Introduction programme for cultural attachés from 20-23 September 2021

13:00 – 13:45 CET Opening session – ICE and DutchCulture

Introduction to the programme – Josine Backus (Advisor Focal Countries | Brazil)

Welcome

• Marcel Feil (Head of International Cultural Policy & Cooperation DutchCulture)
• Dewi van de Weerd (Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation / Head International Cultural Policy Unit (ICE) Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ)
• Jos van Dinther (Deputy Head ICE BZ)
• Dutch international cultural policy 2021-2024 in brief: a targeted and strategic approach - Josine Backus
• DutchCulture’s Focal Countries Desk: how can we help you - Josine Backus

14:00 – 14:45 CET Session The Dutch cultural infrastructure

What are the main elements of the Dutch cultural system, the pillars of the national cultural policy and its objectives? A session about the basic national cultural infrastructure of 90+ cultural institutions and festivals (BIS), the six national cultural funds for performing arts, film, visual arts, literature, the creative industries and cultural participation, and policy programmes.

• Meet Monique de Louwere (Senior policy advisor Visual arts, International cultural Policy Council for Culture / Raad voor Cultuur) Presentation

15:00 – 16:30 CET Session International Heritage Cooperation

How does the history of the Netherlands as a world nation continue to influence Dutch society and our international relations? The language we speak, the food we eat, the buildings that surround us and the stories we pass on bear many traces of a shared history with other countries, among them Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Suriname, Sri Lanka, the United States and South Africa. The Netherlands is now working with these countries to preserve the significance of these historical links for future generations.

The International Heritage Cooperation Programme (formerly Shared Cultural Heritage Programme) is part of the Dutch international cultural policy. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ), the National Archives of the Netherlands (NA), the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE), the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (KIEN), DutchCulture, Dutch embassies and various organisations in the partner countries are collaborating in this programme.

• Meet Jinna Smit (Programme director International Heritage Cooperation RCE), Yolanda Ezendam (Coordinator Collections International Heritage Cooperation and Colonial Heritage RCE), Marieke van Ommeren (Programme secretary International Heritage Cooperation RCE), Lidwien Jansen (Project manager International Heritage Cooperation NA), Sander Wellens (Project manager International Heritage Cooperation NA) Presentation, Ron Santing (Advisor International Heritage Cooperation DutchCulture) Presentation

15:00 – 16:30 CET Session Europe & the European Union (optional)

Within Dutch international cultural policy, Europe and the European Union are a priority. European countries are our main trading partners and allies, with which we have a great deal in common. Accordingly, the Netherlands has a considerable interest in maintaining good relations with them. Taking our lead from the principle of subsidiarity, we set store by a European cultural agenda that does justice to shared values like human rights, diversity, tolerance and the protection of cultural heritage; a policy that moreover promotes innovation and creativity.

This session introduces you to European cooperation and programmes, from the Creative Europe programme to EUNIC - European Union National Institutes for Culture.

• Meet Klaartje Bult (Advisor Culture – Creative Europe Desk NL / DutchCulture) Presentation, Simon de Leeuw (Researcher and Programme Maker DutchCulture) Presentation, Jacomine Hendrikse (Advisor Europe + Heritage DutchCulture) Presentation

The Netherlands distinguishes itself abroad through its innovative and unconventional approach. Cultural institutions, artists, designers and architects are internationally renowned. They have built up an outstanding reputation abroad and are a match for their foreign counterparts. Dutch design thinking, for instance, is an approach that not only attracts worldwide interest in educational programmes, but also provides scope for alternative solutions to, applications for or perspectives on social challenges such as sustainability, social inclusion,

healthcare, urbanisation and demographic ageing. On the other hand, supporting and connecting with artists and cultural practitioners from abroad inspires, widens horizons and enhances professional growth.

In today’s sessions you will meet representatives of the six national funds for culture next to the knowledge and support institutions for design, digitization, cultural participation and film. They will share with you their internationalization programmes and possibilities for cooperation as well as give you insight in current developments in the Dutch creative and cultural sector in the Netherlands and/or abroad.  

