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Monday debate day. Follow our famous pointing updates live! (not just via the birther network) #tkculture

We grew up with it: live tweets from the heart of our democracy. Now, of course, debates on culture in recent years have been a bit different from what we expect now. There is no longer a need to fight over the reputation of the arts, as there was during all debates until a year ago. What is it about now? Energy, thinking... 

TOBIAS KOKKELMANS NEW DIRECTOR/DIRECTOR NEDERLANDS THEATRE FESTIVAL AND AMSTERDAM FRINGE FESTIVAL

Today, the Supervisory Board announced that Tobias Kokkelmans has been appointed as the new director/manager of Stichting de Theaterdagen, organiser of the Nederlands Theater Festival, Amsterdam Fringe Festival, NTFJong and the in-depth platform for professionals NTF-Pro, as of 1 September. In doing so, he succeeds Jeffrey Meulman, who in May this year left the Foundation after sixteen years for the Verkadefabriek.... 

Dear Hans Teeuwen, art has nothing to fear from boring men.

It is a great thing that there are comedians who keep a finger on the pulse of society. Hans Teeuwen, for instance, has once again made himself angry. He has joined the small chorus of (mostly) men who see the end of the world coming because of a rebuttal. That is the rebuttal that now comes via social media 

Support among the test society is falling away.

Today, both Koninklijke Horeca Nederland and the Cultural and Creative Sector Taskforce announced that testing to enter somewhere is controversial as far as they are concerned. The Taskforce wants to enforce testing for entry only in extreme cases, and not for cultural attractions that are already demonstrably safe. In fact, the hospitality industry finds testing completely unmentionable,... 

Amsterdam Museum presents exhibition Golden Coach - 18 June 2021 to 27 February 2022 

The exhibition The Golden Coach opens at the Amsterdam Museum on Friday 18 June. After a restoration of more than five years, the Golden Coach is back on public display for the first time. The carriage will be on loan to the Amsterdam Museum until February 2022. With this, the carriage temporarily returns to the city that used it in... 

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

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... 

Nerd podcast #4: Marijn Lems and Micha Wertheim clash over moral judgements in art criticism

The best works of art are failures, and it is up to the public to give them a meaning over which the artist has no control, argued comedian Micha Wertheim in an essay for De Correspondent. We thought that was a good topic for our fourth geek podcast. Marijn Lems (NRC,Theaterkrant) does sometimes clash with people who give him too much in his reviews,... 

'Warm Right' keen to invest in full houses - Culture spokespersons Lower House in debate

'There is no other sector in the Netherlands that is as controlled and regulated as the cultural sector.' D66 MP Salima Belhaj sighed this towards the end of the debate organised by the assembled cultural sector lobby clubs on Monday 8 February. 'It takes an incredible amount of work, time and especially money. And the basis is distrust.' The most culture-friendly party of... 

Toothless culture debate offers few new insights

On Thursday morning 12 November, the culture spokespersons of Christen Unie, VVD, D'66 and Groen Links entered into a debate on culture. However, the debate organised by LACK (Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst) Kunsten '92, the Fund for Culture Participation and the Boekman Foundation did not become scintillating for a moment.

TivoliVredenburg presents programme on US election night - Historic election live on 3 November

On Tuesday 3 November 2020, America goes to the polls. TivoliVredenburg in
Utrecht presents a live programme around these exciting elections. From
the Great Hall to monitor exit polls, enter scientists, journalists and
campaigners take the stage and call in several Americans. The programme will be
'coronaproof' produced.

Burn letter from festivals: 'It's going wrong with the performing arts in the Netherlands'

A fire letter from the United Performing Arts Festivals. One of more than a hundred lobbying organisations in the arts, but a very important one. After all, the festivals are the place where audiences were introduced to arts and entertainment in its full breadth. That doesn't happen anywhere else. And beautiful: they stand up for all performing arts, because, as loyal readers of this site know: they are quite the hare, and become even more the hare with every half-hearted rescue.

NPO brings a debate about a debate. Let that sink in.

I have long put myself on the 'listen first, talk later' mode when it came to how we all deal with the festering sore of racism in the Netherlands. There's so much we don't know about each other, and there's especially so much I can't know about my fellow Black people, because for a long time I felt too little... 

Cultural big earners: jump through your karma for once

My story about cultural big earners turned out to be the talk of the town in the cultural sector. Not publicly, i.e. mainly behind the scenes, I was approached. One of the few people who did speak out publicly was Henk Scholten. On Facebook, he responded to a column by journalist Aukje van Roessel about the questions raised by The Hague city council 

Eurosonic/Noorderslag and Scapino possibly saved. But at the expense of new art acquisitions. #tkculture

Creativity expresses itself in Dutch politics mainly in bookkeeping. On 29 June, just before the start of the three-month summer recess, the Lower House actually found money to save pop festival Noorderslag and dance company Scapino from collapse. That demise would become a reality in the new arts plan, which takes effect in 2021, as the Culture Council... 

The Lower House will only make the disaster for culture worse. (Unless it chooses to change.)

On Monday 29 June, the Lower House will discuss the advice of the Council for Culture. An advice that, as the Volkskrant rightly noted on Friday 26 June, receives much more criticism than previous advice. In doing so, the newspaper reaffirms what we already wrote down immediately after its release on 4 June: there is a total lack of transparency, a... 

Survey shows need for emergency support for self-employed in cultural sector

There is an urgent need for emergency support for the large group of self-employed workers in the cultural sector. The 300 million in emergency support that the government released for this sector at the beginning of the corona crisis is barely trickling down to them. This is according to a survey of more than 1,500 freelancers, especially musicians, creators and technicians, on the eve of the debate ... 

The Platform for Freelance Musicians in action

29 June is an important day for culture: the Lower House will then debate emergency support for the sector. Our message to politicians: "300 million euros of emergency support that OCW has available for the cultural sector is nowhere near enough to keep the sector afloat. Adopt the motion of PvDA, GroenLinks and SP!" In... 

The advice is here. What will happen in Dutch subsidised culture over the next four years?

This is the recording of the presentation: And here is the full text of the press release. Explanation follows, but we will read first. More room for innovation and culture outside the Randstad provinces 04-06-2020 | 14:00 | The Hague The Council for Culture advises giving more institutions with innovative cultural offerings and institutions from outside the Randstad provinces the chance to be on... 

HOLLAND FESTIVAL ONLINE PROGRAMME 2.0-2.0

From 11 to 21 June, the Holland Festival will present an online programme as close as possible to the core and essence of the original programme, which was cancelled due to the corona crisis. Together with artists from around the world who were due to perform in the 2020 festival, an alternative online programme has been put together. The festival theme, suggested by... 

Finally a mature debate on culture. VVD stresses importance of culture for local business climate. #tkculture

The cultural sector should listen more closely to the minister's mother. Who said: 'You can be sad for a long time about what you didn't get, also be happy about what you did get.' Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven cited her mother in the closing stages of the inserted budget consultation on the incidental aid to the sector, which was declared last week.... 

Reintroducing an old support measure would mean a new incentive for creatives.

The Cabinet is allocating an extra three hundred million euros to cushion the damage of the corona crisis in the cultural and creative sector. This is an important step in the right direction and will actually help a number of institutions get over the bridge. By doing so, the cabinet is also sending a signal: that culture matters. Moreover, Rutte and his... 

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