MEDI (Music Economy Development Initiative)
the Music Economy Development Initiative (MEDI) featured on Double Dutch magazine!
The Music Economy Development Initiative (MEDI) is a global partnership driven by the Center for Music Ecosystems, Global Citizen, and international and local partners. Its mission is to expand music's potential to eradicate poverty and create a better future.
What MEDI does!
Research
The MEDI portal is a definitive source of country‑specific data and case studies demonstrating music's economic and social potential. It is free to access and aimed at accelerating understanding of how music can be a tool to address global poverty and foster economic development.
Partnerships
MEDI will facilitate programs, policies, and investments to support the development of music ecosystems in Africa and worldwide. These include Move Afrika, investments by governments, multilaterals, and the private sector in music infrastructure, and support for national copyright and infrastructure reform.
How do they do this?
The MEDI research portal will provide policymakers, governments, and private sector partners with research, economic data, case studies, and frameworks to map music's potential to fight extreme poverty. The data will provide the foundation to support local ecosystem development, including policy and copyright reform, infrastructure investment, skills training, education, and capacity development.
Why does this matter?
Music moves us, unites communities, and inspires hope.
Yet, while music’s value is shared worldwide, access to its economic benefits is not. Many countries lack the essential foundations for treating music as an economic good, including robust copyright regulation, access to education, skills development, and live and recorded music infrastructure. This reduces the potential value of music to accelerate global economic development and advocacy efforts to create and enforce copyright, infrastructure, and education policies needed to accelerate its value and realize its potential.
The World Bank has stated that we need 1.2 billion jobs to meet demographic demand, but only 420 million are set to be created. Our vision is simple: in villages, cities and countries, music fuels incomes, concerts create jobs, and studios support neighborhoods. A young person with a guitar, a voice, or a song idea can succeed as an entrepreneur. And all this activity is helping to address extreme poverty.
Everyone, everywhere, should have access to music's economic potential. MEDI’s mission—in partnership and collaboration with a broad coalition—is to ensure this happens.
Looking to the future!
With this research, they aim to centralize music as a powerful, accessible tool everywhere to fight extreme poverty. The goal is to support, with local experts who understand what’s best for their localities, stronger foundations for intellectual property regulation, music education, and investments in music infrastructure. The more we demonstrate that music is an economy, the more it will be treated as an economic good.
Please join them in this mission by donating?
Thank you!
How attending an improv theater show is a great (spoiler) excuse!
How an improv theater show is a great spoiler excuse! On Double Dutch magazine
Saturday, 30th of May, 20:00 - Theater improvisation group ‘De Buren van Marlies’
Waiting for the show and (Spoiler) Martijn!
It had been a while. Busy lives, etc, etc. But we were in for a treat. (Spoiler) Martijn’s new passion shone through in a big way. Proud of you, mate!
(Spoiler) Martijn as a drunk guest at a pensioneer party.
The whole group was amazing, I must say. I don’t have the guts to, that’s for bloody sure. Great scenes, great songs, and I must have taken a gazillion photo’s? … Yeah. But here’s some more with/featuring… (spoiler) Martijn:
The highlight, for me, was a scene in which 2 players had to portray a first date, but with masks on, and without speech. Guess who was one of those…
(Spoiler!) Martijn :)
Thanks for a great evening guys! And the group, obviously. Think I managed to cramp enough different Martijn spoilers for our upcoming 4th issue in there…?
Poetic Unity - giving a voice to the voiceless
Poetic Unity - giving a voice to the voiceless - featured on Double Dutch magazine!
Click on the image to go to their website!
ABOUT
Poetic Unity is a Black-led charity founded in 2015 that provides spaces for learning, expression and joy through poetry. Based in Brixton, Poetic Unity offers a service by the community, for the community, predominately supporting young people of Black and mixed-Black heritage, aged 10-30. Their work centres the needs and experiences of the young people they support, recognising poetry as a therapeutic tool that unites and heals communities, celebrates identity and challenges injustice
From Brixton to the world. Poetic Unity works locally and internationally, amplifying suppressed voices and creating safe spaces of connectivity. Through targeted education, employment, social justice, and mental health support, they are transforming spaces of harm to be spaces of healing and development.
WHAT THEY DO
GIVE A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS
In society young people are often silenced and ridiculed for their views. Poetic Unity believes its critical that young people have a voice, so they create safe and friendly environments for young people to express themselves and feel valued in the community.
LIVED EXPERIENCE TO UNLOCK POTENTIAL
The team comes with lived experience of being marginalised and uses this understanding to inform the way they work. Their approach makes mainstream education more engaging, helps to improve behaviour and equips young people with skills that will serve them throughout their lives.
IMPROVE MENTAL WELLBEING
Poetic Unity provides programmes to educate young people on mental health and support them with holistic methods such as writing poetry, to help them face their issues in a safe environment.
Click on the image to check out their different programs!
BOOK A POET
Are you looking for entertainment for your next conference, corporate event, film screening, charity event or work party? Book a poet handpicked by Poetic Unity who reflects the values Poetic Unity champions, delivering powerful performances tailored to the needs of your event that inspire and engage audiences. To find a poet that best suits your needs, click on this link. Please note you can watch poetry performance videos of each poet by clicking on the image of the poet you would like to book!
POETIC RISE
Poetic Unity and R.I.S.E received a New Conversations grant from the British Council, the High Commission of Canada in the UK, and Farnham Maltings. The grant supported us to collaborate on a project that saw 3 young poets from R.I.S.E travel to London, UK between May 27th – June 2nd 2019 and 3 young poets from Poetic Unity travel to Toronto, Canada between September 26th – October 4th 2019. The poets visited each others countries for one week and performed at each others events, delivered workshops to young people, and facilitated a knowledge exchange to learn from each other and create more impact in different communities.
It was an amazing exchange which showed just how similar the Brixton and Scarborough communities are even though they are worlds apart. This exchange connected with some incredible people and has helped create a lifelong connection with R.I.S.E which will continue to build on for years to come. Watch the videos below to see some of the highlights!
