‘We want to show that the stage is more than just a place where bands play. You may also have a talent for work tasks next to an internship. Providing sound and light, photographing the artists, providing catering or organizing an event or performance yourself.’ says Vincent Kruger, coordinator/programmer at Podium de Flux. Together with the city programmer, the music school, primary and secondary education, he is working on a program to make the new generation of young people feel at home in the Flux.

‘We want to give students in primary and secondary education a platform by setting up the broadest possible multidisciplinary project. We will introduce them to how things work at the Flux.

Students need to be fed. Imagine that someone wants to DJ and sees how someone else does it on stage, that student will be inspired and the distance to the music school will be smaller. Master classes and workshops are regularly offered at the Fluxpopschool (now part of Podium de Flux). The students can then go here.’

‘I am setting up this project together with the education team, but the city programmer will also make a substantial contribution to this. The city programmer maps out the demand-oriented programs with new talents. This is in addition to the supply-oriented programs that contain a lot of established talent. It is currently a national topic that stages attract fewer audiences and that too few young people come to them. So it is a must to respond well to this.

I would prefer to have the program we are currently working on come back several times a year. But that depends entirely on the synergy between the different parties. And of course the success of our pilot in December!’

Vincent Kruger is the programmer of the Flux. He started his career as a musician, cultural entrepreneur and manager of the band New Cool Collective and was the founder of Stroom/DoxRecords. He currently works for Fluxus/Podium de Flux, organizes events and helps artists get started in a career.