Singer-songwriter Lucky Fonz III is a well-known Dutchman and recently a Zaankanter. “I’ve been living here for a year, but can you already call it that?”, he asks with a laugh. He is one of the artists who added luster to the opening of Het Motorblok, a cultural playground in Hellema incubator. Ripe and green mixed together because there are young musicians who are on stage for the first time. Meeting and inspiring each other, that’s what it’s all about. “You can simply fail here”, says initiator Thijs Prein.
Thijs is an actor and has worked together with business leader Christiaan Uytdehaage for more than a year, throughout the corona period, on the realization of Het Motorblok. It contains a cafe, a studio and a large theater hall. And the café is also a kind of community center for a cup of coffee, but also a craft beer from the local brewer Breugem, who also participates in the project. “The intention is that makers meet other makers – actors, writers, painters, musicians – here as well as the public who can also experience the creative process. It doesn’t all have to be perfect. You are allowed to make mistakes,” explains Thijs. from. And according to him, such a place, such a breeding ground is actually unique. “I’ve never seen it anywhere in the Netherlands.”
Pleasure
The culture alderman of Zaanstad Annette Baerveldt is also present at the opening of Het Motorblok. “It’s also literally a breeding ground to try out whether your art forms are a hit. And also to have fun with each other, because that’s what art is.” She also hopes that there will be a bond with the neighbourhood, the Kogerveldbuurt, which the municipality will redevelop with, among other things, a lot of new construction.
Lucky Fonz jokes, improvises, sings “I’m a loser”, and plays harmonica. “It makes me very happy. I think it’s a very inspiring place. You don’t have such a place in Amsterdam, where I used to live.”