The Dutch artist Erwin Christiaan Adema
The Dutch Artist Erwin Christiaan Adema featured on Double Dutch: a literary, music and art magazine
My friend Frans called me last month, telling me that his brother from another mother, the artist Erwin Christiaan Adema, had died… Which, I guess, hit me harder than it’s supposed to? Close, personal friend of a friend and all? We, Erwin and I, had worked together on a bigger project this one time, but that was a young person’s life time ago… During my stoner… We never really… Very proud of said co-operation, don’t get me wrong, and I believe we had a creative good time, but still? … Yeah. Enniehoe, I’m sure I’ll be leaving out a lot of stuff I just never learned/heard about since we’d lost touch, but none the less (and after some rigorous googling) I’m going to try my darnest to do him and his art justice in this feature article:
Erwin and his piece ‘So the Bunny’: 170×60×60 cm, 2014, sculpture/mixed media
Erwin had a bachelor of the Arts in Painting (B.A.) from the Minerva Academie (1996-2000), around the time Frans and he met, continued by a Master of Fine Arts in Painting (M.F.A.) at the Frank More Institute (2000-2002). In 2002 and 2003 he worked as an artist’s assistent at the Atelier Van Lieshout, while also taking several courses in classical philosophy. During his time as an artist he worked several bill paying jobs, like in logistics and art education projects to increase social cohesion for the city of Rotterdam. Up until the time of his way to early death he was a volunteer exhibitions and education at the TEMTEM art centre.
One of Erwin’s last exhibitions! + Here’s a link to an older one.
The artist himself about his way of working/method/philosophy as stated on his website:
“My art can be divided into 3 catagories:
Artist
Tinkerer
Hermit
These categories are a result of wanting to understand the diversity of feelings, desires and convictions better. Placing all of those different energies in one of those 3 helps me make sense of them better. This understanding then makes it possible for me to form ideas more easily and canalize/express these into language images/image works, resulting in a diary of looking at life. Being human, and my existence as one.
My search for this need to understand my place in the world, led to these catagories, I guess you could say. Each category works together with the other two and together they form a overview/oeuvre through which I try to understand the world and answer the questions that arise during and outside of my creatieve process.”
‘Line Treu’, 30 × 40 cm, 2013, Two dimensional, marker/crayon/pencil. More drawings here.
The Artist
“The themes that arise from these initial ideas are being captured in concept sketches and drawings, which will evolve into objects, sculptures, collages, paintings etc. The artist gives an answer, makes his statement. He conveys, confronts, enjoys, gives and confuses. He parleys with the tinkerer and gets inspired by the hermit.”
‘What do you think when you walk away’, 2002, Sculpture, Paper. More text based work here.
The Tinkerer
“The tinkerer is the child in me that finds stuff out by searching. He creates instinctively, tries and repeats combinations, adds or detracts. He states his findings and orders his chaos. Tries to understand and allows creation. He’s dynamic and always just out of reach, sees possibilities and is always in motion. A gatherer of impressions and experiences, he reassesses, contemplates and shapes. Speaks to the hermit and parleys with the artist.”
‘Without explanation’, 65 × 110 × 10000 cm, 2004, Sculpture, Wood. More of his instillations here.
The Hermit
“The Hermit is lonely, melancholic and lost in thought. Worries. Lost in the twilight of momentum. Looking for universal laws. Doubts out of powerlessness and is insecure. He brings the difficulties within the created chaos to light. He has no hold, there is just the duality of conscious.
He asks: who am I?
Why, how, what?
He does all of this together with the Artist and Tinkerer.”
‘Which What Human’, 20 × 30 cm, Two dimensional, Collage. More of his collages here.
Personal favorite
Looking at his body of work my personal favorites have to be his ‘Eurekia’ series? Somehow, somewhere, this not quite bunny kinda shape/figure/character entered his work, and it simply refused to leave again? Again, in his own words:
“Eurekia is a reference to the artist’s or inner child’s creative world of ideas, questioning the world in all het many facets.
These characters are a cause to think about life, one’s position in it, the individual, the world and the child like questions of the why, how and what.
The paintings/drawings/sculptures tell their individual stories, but also communicate a shared visual story, creating a unique dynamic. A tale, a life story, a playing field for thought.”
‘Eurekia four seasons’, no further info available. More ‘Eurekia’ right here!
Conclusion
Like Frans, Erwin was an artist pur sang. I’ve always been a bit jealous about this seemingly… inevitable path this leads to in one’s life. Being able to sometimes be more… pragmatic in the choices we make to stay afloat does distract from the creative process that’s such a prominent guiding force in people like both of them. And in and of itself brings its own sets of head aches and issues, no doubt? I never did learn on what day Erwin died, exactly, or how, and to be honest I don’t really want to call Frans about those specifics? No need. He lived for his work, so here’s to that beautiful body! Very happy to be able, in this little way, to help preserve it.
‘Michael’- Tiny rant about a movie I flat out refuse to go and see
‘Michael’ - Rant about a movie I refuse to go and see featured on Double Dutch: a literary, music and art magazine
Children are self centered creatures by unfinished design. Children can be so, so cruel. Ask any bullied kid? Ask me. Children lie all the fucking time. Stone cold too, no matter the amount of evidence piled up against them? Many a parent with empty cookie jars can attest to this. And don’t even get me started on all the ‘playing dokter’ I know I did as a kid. I’m sure I was the only one. Ever. So when I hear Michael Jackson fans play the ‘innocent like a child - just a big kid’ card when wanting to explain his very intimate… friendships with pre-teen boys, I can’t help but get bit… twitchy.
You were an adult, Michael. A broken one, sure. The greatest entertainer probably ever, yes. Genius, most certainly. But, being broken is a reason, not an excuse? In case you might have wanted to make excuses during your life time. Which you never did, because in your obsessive ‘friendships’ with these children you were completely self centered. And heartbreakingly cruel. Although we might never know beyond doubt wether or not you ever got physical with them, the way you chose your favorite, drowned that unfortunate kid with obscene amounts of attention, gifts and the madness of your fame, only to take all of that away again just like that when they seem to reach a certain age is all the fucking emotional abuse I needed to learn about. Period. And I certainly don’t need to go and see your fucking ‘Greatest Hits’ flick if I want to learn much more about your personal life? Or your creative process? … No! Fuck that! … Am I TRULY the only one that feels The Family/production company releasing the statement that they couldn’t include scenes about the allegations BECAUSE of clauses in lawsuits filed by the very now man that made those allegations is one last giant fuck you to those guys??? Guess I am! Seeing that the movie is a monstrous success. Again, if I wanted to listen to your greatest hits I’d pull out the cd’s I have, after having playing the albums until they broke, after listening to the tapes until those broke, or the ‘Moonwalker’ movie and all the videoclips I must have seen a million times? Me, I don’t even have to be one or the other when it comes to you, Michael. I know full well the millions of devotees you still have will keep the family business soaring for at least a decade or 3. And it appears it’s either completely pure or ‘He the devil!’ when it comes to opinions about you. There is no middle ground. I grew up utterly dumb struck by your genius. Must have been, what, 10, 11? What I would have done to meet you…! Spend time with you. Imagine that coming true… I know your music and brilliant concerts by heart. A heart you broke, completely, so fuck you very much you broken, sad… human being. Cheers.
