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Bernadette Stokvis by Fred Ernst

BERNADETTE STOKVIS LEAVES END OF SUMMER AS BUSINESS DIRECTOR OF MAAS THEATRE AND DANCE

Bernadette Stokvis is leaving after 11 years of service as business director of Maas theatre and dance. Her successor will be recruited soon. Stokvis has been business director at Maas since 2013. Before that, she was initiator, artistic coordinator and later business director of Korzo The Hague. Thanks in part to her leadership, Maas is a BIS company and also the largest theatre and dance company for youth in... 

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still from the teaser for Stuntkont.

The best shit show in years comes from Rotterdam

It seems that at the inset performances of Maas Theatre&Dans' latest, 'Stuntkont', a few schools have already complained. Classes even walked out. Logical perhaps, at least for adult school teachers who can't take poop-and-pee jokes. Children from 6 to 106 can only laugh really hard at them. So poop-and-pee jokes turn out to be more amusing than I myself expected. At least when they are made... 

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pr image Closed Eyes

With Closed Eyes, Alida Dors unleashes a revolution

I used the word 'revolutionary' when a camera crew from Theatre Rotterdam asked me what I thought of Closed Eyes. I don't know if my otherwise extraordinarily enthusiastic response will make it to the final edit, but a day later, that feeling is not gone. What Alida Dors, artistic director of Theatre Rotterdam, has shown is a revolution in the world of... 

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CHILDREN KICK OFF FIRST CHILDREN'S THEATRE WEEK AT MAASPODIUM

ROTTERDAM - On Wednesday 18 October at 16:30, the kids of the Maaspodium can be followed via livestream as they give a look before and behind the scenes at various theatres throughout the Netherlands, kicking off the first ever National Children's Theatre Week. Together with presenter Tirsa With, they will show how much fun theatre is! As a new initiative of the National Theatre Fund,... 

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Clare Stewart new business director of IFFR

Earlier this year, business director Marjan van der Haar announced her departure from IFFR. It was announced yesterday that Clare Stewart will be her successor next week. Stewart has earned her spurs at numerous leading festivals, including the BFI London film festival and BFI Flare London, the British Film Institute's LGBTQIA festival; the Sheffield documentary festival... 

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[PRESS RELEASE] Islands, by composer Richard Ayres & artist duo Nest: 1 April at De Doelen

Following its successful premiere in December, Islands, the latest work by composer Richard Ayres, can be seen at De Doelen on 1 April. Together with artist duo Nest, Ayres creates nineteen imaginary islands, combining live music with audio electronics, visual art, photography, video and performance. Islands is a production of Asko|Schönberg and BredaPhoto. 'One of the most idiosyncratic and original... 

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Created with Midjourney AI at the prompt: a bass guitar player working as a teacher in a classroom

In Perspective #15: With bass guitar in cabinet or classroom

Cees van Leeuwen was a bass guitarist in the pop formation Kayak. Not for very long; soon he chose to study again: cultural anthropology and law. He specialised in labour and entertainment law and started working as a lawyer. In later years, he was the legal counsel of singer Anouk, among others. Cees van Leeuwen was also state secretary for culture for a year (on behalf of... 

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In Perspective #13 - A GOOD COUNCIL FOR ROTTERDAM? (II) - New version.

The Rotterdam Council for Arts and Culture (RRKC) has been disbanded from 1 January 2023. I wrote about this in June this year2, and earlier the editor-in-chief did3. At that time, formal decision-making in Rotterdam had yet to take place. Given the question marks in the city council, it is safe to say that the college finally pushed through the dissolution. The... 

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Midjourney AI makes this at the prompt 'people giving donations to a journalist'

These 28 unique stories generated the most donations in 2022!

As you know, Culture Press is an important voice in cultural news coverage. We were founded in 2009, at a time when all newspapers and broadcasters were reducing their arts editorships, and many zzp arts journalists were on the street. Publishers no longer wanted to pay for what they called 'low-hanging fruit' (reviews, interviews, announcements). Culture Press jumped into that gap, and in the nearly 14... 

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The Ozard or Wiz (9+) celebrates the advantage of being different

On Saturday 17 December 2022, The Ozard of Wiz will have its premiere at the Maaspodium in Rotterdam. This moving and quirky theatre production with an all-queer cast & crew presents vogue, pop music and melancholy in a seventies sauce. For this production, Maas theatre and dance enthusiastically joins forces with ROSE stories, with dance by Kiki House of Angels and... 

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Jeroen Spitzenberger lets New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra shine

Jeroen Spitzenberger lets New Rotterdam Jazz Orchestra shine So typically Rotterdam is this performance, just right, because of the space the lauded actor grants to a rather unknown 11-member male orchestra. For weeks, we happily watch Spitzenberger as Tim in the excellent TV series Oogappels, just as we intensely enjoyed The Year of Fortuyn at the same NPO in which he (also)... 

