Hope College will host a program exploring the experiences of Dutch immigrants who came to America in the 19th century at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4, in Winants Auditorium in Graves Hall. Admission is free.
The program blends film and poetry with archival footage, historical letters and quotations from Dutch immigrants, accompanied by live music.
Featured in the program is the poetic short film *From Wenters to Wisconsin*. Inspired
by the wave of emigration from the Winterswijk region of the Netherlands in the mid-19th
century, the film follows a young woman who leaves her home in search of a new life.
Traveling across land and tempestuous seas in pursuit of prosperity, she faces the
hardships of the life she left behind and the uncertainty of starting over in the
American Midwest.
The film was created by Udo Prinsen, an award-winning animation artist from the Netherlands who grew up not far from Winterswijk. “I knew of a story about a group of people that had sailed to the USA and perished in the sinking of a ship close to their goal in Sheboygan. I always thought it would be interesting to take that journey of migration to the USA as a topic,” he said.
The soundtrack was composed and produced by American trombonist, composer and educator Ryan Keberle, whose collaborators have included Sufjan Stevens, David Bowie and Alicia Keys. His music underscores the film’s emotional journey.
Prinsen and Keberle had previously collaborated on short, whimsical music videos.
“For this project I thought to connect to Ryan as his way of composing, collaborating,
and the sound of the trombone are a match with my ideas of translating emotions I
was looking for,” Prinsen said.
“Udo and I spent time with the story of these families before I wrote anything,” Keberle said. “I tried to imagine what those weeks at sea felt like: the confinement, the uncertainty, the grief for what was left behind. Then I improvised from inside that feeling.”
“Arrival needed a different kind of sound, but I didn’t want it to tip into easy triumph,” Keberle said. “The hope these people found was real, and it was also hard-won and fragile: clearing land, building cabins, starting over in a language that wasn’t theirs. So the music opens up while still carrying some of what came before.”
“When visuals and music come together, you can unleash all the senses. Music crosses all boundaries, including those of time,” Prinsen said.
“Udo’s images and my music developed side by side, each inspiring the other. I hope that in the end the audience doesn’t hear a history lesson. I hope they feel some part of what it was to leave and to arrive,” Keberle said.
The project is supported by Dutch Culture USA, a program of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the United States, to mark America 250, and is sponsored by the Van Raalte Institute at Hope College. The institute focuses on Dutch American history from the 19th through the 21st centuries, especially the history of Holland, Michigan, and Hope College.
For more information, contact Phil Tanis, director of the Van Raalte Institute, at tanisp13@hope.edu.
To inquire about accessibility or request accommodations to fully participate in the event, email accommodations@hope.edu. Event updates are posted, when available, at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.