The municipality of Hoogeveen wants to invest more than one million euros in the renovation of Het Podium. A larger room should ensure that 400 visitors can be accommodated in the building. With this, the board hopes to become ‘the pop stage of Drenthe’.
It was previously known that Het Podium received 350,000 euros from the Regional Cities Fund for the renovation. The total costs amount to approximately 1.4 million euros.
The college also proposes to increase the annual subsidy. That is now 150,000 euros per year, but an additional 90,000 euros may be added. The organization hopes to be able to further professionalize with that amount. The investment of one million euros and the increase in the subsidy still have to pass the council for approval.
With a larger hall, the board hopes to attract even more bands and artists to Hoogeveen. “In Drenthe we don’t have many large concert halls where well-known bands can go. It therefore sometimes happens that they skip our province. We want to fill that gap,” director-director Pieter-Bas Rebers said last year.
Around 400 visitors is often the minimum number for which artists want to play, Rebers said earlier. The organization hopes to be able to receive more visitors with the expansion of the hall. Programming costs have also increased. With more visitors, those costs can be better covered, the organization thinks.
Het Podium has been struggling with housing problems for some time and, according to the board, does not meet the requirements of a professional music venue. The layout of rooms must be different, equipment needs to be replaced and the interior may be renewed.
The Hoogeveen council also sees this. “By investing now in our Podium with a room for just under 400 visitors, we will become the pop stage between Zwolle and Groningen. This gives us the opportunity to raise the cultural offering to a higher level and to fulfill an important regional role.”
Rebers is pleased with the municipality’s intention. “We see our wishes and in particular the wishes of (international) artists and the public being fulfilled. Due to the proposed decision of the municipality, Het Podium can keep up with the level of a fully-fledged pop stage and Het Podium can further develop into the pop stage of Drenthe and beyond.” The intention is to renovate at the end of 2024.