PERFORMING CHANGE, DEBATING THE ISSUES

How could performing arts strengthen the public debate about food, animals, landscape and the farmers A report for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food (LNV) by Dr Dragan Klaic

September 2003 Churchill laan 158-2 . 1078 ER Amsterdam . phone 020 672 3610 . balakla@xs4all.nl

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report is written as an answer to the question of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food (LNV): could the performing arts strengthen the public debate on the key issues of the policy field of this Ministry. The answer - obtained in interviews with some 45 professionals from all facets of the performing arts is positive. Moreover, quite a few productions in the Netherlands deal with some of those key issues that were defined as: food, life and death of the animals, priority usage of the landscape, the image and self-image of the farmer. Those productions remain often unappreciated in the steady flow of over 1200 new works appearing on the Dutch stages in a season. In Part 1, the performing arts in the Netherlands are presented as a complex system of provisions, subsidy streams, venues, festivals, training programs, publications and interests organizations, operating in a marked international context. Among the artists there is a strong sense of autonomy and pervasive uneasiness about working on assigned topics. Many productions are done on location, often in a natural setting. Subsidized theater needs to legitimize its position by constantly enlarging its audience with new target groups. Community theater is of limited range but growing with youngsters. There is a very strong, issue-driven theater for children and adolescents. There is not much debating spirit - about theater or about social developments - among performing arts professionals. If performances would reflect some of the key issues of the Ministry of LNV, this would have to be initiated by professional organizations such as festivals, training programs, workshop places and production houses. Those productions need to be clustered in larger programming units and developed gradually. If debates follow, they need to be set up by professional organizations that serve such a platform function and the Ministry of LNV could help include the relevant infrastructure of know how and expertise. The role of the Ministry is of a crucial interface that could facilitate information, insights, expertise, locations, equipment, audience groups and some subsidy, sponsorship or good will to enable the artists to create thematically relevant work. That work would in turn, again with the supporting role of the Ministry, but run by professional autonomous organizations, initiate and amplify the public debate. In Part 2 concrete suggestions are made how to stimulate curiosity and insights of the performing artists. Potential theater partners are identified and their possible interests, capacities, ambitions and impact are outlined. In Conclusions, the Ministry of LNV is encouraged to proceed in exploring the collaboration possibilities with the performing arts world that could lead to various artistic projects and debates. An international dimension is sketched out, in collaboration with foreign theater organizations, the European Commission and ministries or regional authorities of other EU countries. Appendices contain the list of interlocutors, information sources and the CV of the author.

CONTENT 1. The Essentials of this research 1.1. The Assignment 1.3. The research field: performing arts in the Netherlands 1.4. Key issues defined 1.5. Interlocutors 1.6. Interviews 2. Attitudes, interests and motivations 2.1. Sensitivity to the issues 2.2. Artistic autonomy vs. assignment 2.3. Theater on location 2.4. Reaching a new public 2.5. Community theater 2.6. Theater for children and with the adolescents 2.7. International dimension 2.8. Linking the performing arts and the debate 3. Suggested trajectories 3.1. Developing curiosity and insights of the performing artists 3.2. Developing performance projects, setting the ground for debates 4. Conclusions Appendix A: Interlocutors Appendix B: Information sources Appendix C: Dragan Klaic CV 4 4 6 8 8 9 9 9 10 10 11 13 14 15 16 18 18 19 22 24 27 27

1. The Essentials of this research 1.1. The Assignment The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food (LNV) approached the author of this report with an unexpected question: could the performing arts contribute to the strengthening of the public debate in the Dutch society about the burning issues in the policy domain of the Ministry? The Ministry officials seem to feel that that the major issues of their policy domain increasingly impose, besides political, economic and technological aspects, unsettling ethical questions. Answers to these questions are far from self-evident and they concern a large range of organized interest in the Dutch society, interests that are sometimes at odd and resist consensual solution through negotiations and compromise. Moreover, the solutions are also enforced from outside, from the institutions of the European Union, by the dynamics of the globalized market and speeded up innovation in genetic research, such as cloning of animals and development of genetically modified food. 1.2. The Context Traditionally, agriculture has been seen not only as a primary economic activity but also as a repository of traditions, historic experiences, life styles and values of a society that shape a national and regional identity, as a gigantic and never-ending collective effort to tame the elements and cultivate a certain territory so that it can feed its inhabitants. Those traditional images and myths of agriculture have been dramatically altered in the last decades through the shrinking of agricultural population, encroachment of the cities on the landscape, penetration of industrial elements and processes in the food production and overwhelming globalization of the food export and import. Moreover, agriculture is increasingly a mater to be decided not so much by the national government and its agencies but by the strong competences of the European Union that reserves almost half of its current budget for the agricultural subsides in the member states. The negotiations on the liberalization of agricultural production and trade are currently being held in the WTO with an uncertain outcome and with divergent interest of the EU, USA, Japan and developing countries. The explosive growth of tourism, recreation and leisure industry has made a contrasting claim on the natural resources and the modes of its priority usage, often irreconcilable with the logic of agricultural production. A strong environmentalist movement has been developed worldwide in the last 30 years, with a very strong following in The Netherlands, seeking to reduce the pollution of the environment and preserve the endangered natural resources for the future generations - if needed, against the logic of immediate economic development and profit. Intensive animal husbandry has been mired lately by a series of mass epidemics, contained with dramatic measures that regularly attracted enormous publicity and brought about unprecedented public displays of individual and collective emotions of grief, anger and sadness, and furthermore, strengthen the animal rights movement and pleas for the new norms of bioethics.

Consumer movement, together with the media, constantly questions the quality and safety of food, its regime and method of production, transportation and storage, and its dietary value. While only a few generations ago most Dutch people in the urban setting had strong ties with the farming world and with the farmers, today those social bonds hardly exist. Those who are still directly involved in the farming process are increasingly dependent in their work on hired labor, temporary, foreign, migrant workers, employed legally or not. With the expansion of the European Union in 2004 one can expect more citizens from the new member states to seek access to this agro-labor market while simultaneously some Dutch farmers will move to Central and Eastern Europe and buy or lease land there of the size that is hardly possible to find here. The enlargement of the European Union imposes at the same time a radical rethinking of the common agricultural policy of the EU and the function, objectives and criteria of its subsidies. In the context of all those rapid, contradictory and often turbulent developments, it is logical that the Ministry of LNV has a strong interest to sustain a broad social debate about all the issues related to agriculture, nature and food, to clarify the agenda of the debate, broaden the circle of its participants and use the results for further policy development. The debate, however, often remains in a narrow circle of experts or organized interests that come in with predetermined, firmly entrenched opinions and stances. A great part of the population does not partake directly in the debate but is only a superficial observer or a passive consumer of the punch lines in the debate; if included at all in the debate, those consumers contribute some knee-jerk, ready made opinions and emotionally colored attitudes while the issues debated tend because of their complexity go get enmeshed, distorted or reduced to trivia. Because of these limitations and one-sidedness, arts could be seen as a welcome addition to the debate, hopefully renewed through the power of the artistic metaphor, surprising approaches and formulations, unexpected observations, paradoxical framing and rendering and strong emotional appeal that can focus on an individual case or destiny and yet present it as a concern that could be shared by many. Especially in a society of diminished political self-organization and participation of citizens, soul-searching maneuvers of the established party politics and surprising appearances of new political organized forces, of increased skepticism towards political institutions and processes, arts could be expected to galvanize and broaden the sense of civic responsibility and engagement and contribute to the cohesion of a society of rapid individualization, altered demography and many parallel cultural orientations and life style preferences.

