Joop Daalmeijer Erdoğan, Miranda van Kralingen Davutoğlu?

"For someone to interfere with an artistic interpretation, I find that quite hefty. Let me put it this way: you have this prime minister in Turkey... To interfere with something artistic, I find that rather hefty." This was stated by Emil Szarkowicz, musician and cultural editor from Limburg, in a broadcast by regional broadcaster L1 yesterday, Reason being the negative advice of the Culture Council on Opera Zuid, criticising the artistic quality of the southern company and the dual role of artistic and business director Miranda van Kralingen.

Turkish states?

Painful for Opera South, painful for Miranda van Kralingen? Sure. But Turkish states at the Culture Council? Is Szarkowicz really suggesting that the Council for Culture is a plaything of chairman Joop Daalmeijer, who wants Miranda van Kralingen gone? Does he really think that the Council for Culture should not make statements about the artistic content of companies with state subsidies? The core task of the advisory body, after all? Then get rid of the whole Culture Council, and only look at operational management.

No doubt Szarkowicz doesn't mean it that colourfully, but it is indicative of the initial reactions from the region to the opinion. Paws off our orchestra, our theatre company and our museum. Limburg's CDA deputy Ger Koopmans is already clear: he is going to approach minister Bussemaker and politicians in The Hague in the near future not to follow the Council for Culture's advice on various points.

Koopmans will not be the only one.

Interim director Bart van Meijl of the Orchestra of the East does make a good point in the same broadcast, irrespective of provincial emotions: "The Council is not consistent in initially emphasising urban regions and now forcing Philharmonie Zuidnederland to choose a pitch: either Maastricht or Eindhoven." He notes, "A cultural institution in the region has a different impact than in the Randstad. I still detect some Randstad thinking at the Culture Council when it comes to how to deal with the regions."

To be continued, as history shows that the lobbying of provinces and cultural institutions often determines the extent to which the Advice is modified or followed. Misplaced comparisons with Turkey, however, do not.