Artists who rent their studio through the municipality of Den Bosch will no longer have the certainty that they will be allowed to stay there in the future. On Tuesday, the city council will discuss the new plan to distribute studio space more fairly, so that young artists can also have a workplace. 66-year-old artist Henriette Heidstra fears for her workplace.
The studio of painter Henriette Heidstra in Den Bosch looks like you would expect from an artist: messy, lots of paintings, brushes floating around, and paint splashes on the canvas. A palette with blobs of paint lies on Henriette’s hand. She is working on a colorful landscape on a large canvas. But the cheerful colors in the painting do not reflect how she feels.
“The municipality wants to check every five years whether I can still continue in my studio. After five years you may be allowed to stay for another five years if you do well, but after that you have to leave. They do this to promote flow, but in fact it simply amounts to deportation. Finally we are on the street. I have had a practice as a visual artist for 40 years. My studio has been located in the center of Den Bosch for twenty years. Where should I go?”
“You can’t really judge art”
Heidstra is emotional when she talks about the municipal plans. At 66, she is looking forward to her state pension, which will give her more financial space to paint undisturbed. Now she still has to work partly in care and she teaches Italian. Even though she regularly sells work, she cannot make a living from art alone.
She is also concerned about the assessment criteria on which it will be decided whether an artist can stay or not. The artist is assessed after five years of lease. If that goes well, you can rent for another five years, but after that it’s over. With tears in her eyes she explains how intense the plans are for her: “You can’t really judge art. That is very subjective and very difficult. It feels like censorship.”
“If I have to leave, I might have to choose another profession”
One of Henriette’s neighbors is the 31-year-old illustrator Adrien Stanziani. He is young but does not like the new ideas for the studios. “It is unbelievable that we as a profession are still not taken seriously and have to continually prove ourselves”
Stanziani does not immediately see the difference between young and old: “You should not want to compare young and old with each other. I understand that they also want to give the recent graduates a chance, but they have no certainty at all with these plans.” He doesn’t want to think about having to leave his studio again. “It’s my second home. I work here, it’s my head office, my archive, my storage. If I have to leave, I might have to find another profession.” I would take that very seriously.”
Henriette Heidstra also sees her future bleakly if the plans go ahead. “I fear for my studio space. I also fear for my living space in this city. I fear that I will have to emigrate. It is very high.”
On Monday afternoon, the Den Bosch artists presented a petition against the new plans to Mayor Mikkers and Alderman Van der Geld, which was signed by more than 1,100 people. On Tuesday evening, the municipal council in Den Bosch will debate the plans and make a decision.