1.3. The research field: performing arts in the Netherlands The target of this research is the performing arts in the Netherlands, so it is necessary to describe here shortly this field as a dynamic system. The country has a very rich and diversified theater life: over 1.200 new premieres are made every year in all possible disciplines and genres, including dance, music theater, theater for children and with the youngsters, ambiental theater, object and puppet theater etc. Some of those productions are commercial endeavors and they do make money to their producers. Joop van de Ende musicals and popular melodrama and comedy enjoy a broad public response and regularly continue their stage life abroad. Most productions emerge in the noncommercial theater, with the help of public and private subsidies. The Ministry of OcenW subsidizes many groups with structural subsidies, fixed once for four years within the so-called Kunstenplan system, advised by the Raad voor Cultuur on artistic merit of the applicants, and with a final approval of the Parliament. Those producing organizations that do not receive such 4 years subsidy seek support from the Fonds voor podiumkunsten (that in fact distributes a part of the OCenW arts budget), municipal funds and a great number of private foundations, from very small and almost anonymous ones to such major donors as PBCF, Van der Ende Foundation and VSBV Fonds. Theater companies for children enjoy the financial support of the national and provincial governments. In large cities, some companies have a combined municipal and national structural financing for 4 years. Part of the system is a dense network of playhouses, over 100 larger ones and close to 100 smaller ones (vlakke vloer), subsidized by the municipalities to make their own programming by choosing productions from the great offer available and satisfy the needs and interest of their local audiences. Only a few companies have their playhouse, usually developed through adaptation and renovation. On the university level, there are several professional training programs in performing arts, there are many festivals, some held in the summer, some furthering ambiental theater in the open air; there are theater studies departments at several universities for historic and theoretical study of the performing arts; and Theater Instituut Nederland has a key function in documenting the theater life and providing information and know-how on all aspects of the performing arts. In addition to those professional structures there are over 2000 amateur dramatic associations. Dutch performing arts professionals are engaged in many international networks and have their own national organizations. Many companies travel frequently abroad to perform, usually enjoying some subsidy for the travel cost, but in fact enlarging their market earning with additional fees. They sometimes engage in complex collaboration forms with their peer organizations abroad (co-productions). Besides some specialized publications and magazines, art sections of quality dailies cover the theater life regularly and run several reviews each day but of course cannot cover all the premieres. Beside Dutch productions, there are many foreign ones that make guest appearances or entire tours in the country.

In international terms, the Dutch system of performing arts is considered to be very sophisticated, offering artists some continuity and safety but also demanding innovation and keeping subsidy access open for the newcomers. And yet, all analyses show that a great majority of Dutch performing arts professionals earn very modest income and know regularly re-occurring periods of unemployment, alleviated by the WW provisions. Actors, dancers and musicians are engaged for a specific production, with intensive rehearsal process of several weeks and a run of 40-50 performances in the subsequent 812 weeks. Public subsidy is coupled with travel obligations so that companies travel incessantly throughout the country and play one-night stances in most towns, except in the largest cities where they can stay longer. Directors, choreographers and playwrights are usually free lancers. The entire system employs over 15.000 people on off/on basis. It is a sector that is exposed to very rigid advanced planning in production and distribution, in subsidy cycles and performance schedules, a field where many people work very hard for a modest remuneration, driven by artistic motivation, in considerable competition not only among themselves but also with all other commercial forms of the leisure industry, facing stagnating audience volume, raising production and distribution costs and never sufficient subsidies. In fact, with the arrival of the cabinet Balkenende 2, the Ministry of OCenW is committed to reduce its culture budget in the Kunstenplan 2005-2008 with eur 19 million per year. Although one does not know yet how much of this cut will affect the performing arts, preparation of subsidy application this fall goes coupled with considerable anxiety and uncertainty. Beginning artists are offered opportunities to make their first productions and build a name and recognition in several workshop houses, before they can join a company or set their own one and then seek subsidies. WIK is a legal provision to help starting artists with some combination of subsidy, welfare (uitkering) and income at the beginning of their career. The supplementary measures (flankeerende beleid) of WIK encompass schemes to train artists to use their skills and talent in some non-artistic contexts, in education, health and social services, and in the judiciary system. Initiatives are being developed with the Ministry of Justice to use artists in prisons, in probation (reclassering) and in the integration of immigrants. Recently, artists have been engaged in developing the Dutch language proficiency in the ROC integration courses for the immigrants (inburgering). The introduction of CKV (cultuur en kunst vak) in high schools has given a boost to the artistic professions and offered some additional employment opportunities, related to various art projects in schools. Artistically, the performing arts in the Netherlands are free of the burden of tradition and since Actie Tomaat in 1969 have been driven by a spirit of experimentation and radical innovation. Since then it is not only the system that has been re-invented and much refined on the postulates set up after the end of the Word War Two; a repertory of contemporary playwriting has emerged, contemporary dance has reached top level, theater for children has earned an international reputation for its open-mindedness and directness, music theater profited from strong music training, excellent composers and richness of chamber music ensembles. Most groups are dominated by an artistic personality of a theater director or choreographer, and some directors are also playwrights. The acting style tends to go beyond illusionism and psychological imitation

of reality. Performing space is being shaped more by lighting than heavy dcor and a search for unexpected, discovered and appropriated sites continues, encompassing beaches and fields, abandoned factories and farms, streets, squares, railway stations and ports. Stylistic markers and tendencies are difficult to divulge from an amazing diversity. 1.4. Key issues defined For the purpose of this research and in order to keep it focused, the burning issues of the policy domain of the Ministry of LNV have been defined in four clusters: Food: its origin, quality, safety, taste and price. The life and death of animals: are we entitled to kill animals, for what purpose, how much, in which way and with what consequences; and if we keep animals alive what minimal standard of life must we secure for them? Landscape and the priorities of its usage: who can impose own priorities in the dominant modes of the landscape use and how can divergent values and interests behind these modes be balanced or reconciled? The status of the farmer: his key values, self-appreciation and orientation; his social image and acceptation by the society?

These four clusters of issues have been taken into this research as a provisional thematic frame to confront the performing arts professionals with at the opening of the interviews with them. 1.5. Interlocutors In the last few years the Ministry of LNV has been accidentally involved with some artistic activities related to its policy field, such as visual arts installations in the nature and a series of 20th cent. films, showing the changes of the landscape in the Netherlands, screened in the frame of Nederlands Film Festival in Utrecht. Since the Ministry has no direct experience with the performing arts and its infrastructure, the author of this rapport was engaged to investigate what attitudes exist among the performing arts professionals towards these key issues; to explore how more sensibility and know-how could be developed among the performing arts professionals and to seek ideas how theater productions could be developed, inspired by those thematic clusters, so as to ultimately enliven, refresh and broaden the debate about them. The researcher started by approaching with a letter more than 50 prominent personalities from the performing arts, occupying various positions in different disciplines. Phone calls and e-mails followed. The interlocutors were playwrights, directors, choreographers, some of them leading own companies; experts running playhouses, festivals, workshop

