As published in The Times Union Newspaper on October 12th

By Don Rittner

During the week of September 8th (my birthday) and the 13th, we were invited to New York City by the Dutch Government to participate in the Dutch Harbor   Day Celebration.  This was their contribution to the Henry Hudson 400th anniversary celebration better known as the New York State Quadricentennial under the  directorship of Tara Sullivan.

There were many activities and events taking place throughout the city but one of our roles was to act as a backdrop for the opening celebration where the Prince and Princess of the Netherlands (Prince Willem-Alexander and Princess Maxima), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, NYC Mayor Bloomberg and others cut the ribbon aboard the US Intrepid.  We were docked next to the Intrepid at Pier 84.  It was quite the contrast between our little 17th century jacht (52 feet long) and the Intrepid, which is the size of a small city!  On Saturday morning, we met up with several ships near the harbor and sailed up to the Intrepid where the opening ceremonies took place.  That day Richard Roth from CNN did a live remote from the decks of our ship and came back to do a piece for the Wolf Blitzer Show (The Situation Room) so we made CNN and were viewed in 240 countries that day. Greta’s mother called her from Belgium and told her she had seen her waving to the Prince.  I received email from a friend in the Netherlands telling me the same thing.

The Onrust and the Royal Family’s Tromp! Photo by Will Van Dorp.

On Saturday night, Greta and I were invited to have dinner with the Prince and Princess on their ship the Tromp.  There were about 100 dignitaries at the dinner and at our table sat the Lady in Waiting (the Queen’s personal secretary), a ship commander, and a few others.   The Princess sat across from us (very stunning). During the dinner, the Dutch minister in charge of the ceremonies came up to our table and asked Greta and I to follow him.  We did of course and were led over to the Prince’s table where we were introduced to him (I might add we were the only ones brought to his table).  He stood up and quickly began a conversation about the Onrust and we spent about 6 minutes or so talking about the project, which he knew a great deal about, and then went back to our seats to finish dinner.  We had rabbit as the main course.

The Onrust leading the parade in NYC. Photo by Bert Barat.

The following day, the Half Moon, our Onrust and several other ships led a flotilla of 80 ships past the royal Tromp and we fired off a 4 cannon salute to the waving Prince and Princess.  The parade was carried on Dutch National TV. On Monday, we began our journey home leading 19 Dutch flat bottoms to Albany along with their crews of about 75 people.

We took the boats northward stopping at Nyack, Kingston, Catskill, Castleton and finally to Albany.  All of the communities along the way hosted the Dutch flotilla until we arrived at Albany where not a single representative of the city or state greeted them.  Pretty discouraging.

Don at the tiller

 

By Pascal J.W. van den Noort

New York and Amsterdam, like many other global cities, face challenges regarding mobility and requiring immediate solutions. An urgent look at necessary changes in mobility is the objective of the symposium  ‘Global trends in sustainable mobility.’ How did Amsterdam and New York get to where we are now with regard to mobility and what analyses can we bring to the table? What are the systematic differences in urban planning between New York and Amsterdam? Do these differences only exist in the field of mobility or has it other psychological and cultural backgrounds? What makes cities not only livable, but attractive to live in, and what good can mobility bring or bad by making things disappear? Can cities live with less or no petrol cars at all and what does such an idea do to the economy? How will public transport play a role in the triangle with emission rich mobility and more sustainable modes of transport?

These and other questions will be discussed in the Symposium & Salon: Global trends to Sustainable Mobility

The New Amsterdam Bike Slam is a live debate “battle” between two teams with competing visions for how to dramatically increase sustainable mobility in New York City in the years to come, and how to plan the New York Harbor District as part of this achievement. The New Amsterdam Bike Slam is organized from 10 till 13 September 2009. The ideas generated by the competition - and other activities organized during these days - will be heralded as strategies to achieve Mayor Bloomberg’s stated PlaNYC goals to increase bicycling and achieve a “greater, greener NYC” in 2030. Spread over four days, the New Amsterdam Bike Slam is a live design battle, a dance party, a world-class transportation summit, a bridge across the Atlantic, and a path forward.

By Renny Ramakers

I am writing this blog while working on the last preparations for Pioneers of Change. These last moments are as usual full of tensions. We have disagreements with the graphic designers, who think that we are making too many changes in the texts, with the risk of destroying their precise design. They are right, with so many parties involved in the process and people on holidays, changes after changes came.

We will try to get our signage system placed on the island without disturbing their rules and regulations. We want a huge bill board, shouting: LAND! It should be the first thing you see when arriving by boat.  Let’s keep our fingers crossed… We asked the designer of the VIP room, which is furnished with Droog pieces,  to change his beautiful design. The balloons he envisioned hanging from the ceiling turned out to be not a good idea because we just heard from one of our team members that she is allergic to latex. Yesterday we rejected the designer’s alternative, again very charming, but not environmentally sound. We feel we are driving him crazy, but we are convinced that he will come with another beautiful solution.

We are negotiating with New York catering companies because we have the feeling that they are overcharging us. We have to arrange extra toilets because we expect 700 people to attend our VIP opening. Security rules oblige us to fence our space during the opening and have the audience checked for their age. Now we have to design wristbands that they can wear as proof of being over 21. That’s all because we are serving delicious cocktails.

Our two sweet interns, we call them Tom & Jerry,  are stuffing the invitations in the envelopes while watching a movie.  I hope that can be sent out today because they proceed very slowly. Tomorrow the last shipment will leave the country and the team will fly over next week, surely to what will be an exciting event.

