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Vantyghem, Peter
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Rules and regulations ruin festivals in Flanders
The music festival season has begun in Flanders, with roughly 300 events attended by hundreds of thousands of visitors. But the regulations governing the festivities threaten to ruin them altogether, writes the daily De Standaard: "The whole socio-cultural phenomenon arose from a love of music on the part of a couple of amateur organisations in the late 1970s. And despite the growing attendance and professionalisation it is often still based on the same principle: festivals unite people. ... There can be no denying that in earlier days festival organisers - often because they were incredibly naive - took irresponsible security, health and environmental risks. Nevertheless there have been no major tragedies to speak of in the last 30 years. Sure, they improvised, but the mood was good. ... Nowadays large festivals have the wherewithal to hire people to make sure that the rules and regulations are followed, but small festivals don't. Small organisers often put together their festivals in their free time, and are now becoming no more than administrators or accountants. And that spoils all the fun."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Music, » Belgium
A book for all seven-year olds
In Belgium all seven-year olds receive a copy of a book of stories by Flemish authors from the Belgian ministry of culture. The measure is aimed at encouraging them to read. The daily De Standaard finds it a good idea but questions whether children of this age are at all interested in reading: "Children have many alternatives for how to spend their free time and many parents fail to see why an hour of reading should be healthier than an hour of playing games on the Internet. Critics and scientists, on the other hand, fear that Internet culture could damage our brain cells and lead to the demise of Western civilisation. This discussion is far from over. Leaving aside the question of whether books are the best way to develop langauge, morals and so on, there is another factor here: We live in an informed society and good reading skills are crucial in order to take active part in this society with all its rights and obligations."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » Belgium
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