houses and specialized advanced training programs, funding and developing organizations and networks; critics, scholars and journalists. Most theater activity is concentrated in Amsterdam: most interlocutors came from the Randstad but some were from Brabant, Friesland and Groningen (see the list of interlocutors in the appendix A). In age, most were accomplished professionals in their forties and fifties but a few younger artists (in their late twenties/early thirties) were also included. Over 40% were women. A few disclosed in the talk that they are of farmers origin or have family members in farming. Most of those approached for a talk were quite surprised with the research topic and with the Ministry of LNV as the commissioning party but curious and willing to met and talk. With some it was difficult to make appointments because of busy schedules and summer vacation. Ultimately, between late May and early September, some 40 talks were held with over 45 people. 1.6. Interviews The interviews were held in a form of Socratic dialogue, with a lot of spontaneity and informality, without a steady list of questions, but based on researchers familiarity with the work of the interlocutor that served as a starting point in the exploration of attitudes, interests, ideas and suggestions. The colleagues were informed about the interest of the Ministry of LNV in intensifying and broadening the social debate. Key issue clusters were described in their broader context. The interlocutors were asked to express their associations, interest, and relevant experiences. Depending on their primary reactions, the talks sought to explore the theatrical potentials of the clusters of issues and question how from the perspective of interlocutors work and esthetic preferences some thematically relevant approaches could be developed. Interviews lasted between 45 minutes and 2 hours. In many cases interlocutors pointed out the work of others that would be relevant or suggested to the researcher to make contact with some other colleagues. In almost all cases they requested to be informed about the results of the research and a possible follow up. 2. Attitudes, interests and motivations 2.1. Sensitivity to the issues Most interlocutors expressed some interest in the key issues outlined, but primarily as citizens rather than as artists. They were baffled by the complexity of the issues, the farreaching changes, the new treats to human safety and well-being through nature pollution, waste of natural resources, genetic modification etc. Practically all acknowledge that they have a very superficial and murky image of what is really going on in agriculture, in the food chain and all were shocked or at least jolted by the reoccurring animal epidemics, contained with the mass elimination of pigs or chicken. Repeatedly complaints were voiced that theater professionals lack contacts with experts and scientists who could offer some specific insights and there is certainly much readiness to engage in such a dialogue.

2.2. Artistic autonomy vs. assignment At the same time, some of the colleagues expressed a certain reluctance to follow a specific topic, assigned in advance. One must understand that the notion of the autonomy of the arts is a deeply entrenched and shared value among the artists in the Netherlands. Thematically driven or initiated art work is often associated in a negative way with the propagandistic efforts of early 1970s (het vorminsgtoneel) that failed politically and were ultimately rejected esthetically because of simplification and linearity. Several colleagues pointed out that the chief danger of dealing with those burning issues today is to end up with a piece that will be opportunistic (made because someone has offered subsidy for it), not of top quality, nostalgic, sentimentalist and preaching or paternalistic. Many artists work in an abstract manner, seeing the starting point of a new piece in an abstract image, idea or notion, not a concrete political topic, issue or situation. Making theater is not always a rational, fully controlled and result-oriented process and much of its ultimate outcome is dependent on chance, incident, unexpected twist, discovery or improvisation. Theater is a volatile endeavor and the end results sometimes does not square with the starting premises and intentions. The chances of failure are always considerable and what will make people come and enjoy and what turns them off is difficult to predict. Nevertheless, in the theater of children there is more habit to work driven by a certain issue. Artists engaged in this specific segment are not afraid to take a certain topic for their starting point. Visual artists are probably more used to take a specific commission (werk in opdracht) than the performing artists. A question that was posed repeatedly was related to an envisaged time frame where productions related to the LNV policy interests should take place. It is important to understand that theater artists and theater organization need to plan their work much in advance, in order to seek subsidies, find performing spaces, engage among the free lancers available the best possible collaborators and create a complex set of favorable circumstances, so that they develop a piece in a rather short time of intensive rehearsals and then perform it in a brisk rhythm in a few busy weeks, maximum 2-3 months. Practically, it means that most interlocutors have already developed plans for more than a year ahead and that all initiatives to be undertaken eventually with the support of the Ministry of LNW need to envisage a prolonged developmental path. 2.3. Theater on location There is much interest to work on a specific location, in the open air, in the nature and in this type of work many Dutch artists have developed a considerable expertise. Some 30 years ago theater on location/locatietheater was a willful effort to evacuate the stuffy conventional auditoria of the playhouses and seek inspiration in some unexplored environment, to surprise the audience with an unexpected choice of location and offer a new fresh look at the place unknown, unfamiliar, abandoned, with no previous access. With the emergence of small informal performing venues (vlakke vloer) and modernization of the programming in larger venues (stadsschouwburgen) the urgency of doing productions on location has been weakened perhaps but never abandoned.

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Especially in the summer, the Netherlands offers more than dozen summer festivals with site-specific theater. Beside more entertainment oriented mass attractions such as Parade, Boulevard, Rotterdam Summer Festival, there are ambitious, innovative endeavors, from Oerol on Terschelling in June to the Nazomer in Vlissingen and Noordzon in Groningen, with Over de Ij festival in July-August following the Holland festival excursions to the NSM shipyard in Amsterdam Noord. This summer, the site-specific production of King Lear by Tryater, in Fries language, directed as farewell work by Joos Thie, has attracted close to 50. 000 visitors to the Friesland horse preservation site. Over 20% them where from zip codes outside province of Friesland. Dogtroep production on the Leidsche Rhein in July attracted some 34.000 visitors even though it took place in the middle of nowhere, at the large future construction site of a bedroom community near Utrecht. Terschelling has for 23 years been hosting the Oerol festival as an unique exploration of the nature, landscape and the surrounding water, in a range of big and small productions, in the open air and in many farmers stables and barns. Practically all of 4.000 inhabitants of the island are mobilized for the festival that in the assessment of its founder and leader Joop Mulder creates 15-20% of the islands economy. With only eur 176.000 structural subsidy Oerol has a turnover of over eur 2,5 million. Of 350.000 visitors of the island per year, some 60.000 come during the festival in June. The festival is unique in Europe for its exploration of natural setting and quickly changing daylight, an audience that crisscrosses the island on bicycles and does not mind getting wet from rain even several times a day. Locatietheater is a special challenge for the artists because it offers opportunities for surprising interdisciplinary collaboration, performing artists, visual artists, sound artists and musicians come to work together. The natural ambiance or a found, appropriated space (an old abandoned factory or farm such as Hollandia often used, or a water processing plant in Krisztina de Chatel dance piece) imposes its spatial parameters as the central creative element that the artists cannot use just as a background or decor but need to promote in the organizing metaphor of the art work. Some of the interviewed artists sought to connect a theme to a specific location outside the natural setting, and considered productions to take place at a busy food market such as Albert Cuyp in Amsterdam or small short performances popping up as some guerilla interventions in the supermarkets and tied to the food issues. 2.4. Reaching a new public Despite much development in the performing arts and a constantly growing number of productions, the audience size remains pretty stable in the Netherlands. Many performances take place in front of small audience of 100-150 people and the intimacy of relationship between the performers and viewers has much impact on the prevailing style and audience involvement and reaction. Theater for children plays almost exclusively to audiences up to 120 kids. In contrast, commercial theater productions play in large venues with over 1000 seats. De Nederlandse Opera usually sells out quickly - sometimes on the first day of sales, all of 1300 seats of het Muziektheater are gone for a whole series