…Yeah.
The Children’s Poetry Archive - Listen to the world’s best children’s poetry read out loud
The Children’s Poetry Archive featured on Double Dutch: a literary, music and art magazine!
Click on the image to go to the website of this amazing initiative!
Inspiring Young Learners
“Poetry doesn't just live in books - it lives in the sounds that words make. When we read poems out loud we breathe life into them and we can picture them in our imagination. The Children’s Poetry Archive is a place where you can listen to poems read out loud. We have poems read by the poets who wrote them as well as poems which other people have recorded for us. We think everyone has a favourite poem, it’s just that they haven’t heard it out loud yet. We hope you find your favourite here.
Poetry was spoken out loud a long time before people started to write it down but we didn’t have any way to make recordings of it. This is why we can’t listen to Shakespeare or Wordsworth now, however much we might like to. The Children’s Poetry Archive has promised to record as many poets and poems as we can and to put those recordings here so you can explore them.”
“Our archives have lots of poetry for you to explore and discover. You can get started by looking for your favourite poem using the search bar below, or by having a look through our list of poets, collections and interviews.” Click on the image to start exploring!
Teach the world's best poetry
“Poetry is best enjoyed and taught by hearing it out loud and now that so many children are learning from home, we’ve brought together some resources to help you inspire your class about the importance of poetry and the fun to be had in exploring it.
We gathered resources here to help you teach poetry. There are activities for all key stages, built around Poetry Archive recordings and offering lively, engaging ways of working with poetry.
We've also included links to some of our favourite organisations who also provide support for teaching poetry so you should find resources to answer all your questions.”
Click on the image to go to the teaching page!
Support the Archive!
“Poetry read in the unique voice of the author is unlike anything else. Please share your love of poetry and help us continue to grow our collections and keeping them safe for the future. From a £1 donation to an annual membership, you can help us record more poets and put poetry into more schools for everyone to learn from and enjoy. We don't get public funding support, and we can only continue with your help. By becoming a member or making a donation, you are keeping the Archive's poetry available and shared online. Every £1 is valuable to us, so however you can help us, thank you. Your support will speak volumes!”
Click on the image to dig a little and support! Cheers :)
Going Dutchtube!, nr. 3 (Nivelan reads 5 Dutch poems + their translations)
Going Dutchtube! nr. 3 Nivelan reading several poems in Dutch & English linked to Double Dutch magazine!
I’ve been scouring the internet for Dutch poetry, translated into English, to maybe showcase here for months and months now, and have been loving every second of it. That includes YouTube, obviously, and boys oh boys, there are some beauties out there! Plus, not unimportant, linking and then highlighting such a video here on Double Dutch magazine is A LOT easier copyright wise? So much so that we at Double Dutch magazine decided on a separate segment: Going Dutchtube!, for which we’ll pick one of those videos at a time and give ‘em some much deserved extra fondling. Doing this also enables us to include poets and translators we admire but who are notoriously hard to get in touch with, for example, or, again, whose poetry is a real pain in the butt to get the rights to. Win-win, eh? We sure think so. This time we’ll be linking to an older reading by the Dutch poet Nivelan (? link to his website has been dead for years) who’s translation of works by J.C. Bloem, Ingmar Heytze, Jean Pierre Rawie and himself more than deserves a second life right here:
Nivelan reads 'November' (1931) by JC Bloem, his own 'Koud Rijm' (2002), 'Solliciteren' (1993) by Ingmar Heytze, then his own 'Koude Thee' (1994) and 'Ritueel' (1989) by Jean Pierre Rawie. Full text (of the translations only) in the text under the video on Youtube!
Was publishing 54 books to tell the ‘Horus Heresy’ saga needed? - on Double Dutch magazine!
Was publishing 54 books to tell the ‘Horus’ Heresy’ saga needed? - on Double Dutch magazine!
For those of you who follow me and Double Dutch magazine a bit closer it’s no secret that I’m a huge fantasy/sci-fi fan. The Games Workshop black library range in particular tickles more than a few of my fancies? What must have started out as a risky experimental side hustle to sell more miniatures (a.k.a. expand the lore) has grown into a full on and seriously profitable business model. With, unsurprisingly, a lot of meh novels, but truth also be told, quite a couple of seriously engrossing ones! If you’re into dark sci-fi bolter porn that is, obviously. So, answering the question posted in the title of this feature from that perspective therefore is easy: yes. Me being one of those nerds who got fully caught up in it :)
As you can see in the image above it took me a little over… 2 years to read the entire series? I won't even begin to try and surmise. Fuck that. This is one of those occasions where being an online only magazine shows its advantages:
I sure love Arbitor Ian’s videos. They’re as short as possible without loosing heart and focus on what matters most for both of us: the personal stories that did very much help to shape the outcome of this galaxy spanning drama. Those smaller ‘episodes’ I’ll call ‘em were my favorite reads from the series by far. … Yeah. Couldn’t bring yourself to sit through the first 5 minutes of those 40, could you, eh? Lol. Here’s the gist:
You’re welcome. And, looking at it this way the answer’s probably no? Depends, doesn’t it? Spending 600 euro’s and 2 years is only a lot if fully lost is where one doesn’t want/need to be from time to time. Being fortunate enough to have the money and love to read. I am more prone than others to years of extensive side tracking perhaps, sure, but once a junkie, always a junkie, eh? At least I held on to my old fashioned Gen-X attention span, thank The Emperor. Which also helped when they released the ‘Siege of Terra’ follow-up series in the years since. And take a wild guess who just HAD to read those too..
My AOS Orc Army at one fully painted point :)
Is it the best thing I’ve ever read? No. But it doesn’t need to be. It’s escapism on the highest level. The best thing I’ve ever read must be
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”
Guest feature! Lucy Olsman interviews poet, writer, spoken-word artist, beatboxer and best friend Jonathan Sijl
Lucy Olsman interviews Jonathan Sijl about his poetry on Double dutch magazine!
Jonathan Sijl, born in Zwolle, the Netherlands, is a twenty-five year old poet, writer, spoken-word artist, beatboxer, and my best friend. We met in university six years ago, when we both began our bachelor studies in English Language and Culture in Groningen. It was the height of Covid, and most of our classes were online. But amidst the turmoil of curfews and forced isolation, we decided to begin a running group with a few others. This quickly became a wine-drinking group. Throughout the years, we’ve made many friends, and lost a good few too. But Jonathan and I always stuck together. And it is my pleasure to introduce him to you.
