Hair Salon TheaterSeveral theaters and museums in the Netherlands are taking action today against the cultural sector, which is still closed due to the corona measures. About seventy Dutch theaters and concert halls are being converted for the Kapsalon Theater campaign into a hairdressing salon, massage studio or beauty salon where performances are also held.
Several mayors do not give permission for the protest and announce that they will enforce the corona rules. Theater Orpheus in Apeldoorn has canceled the activities this morning for that reason. The theater and the associated hair salon will remain open for people who work there in order to send ‘a signal’ to the government, according to the director of Orpheus, Mirjam Barendregt.
“There are no rules for nothing. However, in this specific case there is no question of opening the theater, but a playful protest to draw attention to the situation in which stages and artists find themselves. We are sincerely disappointed that this is not possible.”
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Artists
In Kapsalon Theater, an initiative of Diederik Ebbinge and Sanne Wallis de Vries, customers are entertained by artists such as Jochem Myjer, Claudia de Breij and Youp van ‘t Hek, while they are being cut or otherwise treated. This is because the hairdressers have been allowed to go back to work since the weekend, while the cultural sector remains closed. Participating theaters include the Parktheater in Eindhoven and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The Concertgebouw has meanwhile started with the Symphony no. 2 by Charles Ives, conducted by Susanna Mälkki. Mayor Femke Halsema has warned Het Concertgebouw and other participating cultural institutions that they can expect a visit from enforcers if they open the doors. The mayor of Nijmegen Hubert Bruls, also chairman of the security council of the 25 mayors who chair a security region, made the same appeal. Also Utrecht, The Hague and Eindhoven, among others, indicate that they will enforce where necessary.
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Museums
A one-off sports lesson or other initiative is provided in about twenty museums. For example, a hair salon is opening in the Van Gogh Museum and the Groninger Museum is organizing a graffiti workshop as a gym lesson for the brain. The Fries Museum will be converted into a yoga studio once, just like the Tot Zover funeral museum. In addition to yoga, the Limburgs Museum also offers Zumba.
The Museum Association, initiator of those actions, thinks it really makes no sense anymore that the museums still have to close while the shops are allowed to receive customers again. “In terms of movements, 450 museums bear no relation to the movements to a total of 85,000 physical stores in the Netherlands,” according to the museum club.
cry for help
State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture) understands the ‘cry for help’ from the cultural sector. “But the opening up of society has to go step by step,” she wrote on Twitter. “Culture is high on the agenda.”
After last Friday’s press conference, Uslu said he found it “disappointing” that the culture is not yet allowed to open.
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