expertise.
In Amsterdam, Holland Festival, Theaterfestival, Toneelgroep Amsterdam and a few more clubs will 'work closely together'. In The Hague, this applies to Het Nationale Toneel and youth theatre house Stella Den Haag, while in Rotterdam
This week, the National Travel Opera begins rehearsals of Mozart's Le nozze di figaro. In the bin, the brand-new Netherlands Symphony Orchestra conducted by Jan Willem de Vriend. Business as usual, as both companies have been working closely together for years and are united in the National Music Quarter Enschede. Only: orchestra and opera company have not been talking to each other since last week.
Delightful news from the world of Christmas packages. 1/3 of interviewees said they did want to find a cultural experience in the Christmas package, as they visited a cultural actvity less often than they would like: 43% because of the crisis and 35% because of lack of time. Respondents said they would go more often if they got a discount. The proposed merger of...
Entrepreneurship is in young theatre-makers' blood (...) A new theatre circuit seems to have emerged in recent years. More and more young groups, such as Stichting Nieuwe Helden, PSTheater and Circus Treurdier, work relatively independently of subsidies and almost always outside the theatre building. They seek out their audiences anywhere, whether on the street, by a canal or in a...
MuseumgoudA not expelled MuseumgoudA may still remain a member of the Dutch Museum Association (NMV). A majority of the members were still of the opinion in September that the museum should be expelled because it had auctioned Marlene Dumas' The Schoolboys at the end of June without consulting other museums. That is against the NMV's rules. It did, however, decide to change the rules for the...
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