Skip to content

members

The self-employed are to blame for everything. Now also for the downfall of regional arts journalism.

In april 2020 stopt de Persgroep, tegenwoordig DPG Media omdat dat internationaal beter bekt, met regionale kunstbijlages in zijn kranten. Geen kunstreportages en interviews meer, nauwelijks recensies. Lokale boekwinkels verliezen hun podium in alle Nederlandse regio’s, want de uitgever van Volkskrant, Trouw en AD heeft een regionaal monopolie. Het bericht, gebracht door een verslaggever van het Eindhovens Dagblad, viel op… 

Read More "The self-employed are to blame for everything. Now also for the downfall of regional arts journalism.

49th edition Film Festival Rotterdam opens with Mosquito - history as a fever dream

In the trailer for the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which kicks off on 22 January, film images crumble into abstract shapes and colour patterns. It has to do, I understand, with the wonder of the irrepressible urge to make stories. Once, a cave dweller put a painted hand on the rock face. In the digital age, we conjure stories with coloured pixels. The... 

Read More "49th edition Film Festival Rotterdam opens with Mosquito - history as a fever dream

Boreal at the top: our best-read posts of 2019!

Een week voor het einde van 2019 staat het ledental van Cultuurpers op bijna 150. Precies een jaar geleden was dat nog 40. Een groei van meer dan 300 procent is best wel bijzonder. We hebben dus aangetoond dat we er voor een sterk groeiende groep beslissers in de culturele sector toe doen. Zo goed dat ze graag bijdragen aan… 

Read More "Boreal at the top: our best-read posts of 2019!

Waarom de prachtige jaarcijfers van de schouwburg- en concertgebouwdirecties duidelijk maken dat het stelsel om moet. 

Het gaat weer eens waanzinnig met de Nederlandse theaters en concertgebouwen. De directies, verzameld in de VSCD, slagen er ieder jaar weer in om in het najaar met werkelijk fantastische cijfers naar buiten te komen. Ook dit jaar is het gejuich niet van de lucht. Alles groeit. Het aantal banen, en het aantal vrijwilligers, bijvoorbeeld. (beiden met 3% gestegen in… 

Read More "Waarom de prachtige jaarcijfers van de schouwburg- en concertgebouwdirecties duidelijk maken dat het stelsel om moet. 

'Art tax cuts and a cultural fund will be created as an incentive for homeowners to invest in works of art.' (How we think the throne speech should have read)

Members of the States General, This year about 72 years ago we had the first Holland Festival. After years of enslavement and tyranny, hope for a better future literally came from above, in the form of Maria Callas. Eyewitnesses who saw the lights in the Stadsschouwburg turn red that day would never forget that image. 72 years later, it seems... 

Read More "'Art tax cuts and a cultural fund will be created as an incentive for homeowners to invest in works of art.' (How we think the throne speech should have read)

Social Fund Performing Arts turns out to be moneypit: assets halved in five years. Why is this bad news?

'If we continue at the current rate, the fund will be exhausted in the foreseeable future.' This can be read in the 2018 annual report of the Performing Arts Social Fund. Plenty of reason to sound the alarm, indeed. Is this yet another victim of the cabinet's cuts? Not really, it turns out. When you look at the documents in detail, you see mainly that... 

Read More "Social Fund Performing Arts turns out to be moneypit: assets halved in five years. Why is this bad news?

Waarom Conny Janssen Danst dit jaar gaat winnen. Genomineerden dansprijs Zwanen 2019 bekend.

De nominaties voor de Zwanen 2019 zijn bekend. Hier is mijn jaarlijkse voorspelling wie er een gaan winnen. Spoiler alert. Dit jaar wordt het een voorzichtige voorspelling. Ook al zat ik de afgelopen jaren er niet ver naast (soms helemaal raak) met het raden van de winnaars, nu moet je bij de dansers kiezen uit superlatieven: ‘laat zij op een… 

Read More "Waarom Conny Janssen Danst dit jaar gaat winnen. Genomineerden dansprijs Zwanen 2019 bekend.

Why, as a total layman, I did three days AUS LIGHT. And came out as a different person.

