Mind the Gap! Student Cultures and Maastricht Life

Maastricht is often celebrated as a city with a prosperous cultural life with museums, theatres, cinemas and numerous festivals each year. In addition, the city’s international student body enriches cultural diversity. However, it seems inadequate to speak of one common culture of Maastricht. On the one hand there is a local culture with its own traditions and cultural circles, whereas on the other hand there is a widespread student culture. These two cultural bodies are not always successfully integrated. Thus, is it possible to assess the university’s relationship with Maastricht in general terms? Can we argue that the integration of students to Maastricht’s cultural life is hindered by rather practical problems such as a lack of information and the rather pricy activities? Is Maastricht a special case or can we draw comparisons to other ‘college towns’?

Speakers:
Nora Bieberstein (Moderator – Maastricht University)
Leo zum Vörde sive Vörding (Municipality of Maastricht)
Rein de Wilde (Maastricht University)
Ruta Norvaisaite (Maastricht University)

Cultural Capital and Institutional Change

The ambition to become European Capital of Culture raises the question how the city can develop its various kinds of cultural capital (in a Bourdieuan sense). In particular, attention needs to be paid to the institutional dimensions of cultural capital and the ways in which cultural and educational institutions selectively in- and exclude particular forms of knowledge, skills and attitudes. How do the various performing and visual arts institutions in Maastricht shape our very understanding of what constitutes artistic practice? To what extent do institutional credentials determine access to publicly funded and/or commercially viable cultural networks? What are the actual and latent relations between the various amateur theatre groups, the professional orchestras, small-scale production companies and institutions of arts education? In what ways could one rethink these relationships and, by doing so, democratize cultural production?

Speakers:
Janicke Kernland (Moderator – Studio Kernland, Maastricht, Netherlands)
Kate Oakley (City University London, United Kingdom)
Piet Menu (Het Huis van Bourgondië, Maastricht, Netherlands)

Destination Maastricht

As elsewhere, in Maastricht the relative decline of industrial labor has led to a search for new imaginaries that can guide urban development. From Maastricht as a shopping city and major tourist destination to Maastricht as an internationally-oriented university town, all of these new imaginaries are unthinkable without acknowledging the role of increased mobility. What is the role of mobility for culture in Maastricht? How does the city brand itself as a destination across the region and the world? In what ways do the internationalization of education and the temporary presence of students shape the very cultural texture of the city?

Speakers:
Peter Peters (Moderator – Hogeschool Zuyd, Maastricht, Netherlands)
Jeroen Boomgaard (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Anne Lorentzen (Aalborg University, Denmark)
Zora Jaurova (Košice 2013 European Capital of Culture, Slovakia)