{"id":131372,"date":"2026-08-05T14:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/?p=131372"},"modified":"2026-08-05T14:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T12:37:09","slug":"de-infrastructuur-van-verbondenheid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/08\/de-infrastructuur-van-verbondenheid\/","title":{"rendered":"The Infrastructure of Belonging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Access to culture is usually discussed in terms of feelings: inclusion, hospitality, a sense of welcome. What I learnt during a series of interviews in two countries is that the feeling of belonging in a cultural space is rarely just a feeling. It is a piece of infrastructure: a voucher, a pricing structure, an administrative rationale, a workshop lasting several months. Someone has to set it up, and someone has to keep it going, usually without much recognition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"substack-post-embed\"><p lang=\"nl\">The Infrastructure of Belonging by Cultureel Persbureau<\/p><p>The right to belong to a cultural space is never actually free, even when the ticket is. Someone, somewhere, is doing the ongoing, unglamorous work of holding a door open.<\/p><a data-post-link href=\"https:\/\/nieuwsbrief.cultuurpers.nl\/p\/the-infrastructure-of-belonging\">Read on Substack<\/a><\/div><script async src=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/embedjs\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is the common thread that ultimately ran through four seemingly unrelated stories produced for More Than Art this season. A dancer whose body bears the marks of a colonial history that official archives have never bothered to record. Two artistic communities, in Ruigoord and OostWest, which have built their own spaces because nobody offered them one. And, most recently, two theatres at opposite ends of Milan and Amsterdam, each negotiating in very different bureaucratic languages over who is actually allowed to walk through their doors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What \u2018accessibility\u2019 costs in practice<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At PimOff, in the southern suburbs of Milan, project manager Antonella Miggiano described a specific set of decisions designed to challenge a very common assumption: that a ticket costing ten or fifteen euros is already affordable. It isn\u2019t, for a family of five. That is why children are admitted free of charge. Theatre courses are priced according to family income rather than a fixed fee. Antonella emphasised strongly that this is not viewed internally as charity. It is seen as a correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At ZID Theatre, in Amsterdam-West, artistic director Karolina described another approach that tackles the same issue. Long before a script exists, ZID develops its productions through months of co-creation workshops with communities whose stories are not usually sought out \u2014 including, for a recent production, a series of sessions on board a converted ship housing 1,500 refugees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Karolina refers to the underlying principle as \u2018breaking the fourth wall\u2019: not a staging technique, but a metaphor for the economic and symbolic barriers that usually determine who is even allowed into a theatre. Two institutions, two countries, two completely different bureaucratic vocabularies, which independently reach the same conclusion: that access must be consciously and repeatedly created, rather than merely proclaimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The theoretical framework<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three ideas, drawn from a Master\u2019s programme in Art and Society, shaped the way I listened to all four episodes, even though they were never explicitly mentioned in the podcast. Ann Cvetkovich\u2019s notion of an \u2018archive of feelings\u2019 suggests that certain experiences \u2013 particularly those associated with marginalised or counter-cultural communities \u2013 leave their most lasting traces not in official documents, but in atmosphere, gestures and tone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That is why a location visit in each episode was never treated as an afterthought; it was primary material. By contrast, the work of Sara Ahmed and Lauren Berlant regards spaces and communities as held together by circulating affects rather than by institutions alone, which shaped the way I listened to what it feels like to belong to a place, rather than merely to how it is governed. And Pierre Bourdieu\u2019s description of cultural capital provided the sharper, more structural question underpinning all of this: who is authorised to call themselves an artist, and who is merely permitted to visit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Together, these four episodes form a single overarching thesis: the right to belong to a cultural space is never truly free, even if the ticket is. Somewhere, someone is carrying out the constant, unobtrusive work of keeping a door open. All the practitioners interviewed this season described that effort not as generosity, but as something closer to justice \u2013 a correction to a situation that was never fair to begin with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Listen to the podcast (in English): <\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"substack-post-embed\"><p lang=\"nl\">The Infrastructure of Belonging by Cultureel Persbureau<\/p><p>The right to belong to a cultural space is never actually free, even when the ticket is. Someone, somewhere, is doing the ongoing, unglamorous work of holding a door open.<\/p><a data-post-link href=\"https:\/\/nieuwsbrief.cultuurpers.nl\/p\/the-infrastructure-of-belonging\">Read on Substack<\/a><\/div><script async src=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/embedjs\/embed.