13:00 – 13:45 CET Session Creative industries: innovation, SDG’s

• Meet Roxanne Minten (Coordinator Internationalisation Creative Industries Fund NL) Presentation, Joyce Hanssen (Programme manager Agency for Architecture, Design and Digital Culture Het Nieuwe Instituut), Kim Bouvy (Programme manager International Visitors Programme Het Nieuwe Instituut) Presentation, Pepijn Lemmens (Advisor DEN Knowledge institute culture & digital transformation) Presentation

14:00 – 14:45 CET Session Cultural participation: young people

• Meet Ronald Kox (Head Cultural Education LKCA National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts) Presentation, Lidian Fleers (Programme advisor Cultural Participation Fund) and Bertan Selim (Head of Programmes Prince Claus Fund)

15:15 – 16:00 CET Session The arts: interdisciplinary cooperation

• Meet Jan Sprengers (Secretary Programming and Internationalisation Performing Arts Fund NL), Bas Pauw (Programme manager Promotion Performing Arts Fund NL) Presentation, Veysel Yuce (Senior project officer Mondriaan Fund for visual art and cultural heritage)

16:15 – 17:00 CET Session SEE NL: film and the moving image & literature

• Meet Lisa Linde Nieveld (SEE NL / Eye Filmmuseum), Ilonka Reintjes (Coordinator International Manifestations Dutch Foundation for Literature) Presentation

Inspiration sessions: meet artists and cultural organisations active in the focal countries.

13:00 – 14:00 CET Thematic session I: heritage stories

In this session you will meet three cultural professionals who have worked on inspiring projects in different partner countries. These projects contributed to new insights and perspectives of the shared history the Netherlands has with those partner countries. The projects were supported through DutchCulture’s Matching Fund.

• Meet: Hasti Tarekat Dipowijoyo is the founder of HERITAGE Hands On a heritage expert who focuses on capacity development in order to empower cultural heritage movement. She will tell you about her project ‘iDiscover Colombo’, an addition to the iDiscover Asia app which combines illustrated neighborhood maps and storytelling. Tarekat and the team behind the app worked with locals to document the spirit of a place before it disappears from Asia’s cityscape. They mapped not just the buildings, but the people, stories and collective memory. With ‘iDiscover Colombo’ four maps of historical neighborhoods of Colombo were created: Pettah, Fort, Slave Island, and Cinnamon Gardens. Presentation
• Maarten Hidskes is journalist and writer who wrote his book ‘Thuis gelooft niemand mij’ (‘At home nobody believes me’) about the experiences of his father who during the Indonesian War of Independence fought in the Special Troops Depot, the elite corps of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) under the command of Captain Westerling, on South Sulawesi. He had this book translated in Indonesian, along with a preface by Indonesian historian Anhar Gonggong whose family members were killed by the Special Troops Depot at that time. In 2018, Hidskes went on a book tour through Indonesia, not only visiting major cities on Java but also went to South Sulawesi. This lead to a series of special conversations about a violent chapter of the shared history of the Netherlands and Indonesia.
• Katy Streek is theatre maker and programmer and together with Jennifer Tosch, cultural historian and founder of the Black Heritage Tours, she set up ‘Sites of Memory’. She will tell more about this theatrical tour which unravels the hidden and under-represented stories of the shared cultural heritage of the Netherlands and its former colonies through performing arts. Artists from the Netherlands and South Africa reframe history through music, poetry, dance, visual art and theatre.

13:00 – 14:00 CET Country session II: Brazil

Years of intensification of the cultural cooperation with Brazil combined with mutual curiosity and interest led to a rich and diverse network of artists and institutions from both countries, mainly with the support of the Dutch government, diplomatic missions, national funds for culture, HNI, SEE NL and DutchCulture. In this session four artists and creatives share their experiences in Brazil.

Meet:

• Martin Fondse, a jazz and contemporary music pianist, composer and arranger who won the prestigious Dutch Boy Edgar Prize in 2017. The customarily accepted boundaries between genres like classical music, jazz, Latin and world music simply do not exist in his world. He works now for almost ten years together with Brazilian musician and composer Lenine (won seven Latin GRAMMYs including Best Brazilian Contemporary Album and Best Brazilian Song and wrote songs for Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil, Milton Nascimento and others).

Website Martin Fondse 

• Sjoerd ter Borg is an artist and designer based in Amsterdam whose research focuses on the transformations of cities. Through the use of design, fiction and technology he uncovers hidden layers within an urban context, showing forgotten histories, societal developments or even alternate realities. Sjoerd participated in HOBRA – a Brazilian-Dutch exchange as part of the Olympic cultural programme in Rio de Janeiro. Ten Dutch artists were paired up with ten Brazilian artists to form creative duos, in three weeks’ time making new work that was presented at a large-scale final event in Rio de Janeiro. The duos worked in the disciplines of literature, film, theatre, music, dance, design, E culture, art, architecture and in the area of cultural participation.