Hi Jonathan! Please describe yourself as a poet in three words, and explain them.
I had to think about this one! Initially, my answer was authentic, open, and honest, but I’m not sure if that covers it. “Up to interpretation” might be a better fit. I am a firm believer of the concept of ignoring the author when reading a text. I apply the same idea of “up to interpretation” to my own work. Whoever hears me read a poem aloud, whoever consumes my work, its meaning is up to their own interpretation.
Why would you say you’re a firm believer in ignoring the author?
During our masters we were taught both ways: to take into account the author of the work, and to forget about them. In my case, I enjoy hearing someone’s own interpretations. I can really appreciate it when someone connects to my work without knowing anything about my life.
Can you describe what went on in your mind when inspiration for this poem (The Sandwich and the Sidewalk) struck you? How did you come up with the idea of connecting the Christian God with a homeless person?
I occasionally chat with homeless people in the city (Groningen). There’s a few I recognize as well. This particular one I’ve talked to a lot over the past couple of years. It’s interesting how people tend to look over homeless people as part of a city. You have your benches, you have your parks, and your homeless people as part of the cityscape. But at one point, these people were also children that probably went to school, had a family, and they had a whole history that led them to this moment. Whereas my history led to this moment as well, where I buy this person a sandwich.
In a way, God, for believers of the Christian faith, also becomes an inherent part of their landscape, something invisible that is always there. In this sense, a link can be made between God and homeless people. It also reminded me of a plot point of the movie Rise of the Guardians, where you have all these mythological characters like Jack Frost, Santa Clause, the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny, etc. only exist as visible and tangible beings, as long as people believe in them. Their power comes from faith itself. If they were forgotten, they would become invisible. In retrospect, I think it's a similar idea between me and God. It's been a few years since I've last called myself a Christian, and my perspective on God changed a lot over the years. In the case of this poem, I enjoyed mixing up various perspectives, and ways that I've felt over the years.
What type of Christian were you?
An ashamed one. No, just kidding. I was a mix of evangelical/pentecostal. This is a type of modern Christian that believes in a very personal connection with God, and tries to see God as an all-loving being. They also believe in spiritual gifts from the holy spirit, like the power of healing through prayer, the power of prophecy, or speaking in tongues (the language of Angels, as I understood it).
Speaking in tongues?
This is the idea that you begin to speak in a certain way after the holy spirit has ‘touched’ you. It was one of the reasons I stayed on board with my faith for so long, as I volunteered in my church. After the services, people would get prayed for. The pastor would lay their hands on a person and pray, which could be quite intense. At times, these prayers would even result in the recipient of prayer 'collapsing in the holy spirit' which meant they would physically collapse after the Holy Spirit touched them. It would be my job to catch the person and lower them gently to the ground, as they seemed to truly be affected by an intensely spiritual experience.
What was the moment where you decided to step away from faith?
There was always a constant divide between teenage-me as a growing boy, and a boy who was trying to be a good Christian. Romantic feelings, and all that stuff, felt like it was a sin. Discussing it, and just about anything to do with it, already felt sinful to me, so I would avoid talking about it, or feeling it at all. My family has always been a small, tight-knit group, consisting of my mum, my brother, and me, after my dad passed away when I was five. We would firmly believe in having a strong foundation together through our faith, and I felt that anything that deviated from that could potentially destabilise the bond of our family as a whole.
I reached a point in my first year of my studies, when I realised I tried too hard, for too long, to combine what I believed in my faith, and what I learned outside of it. There were a lot of factors involved that I haven't mentioned yet, but it nonetheless led to my realization that I could no longer call myself a Christian.
The final stanza, to me, has an undertone of anger or revenge. What does it mean to you?
I didn’t feel angry writing it. It was more a sense of disappointment and pity. In this stanza, God is just another person that wants to be loved, that wants affection. You look at this figure that you’ve been dreading encountering for a long time, and it’s a massive anticlimax. All the stress and the struggling with faith were for nothing in the end, because God, here, is also just a guy.
The final few stanzas could be read in an angry way. When performing this poem as spoken-word, the lines
How did you fall so far?
Was your throne,
Your horse,
Your holiness
So high?
can be made to sound angry. But it’s good to remember that these words occur in a moment of tenderness, during a humbling experience. “He shook my hand, and I offered him a hug. /I held him for a moment, and I asked him...” It’s a moment of compassion. It can feel embarrassing for a lot of people to ask for help, or food. And this homeless man has to ask for it every day.
What message are you hoping to bring across to your readers?
In both life, and poetry: Try to stay open minded. Life is a lot more fun and interesting when you look at things from different perspectives. Listen to people and what they have to say. Ask questions. Oftentimes, the questions people ask say a lot more than answers.
The Forgotten Sisters Behind ‘Happy Birthday to You’
The forgotten sisters behind ‘Happy birthday to you’ article by Kellie B. Gormly all but copy-pasted for mine on Double Dutch magazine!
Thank you, Tim, and Goddesses rest your soul xxx
It’s mine, today :) 52… Because I’ve got an at home dinner and movie date with my love I’ll all but copy-paste a beautiful article by Kelly B. Gormly I found about the origins of the iconic ‘Happy Birthday to You’ tune today and return to my 50 euro bottle of Sake birthday gift. Cheers!
For the past century, people of all ages have sung a four-line jingle to mark their loved ones’ birthdays. But few know the names of the siblings behind this ubiquitous tune: Mildred Jane Hill, a renowned musician and songwriter, and Patty Smith Hill, a pioneer in early childhood education.
The surprisingly tangled history of “Happy Birthday to You”—described by Guinness World Records as the most frequently sung English-language song—begins in 1893, when the Hill sisters co-wrote and published a tune called “Good Morning to All.” Their goal, Patty later recalled, was to craft songs that expressed “those words and emotions and ideas fitted to the limited musical ability of a young child.”
Patty tested out the song, set to the same melody as “Happy Birthday,” on her kindergarten students in Louisville, Kentucky. The lyrics went like this: “Good morning to you / Good morning to you / Good morning, dear children / Good morning to all.”
How and when did these lines morph into “Happy Birthday”? Theories abound, but an element of the unknown persists. In Louisville, locals often trace the shift to the Little Loomhouse, a cabin that now houses a nonprofit fiber arts organization.
“The story goes that one or both of the sisters were at a birthday party at the summer cabin, and that’s where the lyrics were changed,” says Mick Sullivan, a curator at Louisville’s Frazier History Museum, which features a panel on the Hill sisters in its “Cool Kentucky” exhibition. “One of the points of the song was that you could just change it. Instead of ‘Good Morning to All,’ if it was Friday, they might say, ‘Good Friday to You.’”
