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Cultural sector representatives and Culture Minister Van Engelshoven agree to continue paying self-employed workers as much as possible

by one of our members
22 December 202130 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, Featured, PRESS

Today, outgoing Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science, the Netherlands Association for the Performing Arts (NAPK) and the Free Theatre Producers Association (VVTP) agreed to use funds from the support packages to pay self-employed people as fully as possible. This is a prelude to broader agreements on the pass-through of the specific support packages within the entire cultural sector, which the Taskforce...

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Museum association sounds alarm: even strong museums will not get out of the one-and-a-half-meter without support

by Wijbrand Schaap
13 September 202130 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, HERITAGE, Featured, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Last weekend's #unmuteus parades might lead you to believe that, as soon as the weather allows, the cultural world will be out of its misery in less than no time. The tens of thousands who took to the streets are quickly populating the halls again, and with a little more water with the beer, and slightly more expensive mints, the night and event industry - which is also there for the...

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Like the best clowns, Elias de Bruyne knows how to connect humour with existential angst. At Festival Boulevard #tfboulevard

by Marijn Lems
19 August 2021
3 min read
ACTUAL, Boulevard, Featured, PODIUM ART, THEATER, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

One of the very best things about Festival Boulevard is the variety of programming. Theatre, dance, music, youth performances, mime, comedy, it all mixes together. And the festival offers just as much space to young makers as to the old hands. So you get a good overview of what the up-and-coming generation of theatre makers has to offer....

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Writer Henk Pröpper's slow heartbeat

by A Quattro Mani
19 August 202129 March 2022
9 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, Featured, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Writer and publicist Henk Pröpper had only just moved to his beloved Paris when the city came to a standstill, and so did his heart almost. Once fitted with a pacemaker, he took to the city in the one hour a day Parisians were allowed. A new world opened up to him. Writer Henk Pröpper walked during the...

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The 'weird life' of all-rounder Jef Last is not over

by Erik Akkermans
13 August 202129 March 2022
14 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Better to die standing than to live kneeling. The statement is fresh in memory after the murder in the Lange Leidse Dwarsstraat, as a mantra in praise of Peter R de Vries, his fearlessness, non-conformism, straightforwardness and honesty. This same statement jumps out even from the first paragraphs of the introduction to the biography of poet Jef Last, written by Rudi Wester.1....

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'Vanished talent and manpower will break up culture sector as it relaunches in September'

by Wijbrand Schaap
5 August 202130 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, Featured, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The uncertainty of the events sector and cultural institutions, after 17 months of lockdowns and one-and-a-half-month openings, is not only disastrous for the mood of directors, artists and spectators. According to the Creative Sector Taskforce, much more is being lost. In fact, a 'Marshall Plan' is needed to get the cultural and creative sector back on its feet,...

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Many employers in culture may have to repay emergency NOW aid in full

Many employers (37 per cent) do not know that they have to apply for the final calculation of their NOW allowance themselves. In the cultural sector, it even threatens to go completely wrong. The UWV says it is still waiting for more than half of the applications for final calculations from the cultural sector. This is according to the implementing body's own research. One is worried there...

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PROUD ALIENS: A colourful exhibition by Framer Framed's Open Atelier

by one of our members
30 July 2021
4 min read
PRESS

Is it okay to be a proud alien in a world where marginalised people feel alienated? The LGBTQ+ project group at Framer Framed's Open Studio for i-psy participants have created a utopian future where differences and diversity are celebrated and recognised as something beautiful. Proud Aliens is the annual exhibition of the i-psy Arts, Amsterdam, created in collaboration with Framer...

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animation michiel peeters programmer tivoli vredenburg

Michiel Peeters (TivoliVredenburg) - We want to make visual art a more prominent part of our programme

by Udo Prinsen
9 July 20212 July 2021
5 min read
ANIMATION, ANIMATION31, BECOME A MEMBER

Public space is dressed up with visualisation, music video and art in many places, including TivoliVredenburg. Either via projection mapping on buildings during events, or via LED panels in shop windows and abris, but also as digital art during performances and lobbies in theatres. In TivoliVredenburg, in the heart of Utrecht, they even create separate events for it. Canvas is a programme that...

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First titles Theatre Festival Boulevard 2021 announced; Theme Theatre Festival Boulevard 2021: Hack the horizon

by one of our members
3 June 202130 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, PRESS, PODIUM ART, THEATER

Theatre Festival Boulevard 's-Hertogenbosch will take place from Thursday 5 to Sunday 22 August 2021. The 37th festival edition features over 120 different performances, concerts, performances and installations in theatres, at unique locations and in the Zuiderpark. We also move into the night with Fomo Fatale, club nights with steaming sounds. The Zuiderpark serves as a new, spacious festival heart, including the...

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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.

by Wijbrand Schaap
12 May 202129 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, PODCAST, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

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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The first year of the corona crisis is described, and it makes for a wonderful book.

by Wijbrand Schaap
30 April 202129 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, MEDIA, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

TivoliVredenburg is a building like a festival. countless stages, bars, a café and a restaurant, hundreds of people at work, thousands inside on a night. I always came there too little. But when I did get there, it was a party. A building run by and attended by super-motivated people with only one goal: as much music as possible for as many people as possible. Until...

