While things are rumbling in the Amsterdam dance and performance world due to a total lack of solid support for development and experimentation (see Alarm Letter), choreographer Ola Maciejewska is showing the impressive Bombyx Mori at Veem House of Performance this weekend. Maciejewska is a fine example of a talented maker who has taken refuge elsewhere because of the crumbling art climate in the Netherlands. After...
That 10 million is officially in. The art world is doing its best to sound grateful. The employers in the performing arts, gathered in the NAPK, have sent Bussemaker a thank you. Because she is not cutting 300 million from culture, but only 290 million. The extra money raked together last year by various lobbyists and parties is now anchored in the...
Vacancy: Advisors one-off grants - Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) From 1 March 2017 The Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) invests in art that enriches life in the city. The AFK provides grants to artists and cultural organisations, drives innovation and stimulates the quality, dynamism and pluriformity of Amsterdam art. The AFK supports both experiment...
Nederlands Dans Theater's summer course gives a glimpse of the future. At the top dancers of tomorrow, but also the choreographers: many of the company's dance makers created a first piece for this summer course. This year, the course also gives a look at the old stage of the half-demolished Lucent Danstheater in The Hague. You can catch a...
The past and future of the Netherlands Reisopera are dominated by money worries. Nicolas Mansfield, director, during the season presentation on 20 April last in the foyer of Theatre Carré, stressed not only the necessity of a national opera company's existence but, above all, the necessary quality requirements to keep attracting audiences. And quality cannot exist without decent...
Update 4-12-15: During the plenary discussion of the culture budget on 3 December, Messrs Monasch (PvdA) and Van Veen (VVD) withdrew the controversial amendment. Instead, an amendment was adopted in which a one-off 10 million was released from the additional proceeds of the tax on polluting companies. From this contribution, festivals will be supported, talent development facilitated and...
Apetrots they are, the MPs Jacques Monasch, Jasper van Dijk, Mona Keijzer and Alexander Pechtold. After all, they saved a youth theatre company and managed to add a few festivals to the basic cultural infrastructure of the Netherlands. In addition, they have also already earmarked an amount for some other festivals. Yesterday, the motions from the June debate were put to a vote. Almost...
Bathed in sweat and applauded by audience and musicians alike, conductor Antony Hermus leaves the stage on Sunday 17 August after the final concert of the NJO Muziekzomer. He has every reason to be pleased, as the performance of Richard Strauss' Ein Heldenleben at Theatre Orpheus in Apeldoorn sparked that it had a nature. The tricky piece jumps into six...
Every company 50,000 euros more. Youth theatre in the Netherlands should be very happy with the letter culture minister Bussemaker sent to the chamber last Monday. After years of squeezing under Halbe Zijlstra, finally more air for the makers. But the investment of 4 tonnes a year turns out to be a cutback. In fact, Bussemaker only gives a gift to eight companies. Company...
Minister Jet Bussemaker's letter will keep tongues wagging for a long time to come. There are considerable gaps here and there between the Culture Council's advice and the minister's letter. Also in the field of film and media. A list of differences. Bussemaker notes that the film sector is changing considerably. Media consumption is changing due to the rapid rise...
A tricky question, but Festival Havenwerk director Erik-Jan Post has an idea and likes to bad some sacred cows. About arts education. About the concept of 'amateur'. About how big you should want to be as a festival. 'We are much less a festival in the classic sense. Havenwerk is more of a meeting place, with the participants at the centre. This year, therefore, the entrance fees are...
What is already going on on a small scale in Groningen, Enschede, Zaltbommel, Amersfoort, Gorinchem and Vlaardingen, is threatening to happen nationwide as well: cultural institutions falling over while politicians look on helplessly. According to the Council for Culture, the situation is alarming: 'Institutions are draining their own funds, cultural funds are maintaining schemes by drawing on reserves. We therefore make the urgent...
Municipal cultural politics are often about 'bricks and mortar'. People put up a cultural building and then pray/hope that great things will happen there, which the city council in turn has no money for/power over. Take Enschede. In a council meeting in which it was decided to reinvest in cultural bricks by means of a €475,000 loan, there was actually some unrest. No, not about those bricks, but about...
A small miracle did happen, in recent months. The result of that miracle can now be found in letter Jet Bussemaker, minister of OCW, sent to the chamber yesterday. And actually, it is not one miracle, but three. We list them for you. 1: The art world pulls together. Artists often find actors...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'The amateur arts. I experienced the cuts myself at the Utrecht Centre for the Arts in Utrecht. First, they were heavily cut back there back in 2001 under Leefbaar. They survived that, and now they were just slightly on top...' Marathon interviewAfter the fuss around Melle Daamen's opinion piece on art policy, we...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'The basic infrastructure was keelhauled by Zijlstra while it was not yet ripe. That, in its smaller version, now runs the risk of leading to further rigidity.' Marathon interviewAfter the uproar surrounding Melle Daamen's opinion piece on arts policy, we were invited for a 'conversation about everything' with Joop Daalmeijer, chairman of the Council for Culture. The conversation...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'Now on the role of cities. One of the reactions on our site is about the role of the randstad in cultural policy. Melle Daamen puts the primacy in the randstad, and goes further than the Council in this.' Marathon interviewAfter the uproar surrounding Melle Daamen's opinion piece on arts policy, we were invited to a 'conversation about...
Wijbrand Schaap: 'When it comes to talent development and embedding in society, it is also very much about the absolute basics. It also touches on the minister's two functions: education and culture. Arts education in primary schools does not really help embedding. No attention has been paid to art in the pedagogical academies for years....
By Melle Daamen 'What do you want then?' was a question I received quite often in response to my articles last year in NRC, in which I expressed my concerns about the state of the arts in the Netherlands and especially its future. I argued for a fundamental debate from within the arts sector itself, focusing on the future, including...
Since the Amsterdam Uitmarkt is no longer run by the Uitburo but by a separate foundation, things have become a tad more commercial. The folder-fair-with-bands that has become the national opening of the cultural season over the past decades has to. The government has found art scary for a while now, usual suspects are pulling out as sponsors, and malaise is hitting...
Culture minister Jet Bussemaker can again make up for the cultural devastation caused by her predecessor Halbe Zijlstra. As promised earlier, money will be freed up for talent development. That was a demand of the chamber and a wish of the country. Are we happy? Of course. Although happy, there are also a few things that remain troublesome. [Tweet "1 Develop...
Payments are made via iDeal, Paypal, Credit Card, Bancontact or Direct Debit. If you prefer to pay manually, based on an invoice in advance, we charge a 10€ administration fee
*Only for annual membership or after 12 monthly payments
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français
You must be logged in to post a comment.