Sullivan adds, “Children change lyrics all the time.” Consider, for instance, a popular parody of the birthday song: “Happy Birthday to you / You live in a zoo / You look like a monkey, / and you smell like one, too!”
A Louisville house where the Hill sisters lived in their youth Courtesy of the Happy Birthday Circle
“If a history of music in Kentucky were being written, a large portion should be devoted to the music of the Negro in our state,” Mildred wrote in a late 19th-century essay. “The old Negroes, who alone know this music, are fast dying out, and it is sad that some effort is not made to secure it before it is too late.”
Patty, meanwhile, was one of the most important education reformers in the United States, serving as the first president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children and a professor at Columbia University. She designed and marketed teaching tools called Patty Hill blocks, which kindergarteners used to build large play structures.
“What are you going to accomplish academically as a kindergartner?” Sullivan asks. The progressive philosophy “was about being with other kids and sharing that experience, [learning] cooperation and things that required multiple hands to do. That [approach] was really ahead of its time when you think about it.”
Mildred died in 1916 at age 56, long before her birthday composition’s meteoric rise to fame. Patty died in 1946 at age 78. The Hill sisters are buried near each other at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.
In the 1920s, variations of “Happy Birthday,” set to the tune of “Good Morning to All,” appeared in several songbooks, including a 1924 one edited by Robert H. Coleman. As the song gained traction, even appearing in movies and aBroadway musical, Mildred and Patty’s youngest sister, Jessica Mateer Hill, decided to push back against unregulated use of the tune. In 1935, Jessica authorized the Clayton F. Summy Company, which had published the original Song Stories for the Kindergarten, to release a new copyrighted arrangement of “Happy Birthday.”
Decades of copyright disputes and lawsuits followed, with Warner Chappell Music—the music publisher that inherited the claim—fighting to retain the rights to the lucrative song. In 2016, a judge approved a settlementthat officially put “Happy Birthday” in the public domain.
In Louisville, the Happy Birthday Circle has raised $100,000 of the $8.7 million needed to build a public tribute to the Hill sisters at Waterfront Park. The project’s target groundbreaking date is 2026. The planned site—also called the Happy Birthday Circle—would feature a pavilion, a memorial and a picnic grove. It would be located under the Big Four Bridge pedestrian walkway, which connects Louisville to Jeffersonville, Indiana.
More than one million people cross the bridge annually, making it “a really great place to memorialize the Hill sisters, who have never been claimed by Louisville as the authors of the ‘Happy Birthday’ song,” says Rightmyer, who currently chairs the Happy Birthday Circle’s capital campaign. “We ask people in Louisville, ‘Do you know who wrote the “Happy Birthday” song?’ Maybe nine out of ten of them don’t. It’s the most sung song in the world.”
Read the entire article here?
Our field trip to the Mauritshuis!
Our field trip to the Mauritshuis in March of 2026 as featured on Double Dutch magazine!
Where Sander, Jasper and Frans went to see Jericho by Anselm Kiefer for themselves last December, My love and I (Benne) went on a field trip of our own to the Mauritshuis in March of this year :) We got 2 exhibitions for the price of one! Here’s some highlights from both:
By:
Click on the image to go to the Frans Hals Museum!
By:
Click on the image to go to an exhibition about the life and work of Frans Hals in the Lakenhal Museum!
By:
Click on the image to go to an exhibition of him at the Rijksmuseum!
Click here for Vermeer’s most famous work and here please for a gorgeous little Rembrandt (both spoilers for our upcoming third issue)!
With pieces by but not limited to:
Is a:
Click on the image for an informative video about the Ba bird!
By:
Click on the image to go to Pablo’s Wiki page!
Could only be by:
Click on the image to go to a website dedicated to Da Vinci!
By:
Click on the image to learn a lot more about her!
By:
Click on the image for an exhibition of her work at the Tate Modern!
I did not ask for permission!
A filthy rich experience indeed, eh? We sure felt it was. Thanks my love, for enriching me. + Happy to share it! Cheers :)
R.I.P. Tim O’Connor, the American ‘hitch-hiking Poet’ (23-02-1952/19-02-2026)
R.I.P. Tim O’Connor, the American ‘Hitchhiking Poet’ (23-02-1952/19-02-2026) featured on Double Dutch magazine
Another in memoriam? … Yeah. I really, REALLY wish I didn’t have to. Last week I learned that one of the most colorful and friendly people that I got to know when first venturing out with my poetry, doing so locally and in my early 20s, had died. Tim O’Connor was his name. The self proclaimed ‘hitch-hiking poet’. According to the beautiful man himself he was an original Irish American Folksinger / Bluesman. Born in Chicago, grew up in Hollyweird. Son of Hollyweird royalty. Tim spent an eight year period of his life hitchhiking over 300,000 miles in 26 countries before ending up in my home town of Vlaardingen, The Netherlands (of all fucking places!) in 1999 after a solo crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean in his sail boat “Theanna”
She (Theanna) was a gift from his father the actor and according to Tim she was a friend that saved tim’s life. He vouched never to sell her, saying his father always dreamed of solo sailing oceans, but he was the one in the family crazy enough to actually do it. The first month of his stay in our little country he crashed at Erna Lohmann’s, a local he’d met in London on a train earlier. Erna describes him as we all got to know him: witty, creative and utterly stubborn. So much so he refused to learn Dutch and calling himself untouchable. That fiercly independant attitude no doubt has its origins in his youth. A big part of which he stayed at a correctional facility for troubled youngsters. A period in his life he would go on to write several books about. And eventhough Erna and he broke up, he stayed in Vlaardingen for the rest of his life, meeting his life partner soon after the split.
Tim the musician
Here’s another one:
Ok, ok, just 1 more!
O'Connor has three songs in the feature film "Dead Calm". A high seas chiller thriller, starring Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill and Billy Zane. He’d go on and perform to his hearts content. And then some? By the end he’d released no less than 7 cd’s and 3 DVD’s.
‘Run over by love’
11 original songs. Featuring the three songs from the movie "Dead Calm”
‘Drink or die’
“DRINK OR DIE” The Barstool Blues Night, In Delft April 3rd 2008. Tim O'Connor and Marcellino (electric lead guitar) 9 songs
Click here to visit Tim O’connor’s Youtube channel while you still can!
Tim the Writer
All-in-all Tim’s written 10 books about his youth and further mad adventures. He said his songs and stories go together like a hot dog and a bun.
