Youth Programmes and Education - continued

HF Lab

With three different tracks - HF Lab workshops, HF Lab programmers and the HF Lab production team - the Holland Festival arranges visits to performances and workshop series for school students and other young people.

HF Lab Workshops

For IMC Weekendschool, Hyperion Lyceum, Gerrit van der Veen College and Life Skills, the festival designed tailor-made programmes that included dance workshops in voguing, butoh, and ‘What Do You Wear?’, on identity and fashion.  Participants were also given behind-the-scenes access, meet & greets with Trajal Harrell and creative assignments linked to the festival programme.

A group of IMC Weekendschool students attended the opening and dance performance Cyber Subin by choreographer Pichet Klunchun as well as Trajal Harrell’s Caen Amour at the Stedelijk Museum, where they enjoyed a unique look behind the scenes, a guided tour by two Eye Openers and met Harrell.

Young people from the Life Skills after-school organisation took part in a three-day programme to familiarise themselves with the festival. They were given looks behind the scenes, attended a voguing workshop, visited the youth performance WAKKA (see below) and joined a Visit to Welcome to Asbestos Hall.

For 54 Hyperion Lyceum students, the festival created a two-day workshop programme; dance and theatre students from the Gerrit van der Veen College  attended a series of voguing and butoh workshops.

HF Lab Programmers & HF Lab x DEGASTEN: WAKKA

In collaboration with DEGASTEN, twelve HF Lab programmers delved into Trajal Harrell’s work and the theme of identity. Over ten sessions, they developed an own performance: WAKKA, a performance blending dance, theatre and fashion, about the path you’ve walked and how this shaped you as who you are now - and who you would like to become.

This performance did not go unnoticed. Presented as a full-fledged festival item, the tryout and two subsequent performances quickly sold out. VPRO filmed the creative process around WAKKA for one of the Holland Festival broadcasts and covered the performance online with Cesar Majorana and Daniël Kolf.

HF Lab Production Team

In the run-up to the festival, thirteen media students from the Mediacollege created content about HF Lab and the festival, interviewing the Holland Festival team, offering festival tips, following the HF Lab young people and sharing their thoughts about the festival.

HF x OBA: On-site

Twelve conservatory students (classical, pop, live electronics, jazz, early music) took a deep dive into the Holland Festival, exploring what the festival has to offer through masterclasses, festival team sessions, visits to performances (From Dust, Blind date: Trajal Harrell x Craig Taborn, Atlas Orchestra rehearsal, Ring of our Time, Extra Life) and meetings with artists. On-site is a brand-new collaborative programme with Conservatorium van Amsterdam (CvA).

HF x UvA: Writers Residency

Eight dramaturgy students from the University of Amsterdam wrote about their impressions of festival performances like From Dust, Ring of Our Time, Trilogia Cadela Força – Capítulo II: The Brotherhood, Otemba – Daring Women and Visits at Welcome to Asbestos Hall.

The residency began with a panel on digital technology in performing arts with Michel van der Aa, Len Maessen, Saskia de Haas and Domein voor Kunstkritiek. Topics of discussion included: how do you reflect on hybrid forms? What are the challenges? What can we learn from games criticism?

The students followed the festival from up close and offered their first reflections within 24 hours of seeing a performance, which they shared with each other for feedback. The final texts will also be published on the Holland Festival website.

JINC Flash Internship

Students from Koninklijke Visio, a school for visually impaired learners, spent a day exploring the world of the festival, meeting the Holland Festival team, touring the Muziekgebouw and programming their own “one-day festival.”

Eiwerk

Twenty participants from Eiwerk, a music centre for people with psychological vulnerabilities, attended The Anatomy of the Orchestra - Drone Refractions by Paraorchestra at the Concertgebouw. Inspired by this performance, Eiwerk is creating its own summer orchestra led by instructor Viktor Griffioen. 

Performance visits

Students from Geert Groote College, Barlaeus Gymnasium, ArtEZ Zwolle, Otto Falckenberg Schule, Toekomst Muziek, University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University visited Holland Festival performances.

Internships and Work Experience

There is room for young people in the Holland Festival organisation as well, in the various internship and work experience placements that we offer. This year, interns worked in departments such as development, production and technical, and, for the first time, in education.