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of 8 to 10 performances of a new opera - but het Nationale Ballet cannot do the same in the same place. Playhouses with 500 to 800 seats are often difficult to fill. In many towns a theater company can give just one performance and then yield the venue to a next group coming the following night. Cabaret enjoys a growing popularity but for a contemporary dance production to book 25 performances in mid sizes venues is quite difficult. A steady audience is rather limited and its taste and preference vary and cant be predicted with certainty. In large cities much of theater audience is composed of students but many youngsters experience theater as slow, boring, old fashioned. Older people who might have the time, money an education for theater are sometimes turned off by the non-conventional productions or reluctant to go out at night. Middle aged people, those between 30 and 50 years, are often too busy with demanding jobs, meetings, additional studies, delayed parenting and, if they have a free evening at all, they might prefer to go out with friends to a good restaurant or invent some light entertainment outing. And yet the size and the structure of audience becomes much of a cultural policy objective and an indicator in the allocation of subsidies. The former Sate Secretary for Culture R. van der Ploeg (PvdA, 1998-2002) made it a priority of his policy to force cultural institutions, including playhouses to attract more youngsters and more viewers of foreign origin. It is therefore not surprising that several of interviewed professionals greeted the LNV initiative as an opportunity to seek and find a new potential public, one that usually does not go to theater but that could be attracted by the subject mater, choice of location and some other unconventional tactics. Johan Simons admits that he has tried for 18 years of Hollandia to reach the farmers of North Holland with his on-location productions and usually had to admit in frustration that most of his viewers came from the heart of Amsterdam (grachtengordel). But recently, in North Brabant, developing 2 productions inspired by the recent pig epidemic, Varken/Boeren and Truus & Konnie, he had for the first time the satisfaction of performing for a dominantly farmers audience. In his analysis of this breakthrough he mentions the following success factors: the productions were done not in a traditional playhouse but on farms or even better, in a natural ambiance near a farm, familiar but still uncanny and metaphysical, an eerie place, open for fantasy. The productions aimed to recognize and verify the pain and sorrow of the farmers victimized by the epidemics. Two actresses built the piece by conducting interviews with the farmers and their wives. By doing those interviews they mastered the Brabant dialect. Ten short items on those productions were developed and repeatedly aired on the regional television. The production was strong, combining some autenticating elements with fantasy and sense of estrangement, yet emerging from the experienced trauma of the audience members and capable of offering a public acknowledgement of their grief. Along the same lines, Jan Stelma points out the unprecedented success of an stage adaptation of the book De Graan Republiek by Frank Westerman, created by Grand theater Groningen and performed on huge demand in many village feast halls and barns. Hans Man in t Veld, taking over the leadership of the Tyater company this summer, points out the success of a production on the disappeared cattle markets, performed in

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small village halls and caf backrooms across Friesland. Farmers who are not used to go to theater come those performances because they reflect their individual and collective experience on a high artistic level and threat the subject matter with seriousness and complexity, without a trace of paternalism. Ad de Bont cant hide his amazement about the demand his production on brain damage created. This production started as a light reading of a few pages from a book on damage and rehabilitation, written by a victim, staged for a medical congress. Once the production has been fully developed, it was performed at various medical conferences, in medical schools and in rehabilitation centers and the invitations simply do not stop. As a doctor told De Bont: Ive been in this brain damage stuff for more than 30 years and I never experienced such emotional involvement as in your performance. Similarly, a production developed by De Bonts company Wederzijds in commission of social services of the city of Leiden, celebrating a jubilee, cant respond to all the invitations coming from social centers and neighborhood centers (buurthuis). In both cases a production does not aim at the standard theater public but instead brings a special experience and excitement to those who never venture to theaters but who see aspects of their lives magnified, shed with a new light, enriched with additional meaning and publicly presented with dignity. De Bont, who went initially in this direction with his production for asylum seekers Transit (1996), has decided to make this type of production for special publics one of the main lines of his company, alongside with performances for children in schools. And he is eager to develop a production that will be of special significance for the farmers and brought to them. From those examples it becomes obvious that eventually productions about food, animals, landscape or farmers, need to find a way to the farmers themselves, moreover that they could achieve this social functions only if they can explore the life, the dreams, the frustrations and anxieties of this specific social groups before they get them back as public. Theater for specific contexts and specific audiences is not much a feature of the Dutch scene. It did make its inroads in Western Europe, specifically as theater in education in the UK, with professional actors, financed by educational authorities, collaborating with the teachers in developing interactive performances, derived from a curriculum and offering an imaginative, exciting learning experience. In the developing world, various forms of theater in development have been used to disseminate some key competences and skills (literacy, family planning and AIDS protection) or combat some deviant behavior, such as wife burning in India or child labor exploitation. In the work of Brazilian artists and activist Augustin Boal those forms passed from theater of the oppressed to legislative theater to forum theater as various options on the path of social activation of the most disadvantaged social groups. 2.5. Community theater A form of theater for specific context and specific audiences is community theater, researched recently thoroughly in its various manifestations on sevaral continents by the Dutch scholar Eugen van Erven (Community Theater, London: Routledge 2002). It is

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theater inspired by social activism that mobilizes ordinary citizens, often of the most underprivileged social groups, as authors and performers before it secures them as audience as well. In the Netherlands, a variant of community theater practice is embodied by the Stut theater in Utrecht, led for 25 years by Joos Beurs and Marlies Houtvast, veterans of the often despised vormingstoneel. They have succeeded to engage various groups of Utrecht residents and make them develop productions on most sensitive issues, such as relationship between the Moroccan fathers and sons or love life of women above 50. In seeking to find an angle related to the LNV key issues, they pointed out the changes in the dietary habits of immigrant population, the clash of traditional meals with the ready made and junk food culture. It is food, eating habits and a culture of socializing around meals that caught their attention during the interview. Stut works with an urban population but its method of including and creatively stimulating ordinary people to articulate on the stage the troubling aspects of their everyday life could be applied among the farmers as well. 2.6. Theater for children and with the adolescents The unusual strength of the Dutch theater for children has been pointed out already. The capacity of this segment to develop issue-driven productions that treat their audience with respect and find ways to handle with complexity should be used. Most urban children have a very limited idea of the life of a farmer. They would certainly react with interest to a production on the ambiguous status of domestic animals and an exploration of food and eating habits would also present an attractive topic. Artistic result would be coupled with educational benefits. A recent example was an opera for children, whose characters were human organs, struggling to digest huge quantities of food gulped down by a girl during a children birthday party. In the last few years there is an increase of theater made with the youngsters, aged 14-19, under the leadership of professionals, with the material developed by them from their own concerns and lifestyles. One could be critical of the tendency of this type of theater to imitate MTV and stay on the level of superficiality but also acknowledge that in principle it could yield productions of considerable complexity. With teenagers on the stage, often of very culturally diverse backgrounds, as in the productions of Artisjoek 020, Dox and het Syndicaat, one is guaranteed a similar structure of the peer audience. Both of those segments of the Dutch theater have developed their intercultural competence in the last few years and now seek to secure the engagement of a new generation of theater makers. Structurally subsidized companies and the jeugtheater workshop house De Berenkuil in Utrecht play here the leading role. The similarity of developments in this segment in the Netherlands and Flanders make the jeugdtheater festival Tweetakt (Utrecht/Antwrpen) a convenient developmental platform.