Tim the memories
I used to work at a coffeeshop (the dutch kind, yeah) in Vlaardingen for 10 years (2006-2015). Tim was a customer off and on. Again, when sitting at my bar Tim was friendly and had a quiet demeaner about him, despite his signature hat and confident on-stage energy. We talked from time to time. Wouldn’t say we were friends, not that, but I liked him. A lot. Many, many other people did as well. I remember him at a jam session one time, at the venue ‘De Hommel’, where his performance easily attracted the most attention, no mather how high the volume during the rest of the evening. Looked like he hadn’t even tried… I guess that’s how I’ll remember him. Effordlesly talented and always kind. Rest in peace, Tim, please? You fucking deserve to!
The Brothers Lionheart (how judging a public reading contest for kids led to this trip down exquisitely horrifying memories)
The Brothers Lionheart by Astid Lindgren (and how judging a public reading contest for kids led to this trip down exquisitely horrifying memories) on Double Dutch magazine!
On the 11th of February of this year I had the absolute pleasure and honor to help judge a local public reading contest for kids in the Library of Dordrecht city, alongside fellow judges Wilma Verhoeven & Ilse van Donkelaar. It was part of the National public reading contest for kids and the winner will go on and compete in the regionals, so the pressure was certainly on! So, so many nervous little faces… It was our luck then, that we could agree on our favorite pretty quickly. His way of getting the story across appealed to us (tone, tempo, emotional delivery) and he managed to pull us right in. Congratulations, Abdullah! You read at half the tempo all the others did. That helped. A lot.
A special shout out tot the crew of the library for the exceptional care and love you put into organizing this event! ALMOST perfect :)
One of the criteria we had to judge was if the specific part of their favorite book the contestants chose to read was pivotal to the story or not. And to their credit, most of them had clearly taken their time to find a passage that fit said criteria. We felt for a dragon almost drowning, learned that Harry Potter was a natural on the broomstick and how a pre-teen influencer finally got the better of her bitchy rival for example. A divers bunch of plot points indeed. As the afternoon went on, though, I couldn’t help but starting to feel a bit… Like I… was missing something? The stakes had been high all around, check, sure, but…
Know what I mean?
… Yeah. You know what I mean.
This says a lot about me too, I know, and the kinds of stories I’ve been drawn to from a very early age. I have no knowledge about 99.999 % of children’s books storylines from the last 3 and a half decades whatsoever but feel safe in guessing the 11 excerpts we enjoyed in the library are a cross section of the above mentioned. And honestly, that makes me just the tiniest bit of sad. I know I’m very much sounding my age now, but maybe it’s a sign of the times. No? We were asked to choose 1 winner. The rest would collectively come in second. + Please no constructive criticism afterwards. Only praise. … Enfin. It got me sentimental too, and for a very specific reason at that!
I remember laying in our backyard garden, must have been no older than 9, 10 at the most, and my first ever out of body experience, right then and there, from getting sucked into a story so fully the world around me just… disappeared? Must have read ‘De Gebroeders Leeuwenhart’ (The Brothers Lionheart) by Astrid Lindgren at least a dozen times in those formative, highly susceptible years and it’s safe to say it is my favorite children’s book. If you haven’t read it, please do? And why, you ask?
Disease, death, tyranny, betrayal, and rebellion! This is the O.G. of fantasy for the very young. George R.R. Martin waited a very long time before he killed of one of his main characters, by comparison? And like with Martin, death is all around during the remainder of the story, with (spoiler warning:) the traitor Jossi, Hubert, Mattias, the tyrant Tengil, the dragon Katla and the two brothers themselves for a second time at the end. Again, it had me hooked from the first page onwards. This is not a tale for the faint of heart. It is written to teach about loss, grief, betrayal, but at the same time contrasts these expertly with platonic love, loyalty, sacrifice, hope, courage, and pacifism. An emotional journey I wish every child could and would undertake. Especially while young. In adulthood not everybody is going to end in second place. Books should be a safe space to get utterly devastated in. Do this to your own kids? Some experiences in childhood WILL define you, and this should be one of them. A true masterclass. Go and get it at your local bookstore, please? Cheers!
RECIT (a network of European literary translation centres offering residencies for translators and organizing events)
RECIT (offering residencies for translators across Europe) featured on Double Dutch: a literary, music and art magazine
RECIT is a network of European literary translation centres offering residencies for translators and organizing events bringing together writers, translators & audiences.
Their network currently links 18 organizations across 16 countries in Europe. Members comprise of translation residencies providing opportunities for literary translators to live and work on a translation project, professional development programs and events with audiences.
HISTORY
Initially established as a European network of Colleges of literary translators in the beginning of the 1990s, RECIT evolves into European Network of Literary Translator Centers and appears as such for the first time in an international event in September-October 2000 at the First European meetings of literary translators in Sarajevo.
With focus on strengthening the network of translators, RECIT facilitates residence programs for literary translators in Europe which had affirmed as a vital necessity in today’s cultural world.
Click on the image for a list of all the residencies!
Member benefits
Connect with peers and become part of a European community of translation residencies;
Learn from experienced managers and programmers, and share your knowledge;
Get access to information and contacts in the countries of the network;
Visit different members’ residencies during the annual General Assembly;
Get information on funding and other opportunities;
Promote your centre Europe-wide via the network website and members’ channels;
Participate in discussion groups on specific topics (such as translation trainings or organizing digital events) with other members;
Raise the visibility and reputation of your centre.
Click on the image for their Current opportunities!
Membership requirements and conditions
Present and future members of RECIT should be in a position to offer literary translators the possibility of a creative residency under good conditions of residence, work and meetings with other translators and people from the literary field. These centres should also offer, within the limits of their means and their environment, a public program of meetings around literary translation and/or training courses for literary translators. It is recommendable that member-residencies maintain a library at their premises and/or ensure residents access to libraries.
The eligibility of new members will be assessed by the General Assembly in accordance with all these criteria.
The annual membership fee is currently 250 euro per organization. Any adjustments of the size of the fee are decided upon by the General Assembly.
Members fee supports the work of the network, including promotion and management as well as the network’s contribution to the annual GA.
