Published in rekto:verso on 21 March 2020 Lees in het Nederlands ‘I have no income. Zero. Zilch’. This cry of distress from a singer-cabaret artist is by no means the only one among the 425 responses that have already reached the digital hotline of Belgian artists’ platform State of the Arts. Like many others, for…
Author: sota
A COVID-19 emergency fund for the cultural sector
Lees in het NederlandsLire en français Give priority to the fragile statutes of cultural freelancers. On Friday 13 March, the Belgian government announced a number of drastic measures to curb the further spread of the Coronavirus. An important part of social life was shut down. In addition to retirement homes, schools, universities, shops and cafes,…
How’s COVID-19 effecting you?
Monday, 16 March 2020 Dear State of the Artists How are you doing now that public life has taken a halt? Tens of thousands of artists and cultural workers are facing a sudden and dramatic loss of income, due to cancellations of performances, exhibitions and concerts. With State of the Arts we want to give the…
After the silence, wait for the storm
Dear State of the Artists, It’s not because you don’t hear us, that we’re not there. SOTA took a bit of time to listen around and reorganise. And we have some information and proposals to share! Welcome on our monthly Open Meeting this Monday.And on the many actions in March that need your voice! State of the…
Jan Jambon, thank you!
Dear all, This morning, about 30 artists attended the meeting of the Cultural Commission of the Flemish Parliament, where minister Jambon commented his most recent decisions. What we remember from what was said: The extra 600,000 euros he found to support a significant part of the projects that received a ‘very good’ evaluation (be aware:…
Let’s show some guts
Dear all, Last Tuesday more than 80 people from all corners of our #stateofthearts came together to kickstart 2020. It was wonderful to see how everybody reaffirmed their commitment to our cause. We welcomed a few fresh faces, which is great. SOTA has always been about bringing a great diversity of voices to the table….
Thank you for your commitment
Dear friends, cool lovers and activists, Tired, but also strengthened by the enormous solidarity that we feel, we look back on the events that have awakened our recent protest: 09/11/19: Minister-president and Minister of Culture Jan Jambon wants to save severely in culture. He will cut no less than 60% of the project subsidies in…
A warm, fair and solidary policy is possible
Read in French Dear friends, Our last action did not quite deliver what we expected: the Minister and all majority parties in the Culture Commission of the Flemish Parliament last week bluntly voted away all amendments to reverse the drastic cuts in the arts. Our delegation was treated to lengthy presentations on less urgent matters,…