"In the short term, the threat comes from black-racial activists and their leftist slaves. A very small group of activists with an obsession with skin colour have opened the frontal attack on the symbols of Western culture. They claim to speak for all of black Holland. This must eventually end in reparations because of slavery and job quotas against whites, like in South Africa....
A little pity was in order during the debate on the culture budget in the Lower House. Thierry Aartsen, the VVD's brand-new culture spokesperson, still hadn't done his homework and therefore got terrible on his mitre from fellow culture spokesmen in the Lower House. And then also from the minister. Was he allowed to speak around 11...
Geert Wilders was quick off the mark, after the attack in Berlin, posting a photoshopped picture of Angela Merkel with blood on her hands. The message was all too clear. Even more opportunistic and shocking was the list posted half a day later by Martin Bosma, media and culture spokesman. Bosma's tweet included a list of names. Caption "These...
Finally, it was not quite literal, but he was clearly referring to it: Richard III. Geert Wilders, himself not too culturally savvy, quotes Shakespeare in his umpteenth plea to get the Netherlands out of the EU with pot-covered borders. In the second chamber. I saw it on Nieuwsuur, and you can watch it back. At 39′:49″ minutes into the broadcast he is in debate with his great friend, the VVD's Halbe Zijlstra.
Radio Netherlands World Broadcasting no longer exists. The subsidy was withdrawn because no one in the VVD knew what it was: shortwave. And because the PVV, which was also in government at the time, finds everything scary that contains the word 'world'. Bad for those who miss calls from the ANWB emergency centre at breakfast for the Alpenkreuzer, even worse for...
Police cracked down on the March of Civilisation on 27 June 2011 in The Hague. The demonstration against art cuts, which was controversial because of its rather elitist naming, ended with a few charges by the ME on artists. Their friendly sit-in thereby degenerated into something that opponents of all those elitist subsidy slimmers (according to Martin Bosma of the PVV) were only too happy to see: violence.
Culture debate 2013: Rutte and PVV shake hands. It was about Caro Emerald. About Zwarte Piet. And the classic: subsidy on opera tickets. And briefly about carnival. And it made all the news. Geenstijl. Radio 1,2,3 and 4. What else was the debate about? Um... no idea.
We are far from having all the info, but we have enough by now: the Bureau Promotie Podiumkunsten (BPP), funded by the Association of Theatre and Concert Hall Managements, is quitting as of 1 October. Reason unknown, but surely the malaise in the cultural sector, and especially the performing arts, will have something to do with it.
We are quite happy with the Netherlands, if only because of the language. After all, we can write in Dutch here, and then there are quite a few people who can read us, and understand us when we speak. In Thailand
The Dutch system of art subsidies was set up in 1942 by NSB leader Tobie Goedewaagen, who also founded the Kultuurkamer. Typical of a fact that
More than a decade without national pride does a lot to a country. Could it be true that the simultaneous closure of Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum helped lead to the
Rijksmuseum Twente can probably stay open now that culture minister Jet Bussemaker (PvdA) has promised the chamber to halve the planned 50% cut in operations. Moreover, she is going to fight hard to keep the Cultural and Artistic Formation subject in secondary education as a compulsory examination subject 'left or right',
If the Netherlands consistently sticks to previously adopted PVV positions, the second chamber will say 'No' to a European investment in culture, innovation and media on 21 November 2012. However, if the current Rutte government sticks to the pro-European stance included in the coalition agreement, the Netherlands will cease its opposition to the 1.8 billion euro contribution to strengthening culture, which has now been approved by all other European member states.
There it is: the coalition agreement of the new cabinet of the man who previously managed to associate the terms 'subisidy slave' and 'empty halls' with the fine arts. The tone is different now, and we owe that to the input of the PvdA, just as earlier we apparently owed the sneering tone to Martin Bosma's PVV.
The major research and management consulting firm Berenschot has calculated that, on balance, the cuts to the arts turn out to be not too bad. Client of the study, De Volkskrant, then headlined that big. And indeed, it is kind of good news that the pile-up of cuts (the state 24% less, the provinces 20% less and the municipalities only 9 % less) is so low in net terms. We were surprised for a moment, but when we asked around, we found out
I would like to take a moment to put this one to you. Quote from this morning's volkskrant, where editor Harmen Bockma makes a valiant attempt to list all the figures of culture carnage, but fails a little in doing so. It also remains difficult to identify the fallout in the basic infrastructure add to the dropout at the fund, but it is proving altogether difficult to discern what
It is now becoming clear where the laissez faire-laissez mourir (let it be done, let it die) policy of Halbe Zijlstra, Martin Bosma and Mark Rutte will lead. Of the dozens of institutions that will close, downsize or die off in the coming months due to vacancy of quality staff, the demise of the Theatre Institute of the Netherlands (TIN) is starting to take on very tragic proportions.
200 million less, half out at the basic infrastructure of the arts in the netherlands. what remains, how does the field react. Follow it here. advice council for culture
Art subsidies are better abolished if artists have to reach large audiences. Because then, after all, you distort the market. Logical. You could also decide to subsidise everyone. And that sounds stranger than
At the request of Amsterdam debate centre De Balie, Parool and Groene Amsterdammer columnist Theodor Holman wrote a play about a conversation between Anders Breivik and Geert Wilders. In an interview with Joost Niemöller of the opinion blog 'De Dagelijkse Standaard', the presenter and writer explained that he admires Breivik's analysis of the situation in Europe, which he also believes...
Nearly thirteen million The Gelderland Orchestra (HGO) asked for the province of Gelderland. It got three-and-a-half. Just enough to absorb the reduction in the state subsidy for the next two years and to work towards a new organisational structure and a new revenue model, as described in a very ambitious business plan, which...... wait for it. We have already written about this, haven't we?
Apartheid activist Martin Bosma started talking about it during one of his many hilarious appearances in the second chamber, but, as is often the case, was wrong. He said art subsidies were an invention of the Nazis and therefore pernicious. We knew better, because researcher Benien van Berkel is thorough and deals with facts. From her doctoral research...
While 2010 was still the year of PVV positions on culture that were suddenly shared by other parties ("we are abolishing art subsidies"), the year 2011 fell under their implementation. What was striking was the ease with which regional and local administrators also wielded this same machete, as PVV spokesperson Bosma did not fail to testify. For instance, in the municipality of Almelo, 30 % went àff from...
That Martin Bosma, culture spokesman for the PVV, wants to withdraw the subsidy to Toneelgroep Amsterdam because that company plays works by 'enemy of the people' Tom Lanoye, was not even the most bizarre incident of the culture budget debate on 21 November 2011. More bizarre, too, than the PVV's demand for the establishment of a Colonial Museum celebrating the glory of 'Our Indies',...
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 discussed 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...
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