O Visitante (The Visitor)
In 1983 Jan Voorburg (NL), partner of renowned architect Rem Koolhaas, went to Rio de Janeiro and visited the Pedregulho social housing complex: a group of buildings designed by Affonso Eduardo Reidy that got known for its Modernist architecture and social engineering towards its inhabitants. While he was there, Jan Voorberg got murdered. Little is known about this event. In July 2016 the architects that are part of the Dutch-Brazilian HOBRA exchange project visited the very same area and decided to make a film about it.

While showing the building in present day, the story about what happened is told by the only one who was there around at the time and is still willing to talk: the voice of Pedregulho herself. While looking at her through the lense of Jan Voorberg’s camera that was never found back, she reveals more about the tragic event.

See film O Visitante on YouTube (click ‘CC’ for subtitles, watch with good sound or headphones)

See photo's exhibition and project on Flickr

Website Sjoerd ter Borg

• Laila Snevele is sensory food designer and explores the perception of food through multisensorial research. What role does color, shape, texture, temperature, sound, mouthfeel and aroma play in our understanding of a certain food? And how can we use these elements to change or elevate our sense of taste? Snevele designs recipes for the brain. In 2019 she did a residency at the lab for innovation and experimentation of the relatively but already iconic Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro resulting in the public event Food on Mars. Presention

Website Laila Snevele

• Teun Vonk creates art installations that focus on individual physical experience. His work has been presented in several editions of FILE (Electronic Language International Festival), the biggest art & technology festival of Brazil, taking place in different cities like São Paulo, Brasília, Belo Horizonte and Rio de Janeiro. For example in 2019 with ‘A Sense of Gravity’, an installation that lets you experience gravity anew which was well received by an ever curious Brazilian public.

 Website Teun Vonk

15:00 – 16:00 Thematic session III: latest in Dutch culture

Get a flavour of what’s happening in the Netherlands. Listen to some of the latest initiatives in different cultural disciplines from Dutch artists themselves.

Meet:

• Remses Rafaela has been dancing since childhood. He has been active as a professional dancer and choreographer since 1996. His style has many influences from Afro-Caribbean dance style, such as salsa and calypso mixed with acrobatics, hip hop and modern dance. He has worked with international artists, danced in TV programmes such as So You Think You Can Dance, taught at Codarts among others and danced in the theater show of renowned choreographer Isabelle Beernaert. In 2020 he created his own children's performance Wijzer bij Maas. In the 2021/2022 season, Remses can be seen in the Melomaniac tour with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Website Remses Rafaela

• Martha van Meegen is business manager of Veem House for Performance, an internationally oriented theatre and production house rooted in Amsterdam West. It is a home for performance, mime, dance and disciplines yet to be named, where artists are given space to experiment, develop and present. It uses its resources to give artists the time, space and attention they need to develop a practice that eventually moves beyond our studios and far beyond Dutch borders. 

 Website Veem House of Performance

• Ulufer Çelik is an artist, who lives and works in Rotterdam. Her artistic practice explores the potentialities of narrative and myth-making, that is expressed through moving image, poetry, drawing, sound and performance. In her work, she constructs on multi-layered planes through a non-linear perception of time. She searches for queer, immigrant, feminist ways of making and thinking with the archeological, spiritual and spatial traces of memory. Ulufer is part of the Rotterdam-based artist collective Eathouse to provide simple, affordable food and a generous cultural meeting point for people living in Rotterdam-Zuid.  

Website Ulufer Çelik 

15:00 – 16:00 CET Country session IV: Turkey (postponed)

13:00 – 13:45 CET Session Local network building

In order to perform your work effectively as a cultural attaché or officer, it is essential to understand the local context. What are the trends, who's who, what works and what doesn't work? And where does supply meet demand? This session focuses on building up your network and contribute to Dutch international cultural relations.

Meet Nicolette Koopman (Cultural attaché Dutch embassy Paris, tbc)

14:00 – 14:45 CET Session Communication & local visibility

An essential part of your work is to contribute to the Netherlands’ image as an innovative, creative and inclusive country, a country that is appealing as a partner. Supporting cultural projects and activities are a way to do this, but effective communication (consequently) can be of great help here as well. Even with limited means or capacity, what can you do? Which communication channels are useful in your country? And/or how can you work with your partners for public outreach and visibility of Dutch culture abroad?

• Meet Jeroen van Waardenberg (Head of Communication DutchCulture)

15:00 – 14:45 CET Session Closure and evaluation