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2.7. International dimension Dutch performing arts take an active international position and operate internationally. In developing theater initiatives related to the LNV key issues, one would expect that international collaborative ventures would very quickly come to the agenda, especially since the issues are of European significance. Of course, national theater systems are organized in different ways and geographic, demographic, socio-economic circumstances also play a role. A preliminary research, however, indicates that there are some comparable initiatives in several European countries. The well known example is the Polish theater group Gardzeniece, that inspired by Grotowskis esthetic ideas, sought its source of energy and material by moving some years ago to a Polish village and developing innovative theater from the village legends and traditions. This adventure echoes an earlier one, from 1920s, when Jacques Copeau left his Parisian avant-garde circles on the Left Bank to develop a new sort of folk theater among the villagers of Burgundy. With the decentralization of cultural policies, funding authorities have become more sensitive for the cultural needs of people living in rural areas. Some of them are geographically large and sparsely populated - in France, Portugal, Spain, much less in Gr. Britain; one must think also of large hardly populated areas of Sweden, Norway, Finland, eastern parts of Poland and Baltic states. There are some initiatives to encourage performing arts groups to perform in those areas and if possible settle there for a while in order to produce work that reflects the reality of people who live there. In the Netherlands, rural areas are always in proximity of urban centers and the distances are much shorter, while the average population density is high practically everywhere. What is really happening in this field in various European countries is something that would demand further research and a fist step in this direction could be made at the forthcoming annual conference of the Informal European Theater Meeting (IETM, Oct 912, 2003, Birmingham, UK), a large network of internationally oriented innovative theater, encompassing among its members groups, festivals, venues, and development and service organizations from all facets of the performing arts. One could imagine that performing artists interested in productions in rural environment and connected with agrarian issues would be able to work together and develop some common projects. They would unleash an interesting intercultural dynamics, taking in the account various notions of land, food, nature, traditional images and myths, and common contemporary concerns. To deal with situations and development that are seemingly of strictly local and regional character, in situ, and with the participation of artists from various cultures, eventually in different languages, would bring fresh, unexpected insights and points of view. One could also imagine a production developed in one natural environment or rural zone and then reinserted in another similar one, in another European country. Working with own peers and colleagues in a Portuguese, Italian or Latvian village would give additional creative impulses to the Dutch artists interested in such rural theater development. Many of Dutch theater groups have strong ties with companies abroad with whom they feel some artistic kinship, so such projects could be developed without much difficulty. And

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what would such international co-productions means for the farmers in the audience? Hopefully, they would feel themselves also more European. Most theater artists seek to engage in international projects not for the sake of prestige or economic gain but because they cherish the artistic and intercultural stimuli involved. Yet, working internationally always causes additional costs and to find subsidy sources for them is quite difficult. The European Commission has for all cultural actions only eur 34 million per year, distributed in a very competitive fashion and administered in the frame of a very complex and burdensome program called Culture 2000. The common thematic interest of the performing artists from various countries could perhaps offer enough expected benefit to the Ministry of LNV to seek collaboration of the European Commission and one or more of its partner ministries in other EU countries. Another possibility is to explore is to seek co-financing for multilateral artistic projects from regional authorities in various countries, combined with the support of the European Commission, especially as its priorities for the common agricultural policy budget are being shifted from the production to quality of resource usage. 2.8. Linking the performance and the debate: partnerships, alliances and the possible role of the Ministry of LNV From the interviews with the theater professionals it was becoming evident that in fact quite a bit of productions every year address some themes or invoke some situations that could be connected with the key issues as defined for the purposes of this research but that those productions remain fairly invisible in the enormous output of over 1.200 production per year. They blend with the rest and usually fail to attract a more prolonged attention and to serve as a peg for a debate. Some theater organizations understand this logic of fly-by-night repertory and seek to amplify the impact by collaborating with other performing arts organizations. This is not always easy because each artist and organization jealously guards own artistic identity, schedules and priorities are difficult to synchronize, partners need time to build up trust and find the best way how to collaborate. A modest example of this will to achieve more public impact is an initiative of four Brabant groups - ZT Hollandia, Productiehuis Brabant, Wetten van Kepler and Drie ons - to stage each in 2005 a production that will be coupled to an exhibit and publication of a book by a journalist and a photographer about the changing Brabant landscape and life of the farmers. They also plan to instigate the debate with the involvement of cultural anthropologists form University of Amsterdam who are conducting their own research. This is more a synchronization of own creative and productive schedules along the same global thematic axis than real collaboration but could be a good start. Any future initiatives, if developed by the Ministry of LNV, need to rest on collaboration with the specialized theater organizations with direct ties to the artists and capacity to organize production and distribution, reach the media and the public. What is desirable are larger, visible clusters, programming units of some volume and exposure or

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productions of protracted life in place of sporadic, accidental, passing appearances of no special consequence. To make a production, to distribute it properly in a playhouse or in a special adjusted environment, even to sell a lot of tickets still does not mean one will instigate a debate, however. The production could be seen as an opportunity for a debate, a peg, condensed emotional experience that would facilitate voicing of stances, views and interests. But a debate needs to shape its own dramaturgy, select own protagonists, find own direction and focus. Furthermore, much as it is desirable to involve the theater public in a debate, it is also important to include figures of expertise and specific experience, not just people of authority, such as scientists, civil servants, politicians, journalists, veterinarians, agronomists, landscape planners and architects, but also people who play a certain role in inherent processes linked to the key issues but are not much known nor visible. The debate probably wont be much advanced by the inclusion of artists they would do their own stage contribution before the debate starts - but would benefit from the inclusion of those who as spectators have been attracted to the performance and moved by its, made to take a public stance. Some of the Dutch theater companies have developed a considerable expertise to undertake complex, artistic projects that include major logistic efforts, especially if the performance takes place on a location that has to be prepared from scratch for the occasion. Dog troep, Vis aVis, and some other companies and several festival organizations know very well how to work together with partners that offer logistic support, transport, security, energy etc. In most cases this partner organizations are also sponsors of the theater production and donate their services, know how or equipment. Thanks to the generosity of those providers/sponsors, theater people are sometimes able to undertake ambitious, complex and rather expensive projects that would not be possible with standard subsidy grants alone. To couple a performance and a debate another sort of partnership is needed: one that will bring theater organizations in a collaborative relation with the venues specialized in running debates (such as Felix Meritis, De Balie, Rode Hoed in Amsterdam), with scientific and educational institutions, professional organizations and citizens associations, some specialized foundations and interest platform, but also corporations that play a prominent role in the production, transport, distribution, marketing. Theater training programs, workshop houses, festivals and service organizations and networks are in state to attract qualified artists; it would be the role of all other partners from outside the theater world to provide sufficient expertise, information and arguments in order to make a debate as a follow up productive and well focused, sharply argued and broadly inclusive. In the perspective of this research, the potential role of the Ministry of LNV is increasingly appearing as one of the crucial interface: through the initiative of the Ministry theater artists and theater organizations could come to the information, know how, expertise, equipment, special performing sites, and some additional key audience groups. They also could receive subsidy from additional sources or sponsorship and good

