Podcast

In this episode of Het Hart van de Nieuwmarktbuurt, Irma and Jim talk to Koen Vollaers, entrepreneur, atmosphere creator, and the man behind the Aprilfeesten, which are celebrating their 36th edition this year. We hear how a man from Breda ended up in a boarded-up Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood full of junkies and street vendors, why he reconquered Nieuwmarkt square with theatre props, and how one [...]

In this episode of The Heart of the Nieuwmarkt Neighbourhood, Irma and Jim speak with Klaas Touwen, minister of the Oude Kerk – Amsterdam's oldest building, where faith, art and neighbourhood life blend seamlessly. They do this from the beautiful Tim Cantor Gallery. We hear how a church service can be theatre with professional elements, and how...

In the latest episode of the podcast Het Hart van de Nieuwmarktbuurt, Chantal Runne is the guest: entrepreneur, conflict mediator, and bridge-builder between the Jewish and Islamic communities in Amsterdam. Host Irma Thomas and sidekick Jim Zielinski welcome her to the Tim Cantor Gallery, a stone's throw from Nieuwmarkt metro station.

In the last episode of the year, the table turns: Jim himself joins Irma. In an open conversation at the Amsterdam House of Arts & Crafts, he looks back on decades of living in the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood - the people, the streets, the craziness and the charm that never left him. But most of all, Jim looks ahead. [...]

This time, Jim and Irma sit down with a real boy from the Zeedijk: Henk de Vries, founder of The Bulldog. In an unfiltered conversation at the Amsterdam House of Arts & Crafts, Henk looks back on half a century of neighbourhood life, full of unexpected twists, special encounters and moments that shaped him. He tells how a small cellar [...]

This time, Jim is on his own. In a special episode, he talks to legendary twin sisters Martine and Louise Fokkens, also known as the Ouwehoeren. With Amsterdam humour and razor-sharp honesty, they share their views on love, work and dignity. They talk about jealousy, bread bags, kinnesinne and what makes a good sex worker [...]

Irma and Jim speak to Arnold-Jan Scheer in Huis de Pinto: journalist, writer, illusionist and documentary filmmaker. We delve into the unpolished history of the Red Light District, where Arnold-Jan has been filming his documentary Heart of Amsterdam since 1984. We hear about pen-pushing birds of paradise, wrestling clubs in the Casa Rosso and how an entire neighbourhood changed, but his [...]

In this episode, Irma and Jim speak to lawyer, writer and self-proclaimed bird of paradise Basten Quaedvlieg. In Huis de Pinto, he talks about how, as a classical bowler, he won his place in a world that prefers to keep him on the sidelines, and how five-star hotels, set pastas and hospitality are more important to him than healthcare systems ever were. Basten [...]

In this episode of The Heart of the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood, Irma and Jim talk to Eva Krammer, chairman of Huis de Pinto: a literary and cultural meeting place in the heart of Amsterdam. We hear how one building managed to stop a four-lane highway, why volunteering is so intertwined with the neighbourhood, and how the library of yesteryear transformed [...]