And at the other side of the ocean our New York team is busy having the houses cleaned and preparing all electrical matters. Sixty different second hand chairs for the Open Talks house are waiting to be painted. We really did not want to ship a lot of stuff and rely as much as possible on old furniture to be found in New York. I was a bit worried about being able to find so many of them. But our New York producer did!
Our New York team also found 15 elderly people, eager to serve food and drinks in our Go Slow house, A tough job to spot elderly people living in elderly people’s homes that actually look like elderly people are supposed to look and not like those botoxed and facelifted old girls so common in the U.S.  But we have got them! And they will serve you slowly but attentively.

It’s no wonder two weeks time before the event, that the moment is full of scary excitement, when bringing together so many parties and bridging two continents. I can’t wait to be on Governors Island, to see the results and to hear all the reactions of the visitors.

About the author
Renny Ramakers conceived and curated Pioneers of Change, and is art critic and co-founder and director of Droog, the conceptual design company which was set up in 1993. She organizes design exhibitions, is member of the jury of various design prizes and is giving lectures and workshops worldwide. Ramakers took part in governmental advisory boards, amongst others as a member of the Council of Culture (1995-2001). As an art critic, Ramakers wrote for international magazines, books and catalogues and published several books under her own name.

ALSO READ: Pioneers of Change: A Sneak Preview

By Terts Brinkhoff

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is the heart of the New Island Festival, where people get together, eat, drink, and from there on find their way to all the performances and exhibits the festival has to offer. At night we return to the boulevard to party, dance, dream.

No dreams without broken dreams.

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams is shaped after the encampment the Dutch pioneers built here on Governors Island four hundred years ago. To them, this was the new island.

Now, the New Island returns. With us, everybody can be a pioneer, is a pioneer, and will be treated like one.

Chef André Amaro serves typical Dutch food on an enormous 400 foot long table, together with Miss Rockaway Armada from New York. In the afternoon, there are performances for kids; in the evening there are ten short performances by young and adventurous dance companies, a highly exclusive opera/dinner experience of the Veenfabriek, Iris de Hond on her Flying Grand, and virtual art by PIPS:lab.

Everything takes place around, and even on top of the giant table. Around ten o’ clock, the music- and dance program kicks off with pop diva Ellen ten Damme,  the legendary Living Jukebox, and the Silent Disco, the most unusual dance party you’ve ever seen.

The Newest Island of New York, virtually undiscovered.
For all those pioneers out there: come discover the ‘nieuw’ New York with us!

About the author
New Island Festival comes to New York under the artistic leadership of Terts Brinkhoff(1952) , together with Joop Mulder (Oerol Festival). Terts Brinkhoff is the creator of the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, which he founded in 1984, and has since grown into one of the most important arts festivals in Europe. In 1990, he renamed the festival Parade. Today, it is the only traveling theatre and music festival in the world. Terts dropped out of vocational school and bought a tractor in 1973.  He began organizing mobile arts events wherever there was space.  A few years later, he bought a circus tent and before long, he was on the road, pulling performances with him.

ALSO READ: ‘NEW ISLAND FESTIVAL: A SNEAK PREVIEW’

By Danielle Latman

American expat Danielle Latman takes the train to Breukelen, exploring the past, present and future of the two Brooklyns.

Present

The train ride from Amsterdam to Breukelen is a little different from the commute I used to take from Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan back home to Brooklyn. The train here passes through city streets to grassland dotted with grazing animals in less than half an hour.

I took the train in late June to attend Brooklyn Night, organised by the Breukelen gemeente (local government) to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Dutch settling in New York.

One to two hundred Breukelenites, mostly native Dutch, gathered in Boom en Bosch, a park by the Town Hall, to watch videos of Brooklyn and eat hot dogs.

Breukelen Burgemeester (Mayor) Ger Mik, wearing a traditional chain of office, led children in a lantern competition and later to a dazzling fireworks display.

It was a warm show of friendship and community, but I couldn’t help wondering… what is the point? Why should anyone outside of tiny Breukelen care?

My answer came from Carla Koopmans, general manager of the gemeente. “If you don’t know your historical roots, you lack something,” she said.

Past

So I visited the related exhibit, “Breukelen-Brooklyn 400″, at the Regionaal Historisch Centrum. The one-room display, all in Dutch, uses old maps, newspaper clippings, books, videos and old materials to tell the story of the two Brooklyns.

The Dutch settled in Breukelen, a small section of the current Brooklyn that is now located around Borough Hall, in 1646. They developed five other towns as well: Gravesend, Nieuw Amersfoort (now Flatlands), Midwout (now Flatbush), Nieuw Utrecht, and Boswijk (Bushwick).

After the British takeover of New Amsterdam in the 1660s, many Brooklyn streets and neighbourhoods retained their Dutch names. Even the Brooklyn motto remains Dutch: “Een Draght Maakt Maght”, translated to “In Unity there is Strength”.

Future

So why is the bridge to Brooklyn – both physical and historical — important here?

“It’s a brand that has emotional value,” said Bram Donkers, project manager of BrooklynBridgeBreukelen, a small grassroots organisation aimed to re-establish the connection between the two places.. “A lot of Americans started in Brooklyn. For a lot of Americans the Brooklyn brand stands for coming home.

“We’d like to remain on the world map as the original Brooklyn,” he said.

I got on the train back home thinking that new Brooklyn may be key to old Breukelen’s survival.

About the author
Danielle Latman is a writer and editor from Brooklyn, NY now living in Amsterdam, NL. She currently works at Expatica.com, and her articles can be found at http://claimid.com/danielle_latman

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