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will to realize their artistic projects. Through the engagement of the Ministry the infrastructure of science, expertise, particular interests and politics could be coupled to the performance so that the theatrical act opens, initiates and galvanizes a debate. In no way should the Ministry of LNV play the role of a theater producer nor meddle in the activity domain of the Ministry of OcenW and funds and foundations. The Ministry could in collaboration with theater organizations sensibilize the artists, provide them with information, know-how and resources or facilitate this input and then seek and attach competences needed for a debate to a performance. The performance itself is not a debate nor is its simulacrum but should be seen as an ouverture for a debate, as an artistic instigator of involvement, concern, reflection and reaction. 3. Suggested trajectories In this section, there is a range of concrete recommendations of possible trajectories the Ministry of LNV could pursue in order to reach the goals formulated at the beginning of this research study. 3.1 Developing curiosity and insights of the performing artists The set of proposal under this heading aim to create some curiosity among the theater makers and also offer them additional information on the complexity of the LNV field. Exposure, direct experience, informal discussions are of essential importance. 3.1.1. In order to give a better insight to performing artists in the key issues, the Ministry of LNV could organize a daily trip for a group of 35 artists and producers/ programmers along some farms, food factories, logistic centers, scientific laboratories, ending in the Kasteel Groeneveld for an informal cocktail with civil servants and some scientists. Some reading material would be distributed (December 2003 or January 2003). 3.1.2. This first initial exposure could be pursued in the beginning of 2004, perhaps in the same place, with a thematic day where again the same group of artists will be invited for a program presented by the civil servants, experts and scientists, giving a deeper insight in the key issues. Among those invited, I suggest to include the following performing arts organizations: Onafhankelijke Toneel, Lunatics, Hotel Modern, Bambi, VisaVis, Warner & Consorten, Dogtroep, Artisjoek O20, Huis a.d. Amstel, Wederzijds, het Waterhuis, het Syndicaat, Langeland, Stuffed Puppet, Kriztina de Chatel, Hans Hof Ensemble, Orkater, Carver, Tryateer, Beerenkuil, Felix Meritis, De Balie, Grand Theater, Hollandia/ZT, Oerol, Dasarts, Fonds voor de podiumkunsten, het Gasthuis, Productiehuis Brabant, Eunetart, Veenstudio, Over de Ij festival, NNT, Stella, Artemis, Stut and others. 3.1.3. Het Gasthuis in Amsterdam, a workshop house for young theater makers is organizing often discussions where theater artists are confronted with people from other fields. One could easily imagine an evening where a theater person goes in a debate with a scientists or expert from the LNV field on the basis of a lecture or a case study (2003/2004).

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3.1.4. In 1997 Theater Institute Nederland and Oerol festival organized on Terschelling an international conference on site-specific theater that is still vividly remembered by its participants as an outstanding experience. It would be possible to organize during one of the next editions of the Oerol festival (June) an international workshop for young theater makers on producing theater in natural habitats, with some experienced artists, ecologists, biologists as resource persons. Among others, the workshop would analyze a recent ecological impact study of all 40 sites where performances are being made, commissioned by the festival itself, a unique research on what midrange effects performances have on the environment (June 2005). 3.1.5. European Cultural Foundation (Amsterdam, www.eurocult.org) is completing its longer project Arts for social change, carried out in Central and Eastern Europe with an event in the Central Museum Utrecht 11-14 March 2004, where artistic interventions in rural areas will be one of the main topics for over 100 artists from the Netherlands and abroad a unique opportunity to present various experiences and develop new projects. 3.2. Developing performance projects, setting the ground for debates Here follow some concrete proposals or some ideas that need further feasibility check, all aiming to create visible, clearly recognizable programmatic units in the performing arts, coupled whenever possible with debating opportunities. 3.2.1. Dasarts is a postgraduate training program for theater directors, choreographers and stage designers, associated with the Amsterdamse Hoogschool voor de Kunsten. It has nosteady program nor teachers but engages guests mentors for blocs running 2 times a year for 10 weeks each. It would be possible to develop for 2004/2005 a bloc thematically inspired by LNV concerns and run by an artist and a veterinarian or agronomist as mentors. Each of cca 20 international participants is expected in the course of 10 weeks of the bloc to develop own project. If they would be all put in a common thematic frame, at the end Dasarts would stage a mini marathon, a small festival of some 20 artistic projects that could be followed by a structured debate, with expertise provided by the Ministry of LNV. 3.2.2. Ad de Bont is an outstanding Dutch playwright and theater director, artistic leader of a theater company for children Wederzijds. His play Mirad, a youngster from Bosnia was translated in over 20 languages and had more than 60 professional productions world wide and 3 TV adaptations. Ad de Bont could commission rather quickly (before the end of 2003) six young authors to do a play on some of the key issues defined by the Ministry of LNV, and together with 2 colleagues provide intensive feed back and support to those authors (60 hours mentorship per author) in the ensuing 6 months. The plays would have a public reading followed by a discussion and would ultimately be produced in a series by his and some other theater companies for children and adults (2004/2005) that could create a visible thematic cluster and provide a proper impetus for a debate.

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3.2.3. Berenkuil in Utrecht is a workshop house for the development of young talent in theater for children. Dennis Mayer, its artistic leader, supports and coaches those makers in their work. After the interview, he writes: Na ons gesprek kwam er nog een gedachte bij mij op. Ons pand (en ook dat van 't Barre Land en de PaardenKathedraal) bevindt zich in het voormalige Veeartsenijterrein (diergeneeskunde van de Universiteit van Utrecht) Onze gebouwen zijn allemaal voormalige onderzoeksgebouwen voor dieren en toekomstige dierenartsen. Deze geschiedenis zou natuurlijk een hele goede verbinding kunnen zijn met de onderwerpen van het Ministerie van Landbouw. The cultural memory of the site would initiate four simultaneous projects that would end with joint presentation and a debate. History of veterinary medicine could be an angle to come to todays issue of animals life and death. The advantage of the approach is that those authors could talk with each other while working each on own project, perhaps in the course of 2004. The project could get a follow up in the Tweetakt jeugdtehater festival (Utrecht and Antwerp 2005), an excellent platform for the dissemination, reflection and new artistic developments. 3.2.4. Transmissions is a project of Kunstenaars & Co, an OcenW subsidized organization charged with the implementation of WIK provisions. Transmissions trains artist to find employment in various non-artistic domains. There are projects in development and realization with Cordaid, Ministry of Justice, ROC, Theaterregie opleding HVKA, and others. It would be conceivable to pursue the possibilities of engaging in a creative way artists within the field of the Ministry of LNV concerns and policy, and go perhaps (2004-2005) beyond national borders because Transmission, supported by the EC (DG Employment), developed collaborative ties with comparable organizations in some EU countries and is currently expanding its training methodology to the new member states of the EU. 3.2.5. Eunetarts is a network of art activities for young people in Europe. It has a rich experience in developing complex multilateral projects, combining various artistic disciplines, often with the support of the European Commission. Currently, Eunetart is developing project Access 2004 with the aim to have young people from the Netherlands and EU accession countries meet each other and explore each others cultures while learning about theirs and each others landscape, acquiring along the way inter-cultural competence through art projects. The suggested overall theme is the rhythm of the landscape the natural landscape; the man-made landscape; the functional landscape; the abused landscape, etc. The participating artists will further develop the theme and content of the work during a preparatory meeting. One artist from each access country will come to work with Dutch school children and in each accession country one EUnetART member will create a project in a school. In a grand finale, all participants will come together here during the Dutch presidency of the EU in 2004. The Ministry of LNV, if acting fast, could support this project with information, expertise, access to landscape and some additional resources. 3.2.6. Felix Meris, the European center of Arts and Sciences, is a much frequented place of national and international debates on a large spectrum of current issues. Several organizations and initiatives seek synergetic impact by working together under the cupola

