Monthly Sunday morning lectures organised by the master's programme DAS Creative Producing in collaboration with Adyen. 

The lectures take place on Sunday morning, at 11.00, Adyen, Rokin 49, Amsterdam Admission free. Sign up through the registrationform or send an email to dascreativeproducing@ahk.nl.

The lecture is full. If you register, you will be placed on the waiting list.

On Sundaymorning 14 April we welcome Leanne Betasamosake Simpson for a lecture on art and sustainability. The lecture will be in English. 

In this keynote-lecture Leanne Betasamosake Simpson emphasises the role of storytelling as an active practice of building and sustaining Indigenous modes of knowledge.   

“The alternative to extractivism is deep reciprocity. It's respect, it's relationship, it's responsibility, and it's local””

(Simpson 2017: 75)

A resurgence of Indigenous political cultures, governances and nation-building requires generations of Indigenous peoples to grow up intimately and strongly connected to our homelands, immersed in our languages and spiritualities, and embodying our traditions of agency, leadership, decision-making and diplomacy.  

This requires a radical break from state education systems – systems that are primarily designed to produce communities of individuals willing to uphold settler colonialism.  

This talk uses Nishnaabeg stories to advocate for a reclamation of land as pedagogy, both as process and context for Nishnaabeg intelligence, in order to nurture a generation of Indigenous peoples that have the skills, knowledge and values to rebuild our nation according to the word views and values of Nishnaabeg culture.   

The talk will include a screening of Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes), a 19-minute stop-motion film directed by Michif multidisciplinary artist Amanda Strong. The short film, which is adapted from Simpson’s short story “Plight,” tells the story of a young non-binary Indigenous person as they set out to collect maple tree sap from a suburban neighbourhood.  

About Leanne Betasamosake Simpson

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a renowned Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg writer, musician, academic and activist who has been widely recognized as one of the most compelling Indigenous voices of her generation. Her work breaks open the intersections between politics, story and song—bringing audiences into a rich and layered world of sound, light, and sovereign creativity. She is a status member of Alderville First Nation in Ontario, Canada. 

Leanne is the author of eight previous books, including As We Have Always Done (2017) and Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back.  Her novel Noopiming: The Cure for White Ladies, which was short-listed for the Dublin Literary Prize and the Governor General’s prize for fiction. Her latest project in collaboration with Robyn Maynard, Rehearsals for Living was short-listed for the Governor Generals prize for non-fiction and is a national best seller. Leanne’s album Theory of Ice was short- listed for the Polaris Prize and she was the recipient of the Prism Prize’s Willie Dunn award for innovation in video production.

After the lecture, for those interested in the master's program DAS Creative Producing there will be time to ask questions to students and teachers. For more information, go to our website. 

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About the collaboration between Adyen and the Academy for Theatre and Dance 

In 2022, Adyen and the Academy for Theater and Dance will launch a special collaboration to provide a space for inspiration, reflection, and action in the heart of the city of Amsterdam.  

The company Adyen was founded in 2006, in the center of Amsterdam, by a group of Dutch entrepreneurs. Adyen is a payment platform that processes payments for leading companies around the world. It currently has more than 2,000 employees and 27 offices around the world. In 2021, Adyen opened additional office space on the Rokin, in the same city center where the company's journey began. In collaboration with the Academy of Theater and Dance, the company is opening its offices to Amsterdam residents to connect with, and give back to, the city of Amsterdam. Within its education, the academy explores the ways in which art can contribute to shaping the world, based on the firm belief that art can set people and the world in motion.