Want to get in touch as a translator looking to apply for a stay? Contact the recidency of your choosing! Cheers :)
In memoriam: the rich, creative life of Artist Jan de Winter(August 5th, 1939 – October 17th, 2022)
In memoriam: the rich, creative life of Artist Jan de Winter(August 5th, 1939 – October 17th, 2022) on Double Dutch: a literary, music and art magazine
Second things first:
Jan de Winter was a Dutch sculptor, glazier and painter. De Winter was born in Vlaardingen where he lived his whole life. The story goes that during his birth a marching band could be heard playing outside. This might have had something to do with him being born on the same day as Princess Irene, but since there’s almost nobody alive left to tell me no, I say they were there especially for him? In his younger years he worked as a glazier at a company in Schiedam (gebroeders Henderickx), attending evening courses at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam until 1962. He later said he’d learned more working as a glazier than during his whole time the art academy.
De Winter is best known for his leaded windows, paintings and being an abstract sculptor. He was an avid violin player as well. In this article someone’s telling how you could often hear him playing his favorite classical pieces when you walked past their (wife Joke, two sons Frans and Martin and his) house in de Landstraat. Many of his artworks are/were visible in the public domain. One of his best-known works is leaded window 'Vuur, water en energie' (translated: Fire, water and energy).
“Vuur, water en energie”
The ornament was designed in 1970 for the Gemeentelijk Energie- en Waterbedrijf (GEWB) (translated: Municipal Energy and Water Company). After the demolition of the building a school director was able to save the artwork. It is since 2007 mounted above the main entrance of the Groen van Prinstererlyceum. A selection of others:
· Vogelvlucht (1969), Fredrik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen
· Glas- en koperreliëf Vuur, Water en Energie (19??), Accentcollege Rotterdamseweg in Vlaardingen - moved in 2007
· Twee polen (1971), pond at the Frederik Hendriklaan in Vlaardingen
· Metaalreliëf Compositie (1974), Liesveldviaduct in Vlaardingen
· Metaalplastiek Doelman (1974), Meidoornstraat in Vlaardingen
· Mozaïek en twee glas-in-loodramen (1975), Christian school Kethel, Vlaardingseweg in Schiedam
· Dubbel Figuur (1984), Columbusstraat in Vlaardingen
· Vizier (1996), Vikingbank in Vlaardingen
· Glas-in-loodramen, Hospital in Ede
· Glaswand, Social services in Delft
· Pegasus, Vlaardingen
· Energie, garden museum Maassluis
· Naamloos uit 1963, simular to "Vogelvlucht" from 1969, but vertical and smaller, NLW Groep Venray
“Twee polen”
“Energie”
“Vogelvlucht”
Ancient mythology was an essential inspiration for a lot of his work. Visit his page on the RKD (Netherlands Institute For Art History) website for even more photo’s? de Winter died in his house in Vlaardingen on 17 October 2022, at the age of 83 years old.
A small piece, in glass, made for the grave of one Jaap Pietersen, titled: ‘Sun, sea, wind and water’
“Vermurail” 1972
During the memorial service his sisters and sons remembered him as always having been a creative and adventurous spirit. How he would perform puppet shows on winter evenings as a boy, to which he would invite his nieces, nephews and all the neighborhood kids. And that it had been his father who instilled in him his love for music, and for playing instruments.
“Jan was a creative brother, who was always busy painting, drawing, making mosaics and music. The sleeping room he shared with his brother Aad and Klaas looked like a true atelier,” his sister Gerda remembered. His wife and he had been extremely proud of their two sons for following in his footsteps; Martin de Winter as a violinist and Frans de Winter as an artist.
A temporary mural design by Mr. de Winter (1990s)
And first things second because
this ‘in memoriam’ is personal. Very. Frans de Winter and I have been friends for over 3 decades at this point, and it is an honor for me to be able to help showcase his father’s brilliant work to a broader, international audience in this little way. I’ll share some of those personal memories about Mr. Jan de Winter to tell you why I feel this way:
Mr. de Winter as a purist. One of the first performances I ever did was reciting my poetry to a piano piece by Chopin, played live by Frans, during an open mic session in restaurant ‘De Planken Op’. Must have been… 1997? I remember de Winter sr. was torn about that one. Secretly proud, I imagine, yes, but equally AND openly as appalled that we had dared to add to such a genius piece of music :)
Jan as a host: when I would come over to their house, to practice said performance, or later, to pick Frans up to go out or something, he and Joke would sit me down and pour me a big glass of red wine, and before I knew what was happening a second… He and Joke have always made me feel more than welcome there, if not a little drunk after my unavoidable third.
The artist as a dad: when Frans and I went on working vacation to Les Contes, a spiritual bread and breakfast my aunt and uncle ran in the French Pyrenees back in 2000, Mr. de Winter insisted he’d drive us to the international Bus stop in Rotterdam, from where we would take said bus to France… Truly a lovingly bumpy and to be completely honest pretty scary ride to remember!
And finally, his atelier. Full on mesmerizing. Filled to the brink with papers, drawings, art supplies, piles of different pieces of glass, giant art tools like a cutting table, ehm, soldering equipment, stacks of his lithographs, paintings, his violin, and all of this must have appeared like a complete chaos to most, but you could just… feel that everything was EXACTLY where he needed it to be…
So. Yeah. Thank you for these, Mr. de Winter. Jan de Winter. Rest in peace, please.
Black Bough Poetry Christmas-Winter 2026 Anthology (poetry submission opportunity!)
Black Bough Poetry Christmas-Winter 2026 Anthology (poetry submission opportunity!) featured on Double Dutch magazine
Following on from their six previous Christmas-winter editions, Black Bough Poetry will be publishing a new, seventh volume for Christmas 2026! The editorial team are Matthew M C Smith and new guest sub-editor, Paul Short.
They welcome poems on all cultural and folk traditions around this time of year and everything to do with the season (Diwali, solstice, Hannukah, Mari Lwyd, Christmas, your childhood, memories, etc.).
The submission period when they will accept your work is Wed 28th January to Sunday 1st Feb 2026. Poems before or after this date won't be read.
The team is looking for imagistic, suggestive poems, following the idea of 'less is more'. They publish vivid poems that avoid cliché and have subtlety. They rarely publish rhyming poetry.
Usual submission guidelines:
a) Poets are invited to submit three short poems, max 120 words., each These must be previously unpublished. No cribbing, plagiarism or use of AI. On the naughty list, ten year ban.
If you have bought their 2025 Christmas anthology, you can submit up to five poems. Please attach a photo of your book and you can submit up to five.
b) Please send poems in Garamond font, size 11, single spaced, within the submission window. They welcome bilingual versions of the same poem (eg. Welsh and English versions).
c) They prefer punctuated poems. Please embolden your titles.
d) Please send a short biography (up to 25 words) in the body of the e-mail and your poems by Microsoft Word attachment. Social media handles too.
e) Special e-mail for this edition is winterbough@outlook.com This e-mail only.
