Comments on: From STEIM’s Artistic Director: Why STEIM Matters, and Thanks

By: Thomas

Thomas — Wed, 28 May 2008 19:20:53 +0000

It is really disappointing seeing how many people really do believe that art shouldn’t need support from the government nor otherwise be publicly funded. Art is not entertainment and it is not “for profit” (well, maybe for the profit of society, but not in any monetary sense). I wish people had a better grasp of history and would be aware that the greatest explosions of art in society have often been when there was a massive influx of support from governments, public institutions or well-off private benefactors. Anyone heard of the Renaissance?

By: robin parry

robin parry — Wed, 28 May 2008 16:01:31 +0000

as per the last comment re the previous two, as a brit living and working in Los Angeles, its a Very common American comment, a ‘not understanding’ of the relationship between art and society and the difference between art and commerce, capitalism doesn’t supply money for anything hat doesn’t provide a profit, hence the current state of electronic music in america! and the ignorance it fosters.
seeing the possibility of one of the few )only?( independant music reasearch centers

By: Thijs Scheele

Thijs Scheele — Tue, 27 May 2008 17:06:33 +0000

Thank you for the attention of this case on your blog. STEIM is one of the most worthwhile places for new music and new media artists in Holland.
The simple comment of the last two readers surprise me. You’d have to know what STEIM is doing before making a comment like that.
Also the government should be thinking twice to kill off organizations like these. There are a few in Holland but STEIM is there the longest. Not only do they have more well known artist come over, they also put a lot of time and effort and thus money in giving new talent a chance to do their thing and evolve. That is not the kind of thing you can run solely based on your own budget. Funding is an important part.
The world renowed Nederlands Dance Theater couldn’t even survive without funding. And that goes for a lot of artists and companies all over the world. Throughout the ages artist have had their funding. Kings, noblemen, wealthy people with an interest in art. And these days it’s companies, governments and still wealthy people.
Some musical works would have never been heard without this.
I hope some people in ‘high’ places will come to their senses and realize stopping these initiatives will have an effect on more popular art as well in time. No more new cutting edge input of the underground art scene, no more development in the more popular arts. Learn you history.

By: Downpressor

Downpressor — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:15:01 +0000

Pretty much with the previous commenter, cant see why creative types should be fed off the government teat. I got no objection to this type of space, but think that its better for these things to be privately run.

By: John C

John C — Sun, 25 May 2008 15:47:05 +0000

If the money put into STEIM is better used there than for something else, why must government pay for it? Talk about true greed, thinking that others should pay for your leisures when it is not even valuable enough to pay for itself!

By: atarix

atarix — Sat, 24 May 2008 05:03:43 +0000

I saw Mr. Takuro years ago playing his show in Moscow (with his SMASH TV crew, including Dill and someone else who produced noises from a strange white box based on magnets….may be).
It was very advanced evening!

By: Create Digital Music » New Turntablism Concepts: Touchscreen Decks, Crossfader Samplers, Needles

Fri, 23 May 2008 16:32:11 +0000

[...] the spectrum, when DJs experiment with keeping the hardware but creating new techniques. dj sniff, now artistic director at STEIM, has a really unique style of DJing. I imagine some will love it, and it’ll drive other [...]