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Municipalities cannot be trusted with culture money. Therefore, they should preferably get everything.

by Wijbrand Schaap
1 March 20211 March 2021
4 min read
FAITS DIVERS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The most recent bulk of cultural rescue money was distributed to municipal councils without the obligation to actually spend that money on culture. Indeed, that so-called 'earmarking' was too cumbersome and time-consuming, according to now outgoing culture minister Ingrid van Engelshoven. (Malicious parties suggest that this way Rutte and Wiebes were willing to cross the bridge, because the money would not...

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Between heaven and hell: Frank Westerman on our fascination with the cosmos

by A Quattro Mani
25 February 202130 March 2022
8 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

At the time Covid-19 flattened normal life, Frank Westerman had fortunately already done his research for his new book. To take care of his parents, he was suddenly living 'at home' again for three months, in his boyhood room on the outskirts of Assen. Writing offered him the chance to escape to heavenly realms: Cosmic Comedy is about the human...

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'I tried to turn something terrible into something beautiful.' Douglas Stuart wrote a gripping novel about his alcohol-addicted mother

by A Quattro Mani
15 February 202130 March 2022
9 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Last year, he became the second Scot ever to win the prestigious Booker Prize, and that too with a debut novel. The unexpected success of Shuggie Bain has a bittersweet edge for Douglas Stuart (44). For the story of maverick Shuggie, who loses his hapless, single mother Agnes to drink, is based on his own childhood. Shuggie grows up...

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ITAlive reached 871,000 twitter followers via stream #romantragedies anyway. And special it was.

by Wijbrand Schaap
15 February 202115 February 2021
5 min read
INTERNET, MEDIA, PODIUM ART, THEATER, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

That Shakespeare is still relevant after four centuries doesn't even require putting him in modern clothes, but of course it helps. The worldwide success of Ivo van Hove and his 'Internationaal Theater Amsterdam' is therefore partly due to his Shakespeare adaptations 'Kings of War' and 'Roman Tragedies'. Marathons, hours of theatre with food in between. Valentine's Day 2021...

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"The promise of the empty room" is a nice initiative, but ignores the new normal of the culture consumer

by Onno Weggemans
1 February 20211 February 2021
7 min read
ACTUAL, FILM, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

People will not be eager (in large numbers) to go to packed halls again. Many 'old' culture visitors can be considered lost. The cultural sector faces a twofold challenge: to minimise this loss and to look for new audiences even more than usual.

JUST

by Ingmar Heytze
27 December 2020
3 min read
Column, Ingmar Heytze, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

It is stupid and pointless to start comparing suffering. There is always someone who had it shittier than you, usually even closer than you thought. But reinforcing the delusion that writers and poets can live off their royalties, when that is literally true for less than one per cent of professional literary authors, shows little empathy.

'My novel offers an opening for conversation about mental illness' Lize Spit on her new book "I am not there"

by A Quattro Mani
27 December 2020
5 min read
LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

'Seeing your loved one derail before your eyes is the worst thing there is: the most secure suddenly becomes the most unsafe. You can live with someone for weeks or months before it becomes clear that they are slowly slipping into delusions.'

On my friend's deathbed, I saw again how valuable art is

by Onno Weggemans
26 December 202026 December 2020
2 min read
Column, PERSONAL, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

My friend informed me of his decision to stop writing prose. There was no dry bread to be earned from it. Going forward, he went through life as a freelance journalist and lyricist. The money he earned he spent music festivals

Alaa al Aswani: 'Literature doesn't change politics, it changes people'

by A Quattro Mani
18 December 202029 March 2022
7 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Four years ago at the Winternachten Festival in The Hague, we spoke about it with Egyptian writer Alaa al Aswani, who was disarmingly upbeat despite the fact that he can barely publish in his own country. On lack of freedom of expression and fiction in times of fake, this year's theme, Al Aswani could have a word. 'Freedom of expression is even worse now than under dictator Mubarak.'

Guilt helps no one. Philosopher and writer Jannah Loontjens took a closer look at her gnawing conscience

by A Quattro Mani
16 December 202030 March 2022
7 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

I have come to realise that guilt creates a distance. To others, I sometimes come across as cool and reserved; this is because I unconsciously shut down to suppress my feelings and desires. I don't want to get in the way of others with my emotions. But that also means I rarely let the other person get close.

'Writing allows me to let go of my insecurity.' Pepijn Lanen wrote book on fatherhood

by A Quattro Mani
27 November 2020
6 min read
LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

In the year that writer and rapper Pepijn Lanen (38) became a father for the third time, he kept a diary. Vad3r is the account of an eventful and inspired time. 'I like everything about fatherhood.'

Thea Beckman Prize winner Martine Letterie: the woman who writes faster than her shadow

by A Quattro Mani
11 November 202010 November 2020
7 min read
LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

In 25 years, Martine Letterie has written a small library of children's books: she has already published 120 titles in all age categories. She recently won the Thea Beckman Prize 2020 with Verboden te vliegen [Forbidden to Fly].

Unmissable livestreams in November Music

by Thea Derks
2 November 20204 November 2020
6 min read
MUSIC, November Music, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS

Meanwhile, November Music is keeping its nerve: the management is betting on live concerts with up to 30 people in the audience. In an email update to press and public, she did express her concerns: 'It will be some exciting days. After next Tuesday's press conference, we will know whether November Music 2020 can definitely go ahead.