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Free producers have been saved, but some more than others; self-employed people seem especially solidary.

by Wijbrand Schaap
16 April 202130 March 2022
5 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Is the government generous and generous for once, it's no good again. You could say that after I received questions from various quarters about the corona grant for free productions announced by the Performing Arts Fund last week. The amount in question is €27 million, for a total of 251 producers, so an average of a tonne per application. With that...

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Platform BK: Deferred work means deferred money. The artist cannot buy food from that.

by Wijbrand Schaap
5 April 202129 March 2022
3 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, VISUAL, FAITS DIVERS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

What we feared at the beginning of the coronasteun appears to have become reality. The generous support money for culture should also reach the small self-employed in the arts via the institutions, but that is now happening too little. Of course, there are fine examples, such as the large subsidised arts institutions in Groningen and festivals like Boulevard and Holland Festival that support self-employed...

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'A structural show of love for the arts and culture from The Hague is needed in the Netherlands.'

by Daria van den Bercken
22 March 202129 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, CONTINUED, MUSIC, PERSONAL, PODIUM ART, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Dear outgoing Prime Minister Rutte, Dear Mark, In my capacity as a self-employed person working in the performing arts, I am writing you this letter. This is my first letter ever about the situation of the cultural sector, culminating in corona time. First by way of introduction: we met when I played a Scarlatti sonata especially for you at the TV programme Podium Witteman, and also...

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Netherlands third in world with Coronasteun for arts sector

by Wijbrand Schaap
20 March 202120 March 2021
2 min read
ACTUAL, FAITS DIVERS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The United States of America has spent $18 billion (€15 billion) on coronasteun for the arts. That is more than any other country in the world and quite remarkable for a country not famous for arts funding. France is second, with an aid package worth $8.3 billion (€6.9 billion). hefty sums, where the 1.8...

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

by Wijbrand Schaap
1 March 20211 March 2021
4 min read
FAITS DIVERS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

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...

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13 foundations and one private limited company. Controversial Brabant grant decisions raise more questions every day.

by Wijbrand Schaap
29 January 20212 April 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, FAITS DIVERS, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

To get a subsidy in the Netherlands, you have to jump through a lot of hoops. Every farmer knows that, and so does every artist. In the cultural sector, for instance, it is important that you have a form of organisation that is controllable and approachable. You cannot have a profit motive either. That is why you can usually only apply for funding as a foundation, so you have statutes, a board and a...

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Mistake BNR. Germany does not do more for the arts than the Netherlands. They just sell it better.

by Wijbrand Schaap
18 December 202029 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Germany has 80 million people, the Netherlands 17 million, so we can multiply the Dutch aid by five if we want to test the German claim. Still, we arrive at an amount three times higher.

Province of Brabant makes FvD threat come true after all: halving art budget sold as support in Corona era

by Wijbrand Schaap
10 December 202029 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

When it talks about 'some adjustments', of course, you have to be careful. They know that at the province, so they don't mention details. And those details include a cut of 1.3 million from previously promised amounts.

Frascati and Plan Brabant saved thanks to pastry fork Ingrid van Engelshoven #tkculture

by Wijbrand Schaap
23 November 202030 March 2022
4 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

With the saving of Frascati and at least a Chamber that does understand the importance of the sector, the most depressing event of the year - the culture budget debate - still ended with a few bright spots.

Museum association sounds alarm: Ten museums at risk of closing within six months, implementation of emergency aid must improve

by Wijbrand Schaap
12 November 202030 March 2022
2 min read
ACTUAL, For members only, HERITAGE, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The support cultural organisations receive from the government seems generous, but we can add some nuance to this. This is because if a local authority gives emergency support to a museum, support is then offset against the National Enterprise Scheme (NOW).

'Our society is in a marriage crisis'. Ernest van der Kwast on his new novel Ilyas

by A Quattro Mani
27 October 202030 March 2022
7 min read
For members only, LITERARY, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

The very corona minister Hugo de Jonge, still a Rotterdam alderman in 2017, was the one who set writer Ernest van der Kwast on a new track in his life. A path that led to his new novel Ilyas.

Plein Theatre hands over petition to Arts and Culture alderman Touria Meliani AND launches crowdfunding: Support Plein Theatre now!

by one of our members
26 October 202030 March 2022
2 min read
PRESS, PODIUM ART, BECOME A MEMBER

Three weeks back, the Plein Theatre started a petition, asking the City of Amsterdam, and in particular Alderman for Art and Culture Touria Meliani, to provide financial support to preserve the theatre. On Thursday 22 October, the petition with more than 1,600 signatures was handed over by director Berith Danse and chairman Bert Barten to alderman of Art and Culture Touria Meliani.

The Mondrian Fund made no bones about its own saw line. That is unfortunate for those who fall by it.

by Wijbrand Schaap
4 October 20204 October 2020
4 min read
ACTUAL, VISUAL, APPRECIATE & DONATE!

Strictly speaking, prioritisation is another word for wielding a saw line, but it feels different. 'Prioritisation within the applicable criteria', as stated on the site, smacks of possible arbitrariness, as nowhere is it indicated which criteria were given how much weight.