De muziekcritici waren onverminderd enthousiast. En zelfs operaliefhebbers kwamen, zagen en waren tevreden. Natuurlijk was er het koor van monumenten, aangevoerd door een Vlaamse antiquiteit, dat Maria Calllas zeventig jaar geleden beter vond, maar de leden vormen slechts de noodzakelijke minderheid die nodig is bij zoiets ongehoords als AUS LICHT, het Magnum opus van het 72ste Holland Festival. Vooraf leek… 

Read More "Why, as a total layman, I did three days AUS LIGHT. And came out as a different person.

Zwart, Frans, of Afrikaans: The Welcome Table houdt discussie over ‘négritude’ op ruime afstand van het Holland Festival

De grond onder je voeten is heilig. Het is, in deze tijden van linkse identiteitspolitiek en opkomend rechts blut und boden denken, een best riskante opmerking, maar Faustin Linyekula gebruikte hem toch, in een antwoord op een vraag uit het publiek. Die vraag ging over de noodzaak, om je eigen plekje te verdedigen in een steeds verder globaliserende wereld. Want… 

Read More "Zwart, Frans, of Afrikaans: The Welcome Table houdt discussie over ‘négritude’ op ruime afstand van het Holland Festival

Laundry is still hanging on the line and food is still on the tables in restaurants. The doomsday scenario of Chernobyl, now as an HBO TV series.

On 26 April 1986, an explosion occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. To this day, it is one of the most catastrophic disasters caused by man. The effects of the nuclear disaster are felt even today. For many, Chernobyl represents a long-forgotten memory. Places with a macabre history have always drawn people and... 

Read More "Laundry is still hanging on the line and food is still on the tables in restaurants. The doomsday scenario of Chernobyl, now as an HBO TV series.

'We have become spectators rather than actors'; Philipp Blom tells performing artists on SPOT-Live what is at stake.

'We are on the brink of a new cultural revolution. We need to move away from our paradigm and art can play a role in this. Art can show us images of a different future, a different thought. Artists can help bring that realisation in.' Speaking is writer and journalist Philipp Blom. In 2017, his... 

Read More "'We have become spectators rather than actors'; Philipp Blom tells performing artists on SPOT-Live what is at stake.

How a small riot in Eindhoven could have major consequences for all subsidies (But for now, it's just a blunder)

Dankzij een tip van een lezer zagen we dat in Eindhoven gedoe is rond subsidies. Nu gebeurt dat wel vaker, maar hier was iets speciaals aan de hand. Het Eindhovens Dagblad meldde (Blendle link €) dat de voltallige Raad van Toezicht van de Stichting Cultuur Eindhoven was opgestapt. Er was stront aan de knikker omdat, zo schrijft het ED, de… 

Read More "How a small riot in Eindhoven could have major consequences for all subsidies (But for now, it's just a blunder)

Still some places available on 9 May 2019 - Workshop: Storytelling in writing

On stories, message and social media Storytelling is the latest buzzword. Every organisation these days has to have a story to tell. Is it a fashionable marketing phrase? Not really. Storytelling is not new. We were always telling each other stories. It's just that we sometimes forget. Thinking that passing dry facts to each other is an effective way to get people moving.... 

Read More "Still some places available on 9 May 2019 - Workshop: Storytelling in writing

Peppie & UBO: privacy concerns for business leaders and directors. (Why anti-money laundering policies can wreak havoc on culture)

Our government leaders, united in Europe, have come up with something to combat the masking of corruption. It is called UBO register. The Netherlands is also going to introduce it in the near future. This has consequences, also for cultural foundations and associations. Because every organisation has to determine who is a UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner). This causes some complications. In the cultural sector, it is... 

Read More "Peppie & UBO: privacy concerns for business leaders and directors. (Why anti-money laundering policies can wreak havoc on culture)

On the death of a teacher (on Wil Hildebrand and the fate of the theatre scholar)

Learning is less about what you learn than from whom you learn it. Not that what you learn doesn't matter, but you simply learn more from an inspired person than from a teacher running down his list. Fortunately, I have had many good teachers. Some of them are now demented or dead, with almost all of them... 

