On September 16th, the International New Town Institute will address the case of cultural programs in New Towns such as Almere. Professor Arnold Reijndorp will be among the lecturers. He will look into detailed aspects such as: How does a public emerge in a new city? How does an urban cultural program develop? What are the relationships between investments in cultural hardware (theatres, cinema and museum) and the cultural software (public)?
Almere is a New Town, a young city that has grown over the last thirty years to an impressive size of 180.000 inhabitants. As such a new city, Almere stands out from the other ‘historic’ cities that are participating in the SICA/EUNIC-program. While in other cities urban culture has evolved over centuries, in Almere the interaction between cultural institutions, supporting groups and the general public is still fresh and undergoing constant development. Because Almere is set to become the 5th largest city in the Netherlands, the city has decided to develop its cultural profile and quality according to this projected growth. The main questions at hand are related to similar ones in other cities that deal with topics related to innovation and creativity. But Almere also has very unique goals and problems; most of them are related to the relative youthfulness of the city and the fact that most of the inhabitants were not born in Almere, but have migrated there by choice.
Adri Duivesteijn, alderman of Almere, will handle more quantifiable questions such as: In what way does the expected growth and development of the city influence the cultural task at hand? What cultural opportunities does the excepted growth bring about?
Two lecturers from abroad will be invited to explore the relation between New Town-developments and culture. How do other New Towns deal with their cultural program and goals? What options, expectations and developments exist? How can culture be stimulated in the context of a New Town, if at all?
This event is free and will begin at 14:00 at the Schouwburg Almere, Esplanade 10, 1315 TA Almere, NL.
To register, please send an email to post@sica.nl
For more information, click here.
