Members from the Costumes, Make-Up & Wigs teams met in Amsterdam at Dutch National Opera & Ballet in April for what was the largest forum meeting ever with 98 participants.
Sophie de Lint, Bob Brandsen and Costume Designer Klaus Bruns were generous in sharing their points of view during the Ask Me Anything sessions, tackling topics like mental health in the workshops and what makes a good costume designer.
As always, the worksop visits, Show and Tell and demos are eagerly awaited moments to exchange ideas and best practices.
Friday morning was practical with excellent presentations and advice on Planning and Staff training where everyone broke up into smaller groups to address the issues and look for processes to improve workshop efficiency. A large breakout exercise on Co-production issues provided food for thought and some volunteers to create a working group on how to streamline co-production processes in the workshops.
Saturday morning focused on Sustainability in the Opera houses and in the workshops before the conclusions which saw the steering group say a musical 'So long, Farewell' to Robby Duiveman, steering group Chair who will be leaving Dutch National Opera & Ballet at the end of this season.
Aline Chif
Communications Manager