Read the rest of the guidelines right here! I (Benne) have submitted 2 poems. Join me, with up to 3? Cheers!
Twitter: @blackboughpoems Fb: BlackBoughpoetry Instagram/ Threads: Black Bough poetry
Also on Bluesky
Puzzling Poetry (This addictive game helps players to understand poetry by solving puzzles)
‘Puzzling Poetry’ a poetry game by Louter Studios and the poet Lucas Hirsch featured on Double Dutch magazine
For the poet and the reader, a poem is a kind of word puzzle. In the ‘Puzzling Poetry’ game, verses by a range of Dutch and Flemish poets make up the playing field. Players have to find the locations of words, the connections between them, and their rhythm. As they do, in a way, they rewrite the poems!
Studio Louter developed the app with the Dutch poet Lucas Hirsch in response to an open call for literary games issued by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, the Creative Industries Fund NL and Gamefonds. “Playing with words unexpectedly leads to a new, focused way of reading,” the selection committee said.
Suzanne Meeuwissen, senior policy officer at the Foundation for Literature, stated that the collaboration between games and literature is ‘relevant and exciting,’ especially given the technological developments. “The literature takes place outside of the book through technology, and focuses on a new and younger (reading) audience. It also enriches the process for game developers, as the literary scenarios and storylines add a new and often times surprising layer to a game.”
‘Puzzling Poetry’ is a game in which the player is presented with deconstructed poems by Lucas Hirsch and other poets, with as end-goal the recreation of these poems. Next to the meaning of the words, the challenge is to pick up on rhythm and graphical relativity. “Playing with words leads to an unexpected, concentrated way of reading,” according to the selection committee.
In October of 2016, Puzzling Poetry got presented at Buchmesse in Frankfurt. Versions are now available in several languages, and Studio Louter has developed a special edition for children, ‘Puzzling Poetry Treasure Chest’. Download ‘Puzzling Poetry’ here: iOS
Credits!
Content Design
Studio Louter & Lucas Hirsch
Interactive Media Production
Studio Louter
With the support of
Nederlands Letterenfonds, Stimuleringsfonds voor de Creatieve Industrie, Gamefonds, Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap, Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, De Arbeiderspers, De Bezige Bij, Polis
Poems
Lucas Hirsch
Miriam Van hee
Ruth Lasters
Remco Campert
About ‘BACKLIT’ by Liz Robbins (and how this 2025 RATTLE Chapbook Prize Winner bruised a poetry hang-up of mine)
article about the chapbook ‘Backlit’ by Liz Robbins on Double Dutch magazine
Rattle organizes the largest and most prestigious annual chapbook poetry prize there is. Period. By quite a margin, too. Submitting a manuscript comes with a yearlong subscription to the printed zine, 4 issues in total, and included with every issue is one of those winning chapbooks. 10000+ people get a copy this way. … Yeah. Madness. I’ve entered my manuscript this and last year (duh!) and as a result read through a couple of those winners. Out of genuine interest, sure, but just as much on the lookout for what made these volumes stand out to the judges to be honest? How these poets sold themselves, and their work… So, when I read that this specific poet, Liz Robbins, interviewed several sex-workers and had based the entire volume on their stories, I felt… cheated? This wasn’t fair… You can’t do that. Not unless you’ve had to… stay afloat that way yourself. Bet SHE hadn’t. You write about what YOU know. There’s unwritten rules and all? Couldn’t possibly really feel… personal, this. I started reading the first poem and must admit I gloated. Tricks. All tricks. Too… explanatory, while not really piercing skin. Got pleasantly high on being right, then wanted to perpetuate said high so I kept on reading:
Okay. … Damn. That one did hit home. Hard. How’s there no choice at all. Not really? Family, however dysfunctional, or even destructive, is everything. And we CAN trust our family to be the first to screw us up! Surely, though, they couldn’t continue to all be this good, could they? Spoiler: they don’t. Not ALL of them, but, a bit like within a family, there’s usually a dim one, or the opposite brainiac, an over-bearing presence or one that doesn’t care enough, and when you’re particularly unlucky someone that loves any excuse to ‘toughen you up’? Usually this occurs under the guise of love, but sometimes not even that:
I believe these 2 poems alone justify the entire chapbook, and it winning said poetry prize. It’s hyper personal, and yet equally as… detached. And maybe, just in this case, the poet not going through what she writes about herself actually helped with getting to this level, I mean, the things we do for love and to be able to look at ourselves in the mirror, eh? It’s dirty work, for sure, but work that needs doing none the less. Better learn to survive! Better learn to hide those weak-spots as good as you can. As you must. For allowing yourself to come across as vulnerable is dangerous, as so many of these girls (and boys) know all too well. Hence the sarcasm. All they can do is hope that they can keep accessing those hidden parts of themselves when they’re alone. To be able to remind themselves these feelings exist at all…
I’m still of the opinion that the best poetry comes from personal experience, and like I said, there are quite a few poems in there that do miss the mark, for me at least. Those written in 3rd person, for example, miss the heart wrenching detachment I was talking about earlier, making the exceptions to this formerly unshakable rule of mine even more incredible. And me fucking jealous. Couldn’t write them like that myself if I dared to... And I don’t. For more about the other two winners of the 2025 Rattle chapbook competition, follow this link? Cheers.
Artists take risks for all of us. ARC (Artists at Risk Connection) supports at-risk artists and defends artistic freedom!
ARC (Artists at Risk Connection) supports at-risk artists and defends artistic freedom! As a new feature & linked on Double Dutch magazine
Their Mission
ARC works to protect artists and cultural workers at risk due to their creative expression, often tied to their identities or roles within their communities. By providing vital resources and support, ARC helps them navigate challenges such as persecution, censorship, harassment, threats, and violence from both state and non-state actors—whether targeted for their art or their broader impact on cultural, social, and political issues.
Founded in 2017, ARC was incubated under PEN America, the U.S. chapter of PEN International. ARC is now an independent organization, officially registered in France as an association under French law (Loi 1901) since October 2024, and as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the US since early 2025.
Who they support
Artists
ARC’s definition of “artist” is inclusive, encompassing those who work across any creative field or medium, including visual artists, musicians, cartoonists, filmmakers, performance artists, dancers, writers, and more.
Cultural workers
“Cultural workers” include those who work within the cultural or creative sectors, contributing to the production, management, or promotion of culture and the arts.
Safety guide for artists
(The Safety Guide for Artists explores topics such as defining and understanding risk, preparing for threats, fortifying digital safety, documenting persecution, finding assistance, and recovering from trauma.)
