Maastricht lacks a good, cultural magazine, aimed at young people. Agreed, there’s not that much going on in this town, and its surroundings, but that could make it even more important to have an active community and good communication channels.
A few years ago, there was WikiMaas — originally a city wiki, but as one of the former administrators I dare to say that it most popular feature was the activity calender. Also, there was Discopilot, that organised parties, and published photo reports on the web. Later we have seen the art collective Destruktief, with their own weblog. There’s also Crossroads, which has a fair success, but it’s not aimed towards young people nor culture. Most recently, there was the Mahl magazine — a free print magazine, with a website that is still under construction. We haven’t seen a new print issue for a while either. Also WikiMaas and Destruktief are officially not dead. I think WikiMaas changed ‘ownership’ several times the last years (from Robert to ISAM to Robert to the UMP, if I’m correct?), and Destruktief is teasing us with the announcement of a new website, but all in all nothing is happening.
Which is a shame, no?
Today I was thinking. In my opinion, this is what Maastricht needs:
A collaborative weblog about culture in Maastricht and places around it. With around five editors to make regular content, and some free people around there who contribute something once in a while. I was thinking of the following categories of content:
- Maastricht announcements. Postings that announce an event and give some information about it. This can be just the content provided by the event organisation, but an editor can also extend the content.
- Maastricht reports. Like the announcements, but then in retrospect. Reports and reviews of events, parties, and other stuff. Can be text, photos, audio, video, or anything else. The reports can cover events, but also other things, like interviews with artists, or cd reviews of local bands.
- Wider announcements. The same as the Maastricht announcements, but then for events in Liège, Aachen, Hasselt, Sittard, Eindhoven or any other place. The rule of thumb should be that it should be interesting for people living in Maastricht. A small party in Amsterdam might not be sufficient, a 3-day festival in Amsterdam might be. Especially when there are Maastricht bands playing there.
- Wider reports. Like the Maastricht reports, but then for stuff outside Maastricht. Reviews of events, an interview with that cool band from Liège, or a cool Cologne alternative shopping guide. The same geographic relevancy as with the wider announcements apply.
- General reports. Interesting stuff that is not geographically bound. Opinions on the Dutch cultural policy. The rise of indietronic and nu-rave. A cool new photo camera being released soon. You name it.
A sidebar can then chronologically feature the Maastricht and wider announcements. Maybe the Maastricht ones in bold, and the others in a regular weight.
I think this could be a nice concept. And it is something that Maastricht could use, especially as long as we don’t hear anything new from WikiMaas, Destruktief, and Mahl. It doesn’t need to cost much — for a test period I could even make the sander-s.net webserver available.
Anyway, it’s just a rough idea. And I won’t do it alone. Are there more people who think this could be valuable? Anyone wants to join as an editor, web designer, computer technician, photographer, or whatever? Other useful features the site needs? Any other comments? Reactions?
hi sander, this is a very good idea, one that may be considered invaluable in the present cultural landscape (i can elaborate on this quite a bit, but past experiences, as some that you lay out, illustrate this point quite clearly).
i was thinking that it may be wise to built upon the infrastructure and contacts of established institutes, in particular WeekInWeekUit (in fact i am surprised they never launched something along these lines; they have all the means to make such a project a thriving success).
laten we over het hoe van gedachten wisselen. i am willing to participate regularly in any way i can. at present however i cannot put myself in the position of co-founding such a project.
Hej Sander!
I think it is such an important project to do, the only real and readily available medium so far are the week in week uit booklets which leave much to be desired. On top of that, most of the info in that booklet is not really non-dutch speaking friendly. Can you believe it took me three years to discover Marres?
They’re having very cool Ozon movies there by the way. ;-)
If I can help in any way then I’d be game!
Hello Sander, we would like to work with you to realise the points of action described above. Destruktief is inviting everybody who wants to contribute.
wikimaas’ not dead! live and kicking! http://wikimaas.robertbuzink.com
Reanimation is an overrated term.
death by proxy? death by buzink?