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Culture Council in advice: Smart approach to recovery and transition of cultural system is now the art

It is thanks to support measures that the cultural sector did not go down in the corona crisis. But unfortunately, the pandemic is not over yet. Time, money and space are needed to prevent the cultural sector from collapsing after all. So writes the Council for Culture to outgoing minister Van Engelshoven (OCW). The council points out that many... 

'A big iconic building with a park around it'. Culture Councils Amsterdam and Rijk set high bar for Slavery Museum

The Dutch Slavery Museum has moved a step closer, now that the Arts Council (Amsterdam) and the Council for Culture (Rijk) have issued an opinion on the exploration of a direction group presented earlier this year. This satisfies official procedural due diligence, although establishing the necessary museum in this way seems likely to take at least as much time.... 

Winnie Sorgdrager leads committee on transgressive behaviour cultural sector

Minister of State and former chairman of the Council for Culture Winnie Sorgdrager is chairing the committee advising on countering cross-border behaviour in the cultural and creative sector. As previously announced, the council is setting up this committee in response to a request for advice from outgoing minister Van Engelshoven (OCW). The advice should provide insight into what is going on at... 

To the makers, policymakers and culture lovers of the Netherlands: Statement by Kristel Baele, president of the Council for Culture, at the opening of the cultural season. 

"This weekend marks the opening of the cultural season, but also brings mixed feelings. More and more people are gradually finding their way back to museums, theatres and concert halls. The sounds and colours there grab us, comfort us and bring us together again. We experience culture now perhaps more beautiful than ever. We look forward to it.... 

Joint committee considers plans national museum of slavery history

A joint committee of the Amsterdam Arts Council and the Council for Culture will examine plans for a national museum of slavery history in Amsterdam in the coming months. Amsterdam's Municipal Executive and outgoing minister Van Engelshoven (OCW) have asked the advisory councils for a joint opinion. The advice, expected this autumn, will, among other things, address... 

Culture Council to investigate cross-border behaviour across cultural sector

We are a bit done with sex, drugs & rock'n'roll in culture. At least, not in what is presented through our galleries, film screens and venues, but in how that comes about. Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven has asked the Council for Culture for advice, and the Council is going to set up a commission to do so. This was just announced via... 

The Council for Culture has a sense of purpose. And it's about time.

'To strengthen the position of self-employed workers, a regulation could be revisited that would make it easier to enter into several short-term contracts throughout the year with interim retention of benefits.' There is a lot of useful stuff in the Culture Council's advice published today, but this sentence made me the happiest. Not so happy yet... 

Nerd podcast #12: Jeroen Bartelse of the Covid Taskforce Creative and Cultural Sector: It remains to be seen how quickly people can return, and how many people return.

Jeroen Bartelse is not only director of TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, the former director of the Council for Culture is also a prominent member of the Taskforce that lobbies for the cultural and creative sector to support culture in times of Corona. Marijn Lems and Wijbrand Schaap look back with him on the first corona year, summarised in... 

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Invest in culture for all

A strong cultural sector has an important economic and social driving function. Culture not only contributes positively to mental health and well-being, but is also an important building block in the recovery from the current corona crisis. To maximise this booster function, almost 500 million extra per year is needed. This is the conclusion of the Council for Culture in a letter to informateur Tjeenk... 

Nerd podcast 3: Why is youth theatre often so much stronger than theatre for big people? (With Marijn Lems and Henri Drost)

Today we are talking about youth theatre. A genre I myself first encountered in 1994, thanks to 'Mirad, een jongen uit Bosnië' by Ad de Bont, performed by Theatergroep Wederzijds. Marijn Lems got his love for youth theatre from his mother, who, like his father, was a librarian in Tilburg. What we agree on, in this podcast, the... 

Yet another hassle around MusicalMakers: Fleischmann becomes director despite objection from Culture Council

News arrived this week that Andreas Fleischmann, the highly esteemed director of Amsterdam's DeLaMar Theatre, has now officially become director-director of Stichting MusicalMakers, the foundation he had set up last year, a day before the deadline for grant applications for four-year state funding. And that is not allowed.

Everyone saved? Only a few festivals suffered heavy damage.

The total of eight festivals that were given a place in the Basic Cultural Infrastructure thanks to vigorous political lobbying are in the clear. They do not benefit from the extra millions released by the Cabinet on Budget Day to rescue the Performing Arts Fund, because they are not (or no longer) covered by it.

There are also problems with the region in Limburg (and people suspect the advisers of being arbitrary and pre-emptive)

The cultural centre of gravity in Limburg has been in the south for years. However, to encourage southern institutions to programme outside the region, only 1 extra point is available. Examples of the problem of geographical spread also exist at the Council of Culture and the Performing Arts Fund.

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.

Where did things go wrong between culture decision-makers and the region?

It could have been so beautiful. In a not so grey past, the Council for Culture, then under a different management, initiated a movement that would give more authority to the region outside the Randstad. That was three years ago. Now there is an (entirely justified) angry letter in the newspaper from the culture deputies of 9... 

Soon - Rahi Rezvani

Dutch dance world back on stage in September with these performances

From small dance schools to big dance companies, the Dutch dance world is daring to expose itself on a stage again. Dance lovers can get back into the studios or theatres, or both, thanks to protocols, and bookings are being made enthusiastically as many performances are already sold out. After all, nothing beats dance art in the flesh. In the words of dance dramaturge Jochem Naafs: 'If you... 

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