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What I learned from Alida Dors and the Dutch Playwriting Prize

Of the 122 stage texts read by the jury of the Dutch Toneelschrijfprijs, just under 30 were written by female authors. In a field where the number of female workers is huge, this is striking. Because, the jury rightly stated, in written Dutch theatre, the male gaze is still dominant. While the theatre audience percentage-wise more women... 

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Two Rotterdammers who made a deep impression at Theatre Festival Boulevard #tfboulevard

John Buijsman and Helmert Woudenberg make a very funny duo. Buijsman the archetypal Rotterdammer, certainly also in terms of tone of voice, but also the actor who is role-steady, playing distinct characters. In De Recreanten, a play he made for and about his own holiday resort in Hoek van Holland, he plays together with Helmert Woudenberg. The creator of continuous improvisation has a... 

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Carlos Gonçalves (Rotterdam Arts and Culture Council): 'According to the alderman, we have committed mortal sins.'

When he was appointed chairman of Rotterdam's Arts and Culture Council in December 2021, nothing seemed wrong. But less than six months later, he is virtually on the street now that Arts alderman Said Kasmi (D66) has decided to disband the Rotterdam advisory council. After 17 years. Gonçalves is baffled, certainly... 

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In Perspective - A good council for Rotterdam?

The Turfsteker rejected The mayor was angry. The councillor was angry. Everyone was angry because the A municipality wanted to put up a work of art by a locally highly regarded sculptor as a tribute to the peat cutter, but was denied a grant by the province. The Cultural Council had advised negatively. The relevant advisory committee lamented the artist's figurative work; it left nothing to... 

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Rotterdam culture alderman tells independent advisory body off. Based on biased investigation. 

'We met only pleasant, committed people with their hearts in the right place for Rotterdam culture.' So reads the last sentence of a report by Utrecht-based consultancy Rijnconsult on the future of Rotterdam's Arts and Culture Council (RRKC). Based on that study, alderman Said Kasmi (D66) decided this week to replace the RRKC from 1... 

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Farewell performance 'I'm not here for a while' by Moniek Merkx must be seen

How beautiful art for children can be when a real artist is involved. When themes like death, falling in love, loneliness and exclusion are made palpable in such a beautiful way that you step outside with a deeper feeling about life? With theatre-maker Moniek Merkx, you can. A year ago, she stepped down as artistic director of... 

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I'm not here for a while (8-108): The performance that literally wasn't there for a moment

On Thursday 7 April 2022, family performance Ik ben er even niet (8-108) will premiere at the Maaspodium, Rotterdam. The show turned out to be aptly titled, as Ik ben er even niet was actually supposed to premiere in December 2021. But due to corona lockdown, both the premiere and the rest of the tour could not go ahead. Now... 

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MESH GIVES LIGHT THANKS TO CHILDREN

The façade of the Maaspodium in Rotterdam will be colourfully lit with children's drawings for the next few weeks. In the idea of "theatre gives colour to life", children could submit colour plates over the past few weeks, which the theatre uses to drag its façade through the dark days and a lockdown. Business leader Bernadette Stokvis: "Children literally keep our stage alive". A lockdown during the... 

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TWO LIVESTREAMS AND PRESS CONFERENCE FOR TODDLERS BY MAAS THEATRE AND DANCE

The weekend of Friday 7, Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 January 2022 will be a special theatre weekend despite the lockdown, because then Maas theatre and dance will broadcast live two existing performances as well as a unique Toddler Press Conference. The Great Save Your Ass Show (6+) and Lampje (8-108 yrs) were due to play several times in front of an audience during the Christmas holidays, but will instead play... 

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Jolanda Spoel seamlessly forges hip-hop and classical together in Melomaniac. And that is quite difficult

'They come from two worlds, but work together towards something that is one. Jolanda Spoel has done that perfectly'. Katinka Reinders, head of education at the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, is enthusiastic after one of the first play-in performances of Melomaniac at Maas Theatre & Dance. Just now, a room full of somewhat timid secondary school students turned into a churning group of lovers of... 

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Westbeat, Amsterdam's newly built cultural fray, is perhaps too good.

Art, and certainly avant garde art, thrives on the frayed edges of society. Especially in the second half of the 20th century, industrial heritage and as yet unrenovated urban foam were the places where art could escape the norms of the ruling class. The NDSM wharf in Amsterdam North, Hall 4 or the Submarine Wharf in Rotterdam, Ceramique in Maastricht, Sterrebos in... 

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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.... 

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