‘We have spent too long focusing on Amsterdam’
Amstelveen – ‘We spent too long drawing with Amsterdam. Now we’re much more focused on making sure we complement what they offer.’ Amstelveen alderman Kunst & Herbert Raat writes this in his personal weblog, in which he will come up with various new cultural ones next year (2022).
rate writes Among other things, that Art & Culture is of great importance to a municipality such as Amstelveen. ‘If you look at where things are going well in the Western world, it is everywhere where the cultural sector is well developed. Who wants to invest in an area where culture is present?, the alderman wonders.
According to the alderman, culture contributes to the quality of life in the area. ‘Something that is very important, especially in these times’. Raat believes that Amstelveen must look beyond its borders to attract more creative and innovative developments to Amstelveen. ‘That is not important for art and culture, but also for the economy.’
Experts
Raat says that he previously consciously refers to Rubiah Balsem in order to prepare cultural agendas for 2020 and other results in collaboration with the field in 2019, the council uses the red ‘city as a stage’.
Raat reports that in recent years skilled and independent experts in the cultural field have been involved to help with Amstelveen’s cultural ambitions. Examples of this are the establishment of the Amstelveen Culture Advisory Council and the Visual Arts Advisory Committee, which provides solicited and unsolicited advice.
Depots open
According to the alderman, art and culture must be accessible to all Amstelveners in such an accessible manner. He announced new ones for 2022: ‘For next year we have great plans for making our own art collection available to everyone free of charge. The depots will also open and there will be an exhibition of the municipal art collection in Museum JAN.’
According to Raat, a resident survey in 2020 showed that residents have to participate in art and culture. ‘That is why we and the cultural institutions are more involved in thinking along. For example, we train young people in the development of murals, children in the development of friendly works of art and all residents in devising locations for a temporary art route next year. But also in the development of the Stadshart, where a lot will happen in the future, and the Oude Dorp and the Annakerk into a cultural hotspot.’