“We hope to keep the instruments”, that is what alderman Mark Tuit said during the council meeting in Hoogeveen on Thursday evening. He thus responds to a great wish of teachers who work at Scala.
The arts center has filed for bankruptcy. A curator has now been appointed who is responsible for money matters. The municipalities in Southwest Drenthe, in which Scala is active, will soon send a letter to the regulator to see whether the instruments can still be saved.
Whether the wish to keep the instruments can be complied with remains a guess. Teachers fear that the recorders and easels will end up for sale due to the bankruptcy. What is gone stays gone, the group thinks.
They hope for the opposite, so that the material remains available if there is a different interpretation of the extracurricular cultural offer. How this will be done is still under investigation.
“I am careful about making concrete promises, but I can confirm that we will send the letter with the request,” said Tuit. “Let there be no misunderstanding, we as a board also feel the urgency,” he continues. The situation, however, is complex. “It is the curator’s turn, unfortunately we have nothing to say about that.”
The municipalities of Westerveld, Meppel, Hoogeveen, De Wolden and Steenwijkerland (Overijssel) will close the money tap as of April. This means that Scala can no longer carry out the extracurricular music, art and culture activities.
It was already known that Scala would cease to exist in the summer, but now that the municipalities decide to stop the subsidy soon, the curtain will fall on Monday and a culture vacuum will arise. With the bankruptcy of Scala, the worst scenario comes true, say the teachers. “For current students and for future students.” The staff say they are ‘deeply moved and defeated’ by the speed with which the end is approaching.
This was also apparent from a speech by Gertjan Rutgers, who came to speak on behalf of the Scala teachers during the council meeting. “I have been active for the organization for almost 38 years. Emotions among the teachers have run high in the past week. The blow is even greater now that the bankruptcy is a fact.”
Most teachers who work at Scala mainly do so as self-employed persons. Now that the arts center is closing sooner, there is a gap. The teachers would have liked to see the school year continue until the summer. Then they would come up with their own future plan to continue the lessons in a different way. Since the season is already ending, that process is gaining momentum.
In the plan, the teachers are working as two collectives of freelancers to offer lessons in music, dance, theatre/musical, visual arts and media in the municipalities. One group focused on Hoogeveen and De Wolden, the other group focused on the other three municipalities. The same teachers, but no longer under the banner of Scala.
The five municipalities are commissioning research into the possibilities for offering the cultural offer after the summer. The results are expected in April or May. The teacher’s plan is one of the possibilities.