Talks

What role can private funds play in making the sector more sustainable? 

Under the title Kunst voor Klimaat (Art for Climate), theatre company Silbersee organises a series of talks for and with professionals on burning questions in the climate debate and the road to a sustainable theatre sector. Each time, they take the conversation to a different venue, this time they land at Dutch National Opera & Ballet during the Opera Forward Festival.

In this fifth edition of Kunst Voor Klimaat, moderator Teun van de Keuken will debate with key players in the sector on the question: What role can private funds play in making the sector more sustainable? We will zoom in on the money flows of private funds and their sustainability. How do private funds ensure that their asset managers invest or invest green and socially?

Private funds that take social and sustainable subjects into account can be real game-changers. What does this mean for framing project applications to funds? What are the requirements? And what do these requirements mean for performing arts creators? Do creators boycott a private cultural fund if the fund does not invest green and socially? What kind of (just) art can you then make or not make? These questions are at the heart of the debate.

• Location: Foyer
• Date & time: Thursday 14 March (16:30 - 18:00)

Guests
 

Henk Christophersen – Director/manager Fonds 21
Dennis van der Putten – Chief Sustainability Officer Cardano
Joran de Boer – Business Manager Peergroup

Moderator Teun van de Keuken

Registration for this debate is available through Silbersee’s website; please apply using the button below.

What is right and wrong money when it comes to funding art?

The theme of this year's Opera Forward Festival is ‘(ir)responsibility.’ This is clearly reflected in the opera productions presented, such as The Shell Trial and The Four Note Opera, but also in the various student projects, this topic recurs again and again. In addition, the theme encourages us to look at our own responsibility as well; that of the institution, the art form and the creators.

The Talk: Ethics in art sponsorship discusses the financial side of the arts. Due to declining government subsidies in recent decades, makers and institutions have to look for other ways of funding. Private funds, patrons and business are alternatives, but as a cultural institution, can you just take money from anyone? Is there such a thing as right and wrong money in financing art and culture? Does an institution have to make choices in this and on what basis? Does the end justify the means? 

National Opera & Ballet is also being challenged by various activist groups about the sponsor ING, which contributes to the National Ballet's Junior Company. Culture funding and the questions involved are discussed in the Talk: Ethics in art sponsorship led by moderator Mirthe Frese. At the end of the talk, the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions.

• Location: Foyer
• Date & time: Saturday 16 March (14:00 - 15:00)
• Language: Dutch

Guests
 

Nicky van Dijk – Milieudefensie, Lead researcher climate case ING
Anoek Nuyens – Theatre maker (renowned for productions such as De Zaak Shell)
Stijn Schoonderwoerd – General Director Dutch National Opera & Ballet
Olav Velthuis – Professor Sociology at the University of Amsterdam

Moderator Mirthe Frese

This Talk is free to attend, there is no need to reserve a seat. Please note that there is a maximum capacity of 250 people for this location above which we cannot accept any more visitors.

On the afternoon before The Shell Trial’s world premiere, the creators will talk about the process of creating this extraordinary new opera. This musical-theatrical work was written by librettist Roxie Perkins and composer Ellen Reid and based on Anoek Nuyens and Rebekka de Wit’s play, De Zaak Shell. Gable Roelofsen and Romy Roelofsen (Het Geluid Maastricht), as well as conductor Manoj Kamps, came up with the idea to turn the original piece into an opera. They, together with their team, were also responsible for bringing the new opera to life on stage. It was a unique process on many levels, not least due to the Green Deal’s baptism by fire. The Shell Trial served as the pilot project for this newly designed guideline, which aimed to reduce the environmental impact of productions. Julie Fuchs, the sustainability coordinator, and Sophie de Lint, the director of The National Opera, join this talk to discuss this new way of working.

• Location: Foyer
• Date & time: Saturday 16 March (17:00 - 18:00)
• Language: English

Guests
 

Julie Fuchs – Sustainability coordinator Dutch National Opera & Ballet
Sophie de Lint – Director Dutch National Opera
Roxie Perkins – Librettist
Ellen Reid – Composer
Gable Roelofsen – Director Het Geluid Maastricht
Romy Roelofsen – Director Het Geluid Maastricht

Moderator Nicole Terborg

This Talk is free to attend, there is no need to reserve a seat. Please note that there is a maximum capacity of 250 people for this location above which we cannot accept any more visitors.

Following each performance of The Shell Trial, two guests join to share their first thoughts. The opera includes many diverse perspectives on the climate debate. In the post-performance interviews, the guests remark on the performance’s content from their own perspectives and discuss their own part in the climate problem.

• Location: Entresol
• Dates: On 16, 18, 19 & 21 March, following the performances of The Shell Trial

Guests

• 16 March: Activism in the courtroom
  Marjan Minnesma (Director Urgenda Foundation) & Rosanne Rootert (Campaigner, Fossil Free Advertising)
  Language: English
   
• 18 March: The colonial side of the climate crisis
  Fitria Jelyta (Freelance Journalist, a.o. on the Dutch colonial past) & Stephanie Welvaart (Author ‘The Birth of a Corporate Colonial Player’)
  Language: Dutch
   
• 19 March: Searching for meaning in the climate crisis
  Arjan Keizer (Global Head of Industrial & FMCG Shell, in a personal capacity) & Evanne Nowak (researcher, writer and programme maker on emotions and life issues in the midst of ecological disturbance)
  Language: Dutch
   
• 21 March: Climate crisis as a crisis of imagination
  Anoek Nuyens & Rebekka de Wit (Theatre makers, a.o. of De zaak Shell)
  Language: Dutch

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