'Unfortunately, I cannot prepare my daughters for the world to come'. Presenter Art Rooijakkers wrote a book about the future for his twins

by A Quattro Mani
30 October 202030 March 2022
12 min read
For members only, LITERARY, MEDIA, TELEVISION, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

'Writing this book has made me realise that I cannot prepare my children for the world in which they will be adults. I cannot teach them now what they will need later in a society that does not yet exist.'

Compromisloze danskunstenaar Koert Stuyf inspireert nog steeds (1938-2020)

Uncompromising dance artist Koert Stuyf still inspires (1938-2020)

by Ruben Brugman
27 October 202030 March 2022
3 min read
For members only, DANS, In Memoriam, BECOME A MEMBER

Every dancer is nostalgic. Heroes or icons of the dance world are given a special and honourable stage place in the inspiration of young dancers, of choreographers and also of the public. So too Koert Stuyf and Ellen Edinoff, and their Contemporary Dance Foundation.

On masks, insecurity and shame: 8 life questions to Karl Ove Knausgård

by A Quattro Mani
20 October 202020 October 2020
11 min read
LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

This week, Outside the World, the bulky, ambitious debut novel by Karl Ove Knausgård (51), was published for the first time in Dutch translation. A book about themes such as fear and shame, feelings that torment the Norwegian writer himself.

We'll never let you down: tribute to legendary cellist Jacqueline Du Pré

by Thea Derks
20 October 202029 March 2022
11 min read
For members only, November Music, OPERA, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

In 1987, British cello legend Jacqueline Du Pré succumbed to multiple sclerosis, aged 42. Although she had not played concerts for 15 years, a wave of grief washed over the world. In her short career, she had achieved more than many a musician in his or her entire life.

VPRO's Mondo yesterday was a shining example for all arts television (hint: rule disruption!)

by Wijbrand Schaap
19 October 202029 March 2022
4 min read
For members only, VISUAL, MEDIA, TELEVISION, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

So on 18 October 2020, something happened. VPRO's Mondo had suddenly become an upbeat broadcast. And that in these times, when lamentation and mourning over lockdowns and impending bankruptcies dominate everywhere. What was going on?

'Music is like a time machine.' David Mitchell on his swinging novel Utopia Avenue

by A Quattro Mani
16 October 202030 March 2022
7 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

A story about the rise and fall of a fledgling rock band - it is not a revolutionary new idea. But although Utopia Avenue is a more 'ordinary' novel than, say, his bestseller Cloud Atlas (2004), in the hands of David Mitchell (51) even an ordinary story never becomes ordinary.

Three actresses and a hijab. That's all Alum needs for chillingly beautiful Bakchanten

by Wijbrand Schaap
10 October 202010 October 2020
3 min read
PODIUM ART, THEATER, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Alum plays classics 'unplugged' once in a while. That means no fuss, just the story and the players. With Bakchanten, 2,500 years old but never surpassed in eloquence since, they have gold in their hands.

'I had to bring the ghosts in this house to life.' Stefan Hertmans on his new novel De opgang

by A Quattro Mani
2 October 202030 May 2022
11 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Those who read De opgang begin to understand more about Belgium: the country's gigantic split, the friction between the two parts of the country, and the rise and success of the Vlaams Blok. Hertmans has also come to a better understanding of how deep the cleavages and "the sorrows of Belgium" run.

Hanna Kulenty composes new piece for Bass Clarinet Festival: 'I'm making a collage of emotions'

by Thea Derks
1 October 202029 March 2022
7 min read
For members only, MUSIC, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Polish-Dutch Hanna Kulenty (Białystok, 1961) writes music that gets under your skin. Whether it is early works like Fourth Circle for violin and piano (1994), the opera Mother of Black-Winged Dreams about multiple personality syndrome (1995), or more recent compositions like the Viola Concerto (2015) and her Flute Concerto No.3 (2018), irrevocably you are taken on an exhilarating journey with a...

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Kaija Saariaho central composer at November Music: subtle timbres paint inky black scenario

by Thea Derks
21 September 20204 November 2020
9 min read
MUSIC, November Music, PODIUM ART, SPECIALS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Pièce de résistance will be the brand new Reconnaissance (Rusty Mirror Madrigal) for choir, percussion and double bass. Saariaho composed it commissioned by November Music and the Donaueschinger Musiktage. The first performance was scheduled at the German festival, which, however, was also cancelled. - A stroke of luck for November Music.

And the winner is... These are the five contenders for the 2020 Thea Beckman Prize

by A Quattro Mani
19 September 202019 September 2020
9 min read
LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The scope of the stories that stand a chance of winning the Thea Beckman Prize awarded by the Archeon today is wide. The five contenders on what Thea Beckman's work and nomination for the prize mean to them.

1 time art, 2 times culture. The Throne Speech makes up for years of silence on arts and culture in 4 sentences.

by Wijbrand Schaap
15 September 202030 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

For Mark Rutte, this must be a defeat, or else a U-turn of sorts. Although, there are indications that he is taking a milder view. In 2016, his speechwriter actually managed to cycle the K-word into the speech from the throne

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