SICA newsletter July 2011

On 8 July 2011, SICA and the Chinese project developer OCT entered into a long-term agreement to stimulate and finance cultural exchange between the Netherlands and China. The focus will be on visual arts and art in public spaces. OCT is market leader in the field of Chinese cultural tourism and is one of the first and leading Chinese companies that supports contemporary art in China. The first activity is the ‘Fake and Real’ exhibition of visual artist Edwin Zwakman and the Chinese artist Liu Jianhua. On 3 September 2011, Dutch State Secretary Halbe Zijlstra will open the exhibition in Shanghai. For more information about cultural exchange between the Netherlands and China, please contact Monique Knapen,  m [dot] knapen [at] sica [dot] nl or visit www.culturalexchange-cn.nl.

Starting June 2011, SICA is responsible for the Europe for Citizens' Point Netherlands / EPC, that will advise Dutch organisations about the EU programme Europe for Citizens. This EU programme supports projects in which civilians of different European countries collaborate and thus contribute to a common ownership of the European Union and promote active European citizenship. For the 2007 – 2013, the programme has a total budget of € 215 million.
Europe for Citizens is open to municipalities, provinces and civil society organizations. Actions within the programme focus on exchanges of civilians in town twinning projects and network exchanges between partner cities, projects about European theme’s and active citizenship and projects that focus on the active remembrance of the victims of Nazism and Stalinism. 
The first upcoming deadline for applications is on 1 September, for networks between partner cities. For more information about the Europe for Citizens programme and ECP the Netherlands, contact Ellen Adriaanssen or Robert Kieft on ecp [at] sica [dot] nl, or visit www.sica.nl/ecp (in Dutch).

In preparation for the bilateral year of 2013, SICA received two delegations from the Russian Ministry of Culture and directors of museums (in April) and from performing arts institutes (in June). The following people joined the second visit: Alexei Shalashov, Head of the Performing Arts Department of the Ministry of Culture; Olga Zhukova, co-ordinator for the Dutch-Russian year at the Ministry of Culture; Yuri Itin, Director of the Fjodor Volkov theatre in Yaroslavl and Vladimir Urin, Director of the Moscow Academic Music Theater K.S. Stanislavsky - Nemirovich-Danchenko. The guests visited various performing arts institutes, attended performances and visited the Dutch Ministries of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and Foreign Affairs (BZ). Visit the SICA site for more information or contact Inessa Kouteinikova on: i [dot] kouteinikova [at] sica [dot] nl

Every year, SICA analyses the registered activities in the Offshore (Buitengaats) database. In 2010, SICA registered almost 12,000 activities abroad. Dutch artists were especially active in Germany, the USA, the UK, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain, Japan, China and Austria.  Also Turkey, Brazil and Indonesia show a growing interest in Dutch artists. By using a number of infographics and a world map, we illustrate the relation between the international cultural traffic and specific developments. Please order via e-mail: post [at] sica [dot] nl.

With the publication (in Dutch) of Return Brussels - Heritage and Europe, Heritage Netherlands, SICA / CCP Netherlands and Dutch Monuments Europe clearly show the opportunities of the European Union, tailored to the heritage sector. The guide sketches the possibilities that ‘European thinking’ offers and explains relevant themes, such as the information society, sustainability, globalisation, accessibility and mobility. The publication is available via the webshop of Heritage Netherlands.

SICA’s Cultural Exchange platforms have gained a new look. The design by Mannschaft offers a clear overview of the huge amount of information of the cultural mappings, organisational index and events. Yvette Gieles - also responsible for the corporate SICA site - is now Web Manager for the platforms. We invite organisations that are active in one of these countries to register and share their activities, experiences and knowledge. Please visit www.culturalexchange.nl or contact y [dot] gieles [at] sica [dot] nl.

Art and international trade can reinforce each other. Often, trade missions are accompanied by an extensive cultural programme. Also, on a smaller scale, companies with international dealings like to work with Dutch cultural institutes. SICA organises a seminar to survey how cultural institutes and companies abroad can work together - an increasingly important question in the light of recent government budget cuts. The World Tour 2013 of the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest and ING Bank is a good example of such co-operation between artists and merchants.
With contributions from: Jan van Weijen, Head of the Press and Culture department, The Netherlands Embassy in London, Vincent Stokman Agentschap NL - NL Agency, Willemijn Maas CEO AVRO public broadcast company, Jan Meddens Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, Rutger Hamelinck ING and others.
The seminar will be moderated by Rob Vermaas, former representative at Representation of The Netherlands in the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. This is a seminar by invitation. For more information please contact Klaartje Bult, k [dot] bult [at] sica [dot] nl.

National UNESCO Commission and SICA will organise a seminar for policy makers, Dutch development organisations, experts in the field of military interventions, culture, education and media. The subject is the importance of culture, education and media when stimulating peace in conflict and post-conflict situations. Which role can UNESCO play here? The National UNESCO Commission investigated lessons learned in Afghanistan (download the report). How can we use this to determine a new strategy for rebuilding countries such as Syria or Libya? What must really be done differently in the future? What is the effect of military presence on a project? Does a conflict situation require a different approach than a post-conflict situation? More information about the programme of this seminar will be available shortly on www.sica.nl 

As an overture for NL-TR 2012 SICA, ING Bank and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (KCO) organised a meeting between Dutch and Turkish companies with cultural professionals during a seminar on art and business - prior to an Introductory concert of the KCO on 22 June of this year. Guest speakers were Görgün Taner, Art inspector on behalf of the municipality of Amsterdam and Director of the cultural institute IKSV in Turkey; Ben van de Vrie, General Manager of ING; Atilla Aytekin, CEO of Triodor Software International and Ipek Sur, Director of 7 Hills Foundation (film festival and visual arts projects). More about cultural co-operation with Turkey on www.culturalexchang-tr.nl.

On 1 June, Ton Rombouts, in daily life the mayor of ’s-Hertogenbosch, started as Committee Chairman of SICA. This brings the interim chairmanship of Ruben Maes to an end. Rombouts fulfils various additional functions, including the vice-chairmanship of NOC*NSF and he is a member of the Council of Commissioners of the Bank of Dutch Municipalities (Raad van Commissarissen van de Bank Nederlandse Gemeenten). 

As of 10 June, Dr. Inessa Kouteinikova  is appointed as project leader at SICA for the celebration of the cross-cultural year of Russia and the Netherlands in 2013.

SICA is leaving Felix Meritis on 1 October and moving to Haarlemmerweg 10f in Amsterdam. We will then rent a location (in the former office of the municipality of Amsterdam) at the Westergasfabriek grounds. Besides an attractive rent fee and pleasant office space, this move also offers possibilities for co-operation with organisations in the park and locations for public activities.

A notice board with news about international cultural co-operation, videos, photos and announcements of meetings can now also be found on the SICA facebook account. Take a look and become our friend on Facebook.