Read More "On the death of a teacher (on Wil Hildebrand and the fate of the theatre scholar)

PODCAST! Waarom het papieren boek nooit zal verdwijnen

Het papieren boek zal nooit verdwijnen. Daarvan zijn zowel Robbert Hak (Storytel) als Maarten Richel (New Book Collective) overtuigd. En dat terwijl ze allebei bezig zijn met nieuwe manieren om boeken op de markt te brengen. ‘De uitgeefwereld zal veel meer hybride worden. Het boek moet in al zijn verschillende vormen op zoveel mogelijk plekken aanwezig zijn.’ ‘De consument gebruikt… 

Read More "PODCAST! Waarom het papieren boek nooit zal verdwijnen
M carbunaru [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

All balls to Cuijk. Why it really is a good idea for the Netherlands to have a Capital of Culture every year.

How nice it would be if Zutphen were to be Cultural Capital of the Netherlands next year, proudly representing itself and thanks to a strong impulse from its surrounding area: the province of Gelderland. They could immediately tackle the hopeless situation of the local theatre, the kids from the suburbs could also go to hip-hop in a real hall and everyone in the Netherlands would know... 

Read More "All balls to Cuijk. Why it really is a good idea for the Netherlands to have a Capital of Culture every year.

Brabant feud between orchestra and province comes at the expense of children, schools and small companies.

Cultural summit will take place Friday, February 1, 2019, at the North Brabant Provincial House. Reason: The 'Orkexit', or, the decision by the Philharmonie Zuid Nederland to cease all education activities in North Brabant with immediate effect. This not only deprives thousands of children of culture, but also puts a number of small youth theatre companies in dire financial straits. The Philharmonic, a merger orchestra, formed... 

Read More "Brabant feud between orchestra and province comes at the expense of children, schools and small companies.
TivoliVredenburg during construction. Photo: Wijbrand Schaap

Without TivoliVredenburg, the improvement of the Utrecht station area would have come to nothing.

There is an artist café in Utrecht that few Utrechters know about. And I don't mean Theatercafé De Bastaard, where by now a whole generation of actors, filmmakers and writers come from, but the artists' foyer of TivoliVredenburg. I've eaten and hung out there a few times, as an embedded reporter of De Nacht van de Poëzie, when it's very late into... 

Read More "Without TivoliVredenburg, the improvement of the Utrecht station area would have come to nothing.

Lower House gets less say over arts subsidies. (If the minister gets her way)

Some people read Christmas stories over Christmas, others the interview supplements of newspapers, and a few do so with policy documents. So, quite a few people have read our Culture Minister's 'Advice Request' in the past few days. I, at least. Those who 'officially' cannot have done so are the members of the Culture Council, because the whole package came... 

Read More "Lower House gets less say over arts subsidies. (If the minister gets her way)

Performing artists miss out on million in European grant due to 'administrative inability'

'Indecent and rude,' is how Miep van Diggelen, former chairman of the board of the Performing Arts Social Fund (SFPK), calls the actions of the board of that same fund. That board, or at least about five members of the seven-member board, decided - outside the official meeting - to withdraw a subsidy application they had initiated earlier, without having read it. The promising... 

Read More "Performing artists miss out on million in European grant due to 'administrative inability'

The non-visitor does not exist. Research commissioned by minister ends debate.

The Netherlands suffers from a problematisation problem. In case you find that a problematic term, that is part of the problem. Indeed: we make something into a complicated problem and explain it complicated because there is actually no reason to make it a problem. Venue: our national assembly. Reason: not everyone benefits equally from... 

Read More "The non-visitor does not exist. Research commissioned by minister ends debate.

September 26, 17:00 Culture Press readers' drinks: the start of a beautiful friendship?

Ten years ago, I got new glasses. Two weeks later, a retired ophthalmologist drove his car through my left leg and a month after that, from a wheelchair - fortunately temporary - the idea for the Cultural Press Bureau was born. Partly because the arts editorships of the Associated Press Service and NRC were decimated. So September 26 is just a date,... 

Read More "September 26, 17:00 Culture Press readers' drinks: the start of a beautiful friendship?

Small Cultural Membership
175€ / 12 Months
Subscribe
For turnover less than 250,000 per year.
Posting press releases yourself
More details in the confirmation email!
Most Popular
Cultural Membership
360€ / Year
Subscribe
For cultural organisations
Posting press releases yourself
Collaboration
In the confirmation e-mail you will find the details for press release forwarding
Private Membership
50€ / Year
Subscribe
For natural persons and self-employed persons.
Exclusive archives
Own mastodon account on our instance
en_GBEnglish (UK)
nl_NLNederlands fr_FRFrançais en_GBEnglish (UK)