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of this formidable 18th century building in the heart of Amsterdam that also organizes the Amsterdam-Maastricht Summer University. Felix Meritis could be in 2004 a suitable place of a series of public debate on the key issues, developed in collaboration with the Ministry of LNV. Each debate would be introduced by a 10 minutes live performance. All performances would be thematically focused and developed by the same creative team, probably using each time the same steady characters. The purpose of each small play would be to provoke the debate by presenting a metaphor as a starting point. Ultimately, six 10 minutes pieces could be put together in a full size theater production that could then be distributed nationally through the usual playhouse circuit in 2005/2006 season. 3.2.7. Paul Koek, Jannete van Steen, Lotte van de Berg, Sjoord Wagenaar and some other performing artists are successfully exploring theatrical potentials of unusual locations. It would be possible to explore the feasibility of a series of small scale, short performances to be set up in Naturalis, in some regional and local museums and old farms, in order to explore the cultural memory of farming and agriculture in the Netherlands. The same artists could probably be interested in addressing the current issues in a series of unexpected, unannounced mini performances in spaces where you dont expect to be confronted with theater in Albert Heijn supermarkets, for instance. In fact, as this is being written, a dramatic monologue on Zeeuwse meisje starts to tour AH supermarkets in Zeeland (NRC, 26 august 2003, p. 8). 3.2.8. While preparing the 4 years subsidy application for a new structure, het Veenstudio, musician and theater director Paul Koek is thinking of a platform where artists, scientists and policy officers could meet, research, debate and develop project. He envisages quick artistic responses to current issues, occurring in unexpected places and larger music theater productions, made for the theater venues. Koek (of farmers background, went to gardening school before registering at the Royal Conservatorium), dreams of a production La machine agricole as a large choreography of agricultural machines in a field, coming to a total standstill so that Millets 1908 piece with musicians and singers singing the text of old manuals for agro-machines could be performed. 3.2.9. Tryateer (Friesland), Hollandia/ZT and Productiehuis Brabant (both in Brabant), Grand Theater (Groningen) and Laagland (Limburg) are theater organizations with a clear determination to develop work linked to their regional context and thus deserve additional attention and more contacts with the experts of the Ministry of LNV, with an aim to develop in time some thematically relevant projects of broad regional impact. 3.2.10. The City and the province of Utrecht will jointly celebrate in 2013 the anniversary of the Peace of Utrecht and will stage every year in the meantime some larger manifestations, with the common topics peace, security and cooperation in Europe. Since in Utrecht residing theater companies and venues have a strong collaborative relation, it would be possible to conceive of a larger program alongside LNV topics. It would take place not only in the city but in rural areas of the province that possesses many protected natural habitats, rural routes, farms and castles.

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4. Conclusions 4.1. In a series of interviews with some 45 personalities from all aspects of the performing arts in the Netherlands, this research study ascertained that there exist among performing arts professionals a certain interest for the key issues of the LNV policy domain but that interest needs to be nurtured, developed and supplemented with additional information and know-how before it could lead to some productive artistic engagements. 4.2. In addition to information and sensitivization action, focused on this target group, the Ministry of LNV could envisage stimulating performing artists to develop specific projects, linked thematically to the key issues of the LNV policy. In that case the Ministry should collaborate with the performing arts professional organizations that develop new talent and new work as their core business and do have a network, resources and experience to initiate, plan, produce and distribute such new work, which makes them a most suitable partner for the Ministry of LNV. 4.3. Performing arts organizations that could become a worthy partner of the Ministry of LNV (theater companies, training programs, festivals, workshop houses, venues, networks ) are named in part 3, often with specific recommendation and addresses are indicated in the Appendices A and B. . 4.4. Priority should be given to projects that could initiate a debate, broaden the circle of interlocutors, challenge ossified views and attitudes and thus deploy artistic imagination for a democratic purpose: to advance the public interest and involvement in the policy domain of the Ministry of LNV and thus contribute to the policy development. Larger complex projects capable of generating publicity, achieving visibility and having a protracted, marked impact should be combined with smaller, experimental, developmental projects that could be clustered and combined in larger programmatic units. The second type of projects should be seen as a needed investment to arrive to the first type of projects. 4.5. The Ministry of LNV could use its network of information, training, research, production and distribution organizations to provide a focused input of information and know-how to the performing arts organizations and selected professionals. The same network should be mobilized to provide logistic support, various services, sponsorship and good will to the complex performing arts project, developed at the instigation of the Ministry of LNV. 4.6 In its efforts to extend artistic creation to a public debate, the Ministry should seek collaboration of cultural organization specialized in organizing debates, discussions, and polemics and connect them with the performing arts organization, in order to create debates inspired by theater acts and led in a vivid and involving manner, according to their own dramaturgy. The Ministry of LNV could use its own network to help identify

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the most interesting and qualified participants for those debates and reach suitable target groups for both the performance and the debate. 4.7. In its interaction with the performing arts organizations, the Ministry of LNV should not see itself as producer but as initiator, supporter, patron, ev. sponsor, but most importantly as an interface, connecting the world of arts with the structures and resources in its policy domain. 4.8. There are sufficient indications to assume that the performing arts projects the Ministry of LNV could initiate or facilitate in the Netherlands would quickly find a connection with similar activities undertaken elsewhere in Europe, thus leading to formidable collaborative projects that could expect to attract international co-financing or EU subsidies. In this way, both the artistic exploration and the debate would acquire a European character. 4.9. Given the exceptional strength and diversity of the theater for children in The Netherlands and its educational impact, the Ministry of LNV could confidently use this medium to strengthen the knowledge and curiosity of the youngsters for the key issues of the LNV. 4.10 After an internal discussion about this report and its implications, the Ministry of LNV could form a small team of its officers that would on the basis of the recommendations in this report carry out some further talks with performing arts professionals and organizations listed above and seek to initiate a few pilot project.

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Appendix A Lijst gesprekspartners Alida Neslo, Dasarts postgraduate training program in the performing arts. Mauritskade 56 020-5869636 dasarts@dasarts.nl 23 juni Anne van Otterloo, project consultant 0561-421187 avanotterloo@kunstenarsenco.nl 30 juni Annemie Vanackere, programmeur, Rotterdamse Schouwburg 010-4044111 28 juni Han Bakker , project consultant, ex Dogtroep, ex VARA manager 020 6249890 28 mei Ben Hurkmans, dir. Fonds voor de amateur- en podiumkunsten. 070-4169003 b.hurkmans@fapk.nl 12 juni Lucia van Heteren, theaterwetenschappster RUG 050-3639111 l.d.m.e.van.heteren@let.rug.nl 25 juni Sonja vd Valk, theaterdeskundige, TIN. 020-551 3349. Sonja@tin.nl. 23 juni Roel Twijnstra, art. leider Het Waterhuis, jeugdtheater 010-2409846 waterhuis@wxs.nl 25 juni Maaike v Gein, onderzoeker, Holland festival 020 530 7110 maaike@hollandfestival.nl 28 mei Karen Jonson , regisseur.0206252194 benjohnson@cistron.nl 28 mei Dasha Krizhanskaya, theaterwetensch. dasha.krizhanskaia@wanadoo.nl 28 mei Wim Meeuwissen, theater pedagoog, HVKU 030 2312 690 info@theater.hku.nl 29 mei Ide van Heiningen, bewegingstheater trainer, MAPA 020 247 8846 ide@mapa.nl 29 mei Ineke Austen, mime deskundige, MWS 020 693 9310 ineke.austen@felix.meritis.nl 29 mei Jan Stelma, producent, Grand theater Groningen 0503144644 grand@inn.nl 29 mei Henk Keizer, zak. leider, Dogtroep 020-6321139 info@dogtroep.nl 2 juli Eliane Attinger, directeur, Van Ostade theater.020 6712417 eliane@nest.nl 18 aug