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toegang tot cultuur wordt meestal besproken in termen van gevoel: inclusie, gastvrijheid, welkom. Wat ik heb geleerd tijdens een reeks interviews in twee landen, is dat het gevoel ergens thuis te horen in een culturele ruimte zelden een gevoel is. Het is een stukje infrastructuur: een tegoedbon, een prijsformule, een bestuurlijk argument, een workshop die [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","wpai_meta_description":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[15614,16518,10760],"tags":[16378],"class_list":["post-131372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-beleid","category-featured","category-podcast","tag-broedplaatsen"],"views":298,"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":100646,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/02\/van-studio-naar-ecosysteem-waarom-nederland-een-eigen-the-lighthouse-nodig-heeft\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":0},"title":"From studio to ecosystem: Why the Netherlands needs its own \u2018The Lighthouse\u2019.","author":"Guido van Nispen","date":"8 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Netherlands lacks a physical place where makers meet, experiment and produce professionally. This article shows why The Lighthouse's ecosystem - not co-working, but cultural infrastructure - is a compelling model that can make a difference here too.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;beleid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"beleid","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/beleid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/2gYYE4U3MA4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":100760,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/02\/spreidingsretoriek-is-ook-een-vorm-van-stilstand\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":1},"title":"SPREADING RHETORIC IS ALSO A FORM OF STAGNATION","author":"Gerard Cornelisse","date":"20 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Gerard Cornelisse writes: \"In Twente, I see every day what is already there: makers, venues, audiences, education, cooperation, stories, identity, craftsmanship. The question is not whether the region is ready. The question is whether the system is finally ready to take the region seriously.\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;beleid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"beleid","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/beleid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100619,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/02\/arttech-wordt-in-2026-volwassen-en-daarmee-ongemakkelijk\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":2},"title":"Art+Tech comes of age in 2026 - and with it, uncomfortable","author":"Guido van Nispen","date":"4 February 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Art and Technology in 2026 not as a prediction of the future, but as a mirror. It shows how art and technology are outgrowing their experimental phase and colliding with power, institutions and choices already made today","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":100897,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/03\/gemeenteraadsverkiezingen-een-stad-leeft-door-wat-je-niet-ziet\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":3},"title":"Municipal elections: a city lives by what you don't see","author":"rob kramer","date":"12 March 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Rob Kramer writes: Perhaps that is the question that may be asked more often in the run-up to the upcoming municipal elections. Not just what culture costs, but what ecosystem a city needs to develop.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;beleid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"beleid","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/beleid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56661,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2018\/05\/schouwburgdirecties-willen-meer-geld-voor-moeilijk-aanbod\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":4},"title":"Theatre boards want more money for 'difficult' offerings.","author":"Wijbrand Schaap","date":"28 May 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"More operas and classical concerts are offered in Dutch theatres and concert halls. More theatre was also offered for young people. Nice developments, but the increase in supply (3 per cent) did not directly lead to a proportionate increase in audiences. That increased by only 1 per cent....","rel":"","context":"In &quot;ACTUEEL&quot;","block_context":{"text":"ACTUEEL","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/nieuws\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/resolve.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/resolve.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/resolve.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/resolve.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":122978,"url":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/2026\/06\/een-waardevol-kompas-voor-ai-van-de-raad-voor-cultuur\/","url_meta":{"origin":131372,"position":5},"title":"A valuable compass for AI from the Council for Culture","author":"Guido van Nispen","date":"30 June 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Guido van Nispen: AI is not only developing into a creative tool, but into a cognitive infrastructure through which citizens understand their world. Perhaps that is also the next step in thinking about AI.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;beleid&quot;","block_context":{"text":"beleid","link":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/genre\/beleid\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3yKke-yaU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=131372"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":131386,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131372\/revisions\/131386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=131372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=131372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cultureelpersbureau.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=131372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}