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Jos Bours & Marlies Hautvast, Frans de Vette Stut theater Utrecht 030 231 11801, info@stut.nl 26 mei Linda Bouws, directeur Felix Meritis Linda.bauws@felix.meritis.nl 020 6262321 12 augustus Dennis Meyer, art. leider, De Berenkuil, jeugdtheater werkplaats 030 2518257 info@deberenkuil.nl ; meyerden@xs4all.nl 1 juli Rieks Swarte, regissseur en scenograaf 06-22528612 (023-5173900 Toneelschuur) rieks@toneelschuur.nl 30 juni Ad de Bont, toneelschrijver en regissuer, art. leider jeugdtheater groep Wederzijds 0206824854/6813747 info@wederzijds.nl 11 aug Johan Simons, regisseur, art. leider ZT/Hollandia 040-2333633 info@zthollandia.nl 2 juli Suzanne van Lohuizen, toneelschrijfster 023 5440233 of suzvloh@xs4all.nl 3 juli Karina Holla, theatermaker 020 6257101 of h.h.van.riemsdijk@hccnet.nl. 23 juni Hans de Boom, art. leider en Willi Smits, zak. leidster, Stella jeugdtheater Den Haag 070 3307070 info@stella.nl 3juli Krisztina de Chatel, choreograaf 020 6695755 info@dechatel.nl 19 aug Joop Mulder, directeur Oerol festival 0562-448448 info@oerol.nl 12 aug Mark Timmer, directeur, het Gasthuis werkplaats 020 6832304 info@theatergasthuis.nl 18 aug Sanne van Rijn, regisseur Govert Flinckstr. 135, 1072 EH Amsterdam 020 6643574. 30 juni Oscar van Woensel, toneelschrijver Dood Paard, 020 4214990 oscarvanwoensel@doodpaard.nl 23 juni Arjen Anker, art. leider Vis a Vis arjen.anker@visavis.nl. 026 3708526 14 aug Peter Eversman, docent theaterwetenschap UVA 020 525 2287 p.eversman@hum.uva.nl 22 aug

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Mark van Warmerdam, zak. leider, TG Orkater 020 6060600 publiciteit@orkater.nl 18 aug Wim van Stam, zak. leider Hans Hof Ensemble, 020-6276582 info@hanshof.nl 19 aug Henk Scholten, directeur, Schouwburg Utrecht 030-2324100 h.c.sholten@utrecht.nl 1 sept Khaldoem Elmecky, art. leider Cosmic Theater 020 6237234 k.elmecky@cosmictheater.nl 12 sept . Dave Schwab, regissuer MAP/Artisjok 020, 020 6121387 info@artisjok020.nl 15 aug Hans Man in t Veld. aArt. leider Tryater 0299 673490. 058 2882 335. Tryater 22 augustus Paul Koek, componist/regissuer, Het Veenstudio 06 20004250 paulkoek@veenstudio.nl 2 sept Piet Jan Dusee, art. leider Productie Huis Brabant, Den Bosch 073 6125579 info@productiehuis.nl 19 august Karolina Spaic, regisseur, St Zid 020-4888449 Tel pr 020-4473031 karolina@zidtheater.nl 2 sept Marijke Hoogenboom lector AHK, ex Dasarts mariho@xs4all.nl 2 sept *** Andere mogelijke gesprekpartners Carel Alphenaar, dramaturg, De balie 020 5535151, carel.alphenaar@balie.nl Frans Lommerse, directeur, Toneelschuur. 023 5173900 frans@toneelschuur.nl Nan van Houte, directeur, Nestehaters 020 6227860. Post@nestheaters.nl Liesbeth Coltof, art. leidster Huis ad Amstel 020 6229328 info@huisaandeamstel.nl Ellen Walraven, dramaturg, t Barre Land 030-2316142 barreland@xs4all.nl Willi Keesen, regisseur, Keesen & Co, Theaterbureau Profili, Arnhem 026-3512418 w.keesen@xs4all.nl Hotel Modern: Pauline Kalkar, Herman Helle en Arlene Hoornweg

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Zonnebloemstr. 60c, 3051 SX Rotterdam T/f 010-4185124. Helleenkalkar@zonnet.nl; arlene@yahoo.com.au Jeffrey Meulman, ex directeur Huis a/d Werf Utrecht, nu consultant www.cultuuradvies.nl. 06 14496294.

Appendix B Informatiebronnen Theater Instituut Nederland is a primary information resource for the theater life in the Netherlands. It contains in its Collection numerous theater program, texts, photos, videos and reviews of most professional productions made in the country. The production and performance data, going back to 1983, could be searched online in the data bank of TIN via www.tin.nl. The same website contains links to the web sites of all Dutch performing arts organizations: groups, festivals, training programs, workshop houses, networks, publications, venues etc. There are also many links to the performing arts organizations abroad. All productions of a past season are published by TIN each November in Nederlandse Theaterjaarboek that contains also all touring data, addresses of all performing arts organizations and several indexes.

Appendix C Dragan Klaic Dragan Klaic teaches Arts and Cultural Policy at the University of Leiden and serves as a Permanent Fellow of Felix Meritis Foundation in Amsterdam. Educated in dramaturgy in Belgrade and with a doctorate in theater history and dramatic criticism from Yale University, Klaic has been lecturing widely in Europe and America, took part in numerous conferences and symposia and worked as theater critic, dramaturg, festival and production advisor, editor, researcher and trainer. Before leaving Yugoslavia in 1991 he was Professor at the University of Arts in Belgrade and the founding Co-Editor of Euromaske, the European Theater Quarterly. From 1992 until summer 2001 he was Director of Theater Instituut Nederland in Amsterdam and from 1998 to 2003 Professor of Theater Studies at the University of Amsterdam. Currently, Klaic moderates the Reflection Group of the European Cultural Foundation and is involved in several research and development cultural projects in Europe. As President of the European Forum for Arts & Heritage (EFAH, Brussels) he is a staunch advocate of the cultural dimension of the European integration. Among his books are several works published in the former Yugoslavia as well as Terrorism and Modern Drama (co-edited with J. Orr, Edinburgh Univ. Press 1990, paperback 1992), The Plot of The Future: Utopia and Dystopia in Modern Drama (Michigan Univ. Press 1991), and Shifting Gears/ Changer de vitesse

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(co-edited with R. Engelander, TIN Amsterdam 1998). His articles and columns appeared in many periodicals in several languages and a memoir book Exercises in Exile will be published in Amsterdam by Cossee in March 2004. Klaic is a Contributing Editor of the Theater magazine (USA), board member of Praemium Erasmianum (Amsterdam) and Transeuropeennes (Paris), a trustee of the Russian Institute for Cultural Policy (Moscow) and member of the advisory boards of the Nexus Institute (Tilburg), the Fund for the Central & East European Book Project (Amsterdam) and of the Marcel Hicter European Diploma training program (Brussels). (Churchill laan 158-2, 1078 ER Amsterdam, 020 672 3610, balakla@xs4all.nl) D. Klaic 2003

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