Local History & Culture

🎶 **La Cumbipeña – Tango Night** 💃🕺 📅 **Saturday\, January 17 \| 20:00–23:00** **📍 Café Averechts, Utrecht** **🎟 Donation-based** This edition invites us into the world of tango - a dance and music tradition rooted in life lived passionately, strong emotions, non-verbal communication and a bit (or lot?) of 'dramita' 😅. ✨ **Live music** by Pablo Mosteiro: an Argentine artist whose relationship with tango deepened after leaving Argentina, first in the US and now in the Netherlands. He shares both his own compositions and tango classics with great sensitivity and quality. 💫 **Tango basics workshop** guided by Yasmín Unfer, expressive dance teacher. This is not about memorizing steps, but about feeling, connecting, improvising and dancing according to each body’s possibilities. No previous experience needed - and if you have it, you may discover tango from a new angle. 😘 🎤 **Open Mic** later in the night to keep sharing music, folklore, cumbia and whatever wants to emerge. Come dance, listen, connect and celebrate together, the Cumbipeña way 🧉🎶 Everyone is welcome 💛 Lxs esperamos! 🔥

A fun evening full of oooohh's and aaahhh’s and this is why: https://youtu.be/9Usnkt4mEvM It’s all about having fun, so don’t worry if this is your first or second time playing. We will help you and we always cheer every player to victory so everyone has a great experience. Pls be aware - paid event - read all information! I reserved 2 lanes for 1,5 hrs, so we play from 20.00 - 21.30 Since I have to pay in advance I ask anyone that joins to pay their part as well in advance. If you join the list for this event, please transfer 15 euros immediately or make someone on the waiting list happy by giving your spot to him or her. I will sent a tikkie or publish it in the comments. Your spot is only confirmed after payment. No pay. No play. Please note that there is no refund for cancellation, since I have reserved bowlinglanes and have to pay full price wheter we are with 10 people or 3 people. In case you can't make it, I suggest you find someone to take your spot and he or she pays you the money back. If someone on the waiting list takes your spot then a refund is possible. If someone takes your place, pls let me know in advance. Pls be on time. We start bowling at 8 pm sharp. So be there at least 15 minutes early since u need to change shoes and maybe want to get a drink at the bar. After the bowling we usually go to a café in the city for drinks but if u feel like going home this is ofcourse also okay.

From the first steps, we enter what is truly my favourite forest in the Netherlands, located on the southern edge of the Veluwe. Unlike most Dutch landscapes, this area has real steep hills, rolling terrain, and a distinctly un-Dutch feeling, even though you are right in the heart of the country. In winter, quiet paths and pale light filtering through tall woodland along the Italian Road make the scenery especially striking. Halfway through the hike, we slow down for a cosy break at Castle Doorwerth. It is the perfect place to warm up with bites and drinks, enjoy the historic surroundings, and take a relaxed pause before continuing our walk. The route also passes the iconic Wodan Oaks. These ancient trees, estimated to be 400 to 600 years old, add a quiet sense of history and continuity to the landscape, which feels particularly powerful in winter when the forest is still, open, and calm. **📍When and where to meet?** We’ll meet at 10:50 at Wolfheze train station. https://maps.app.goo.gl/73ZsY4tHrmhBjF8HA ⏰ We **start walking a few minutes after meeting up** — we don’t wait for latecomers, as the forest calls and daylight is short this time of year. **🚗 Coming by car?** There is plenty and free parking next to the station. https://maps.app.goo.gl/6yR1resGumn1j4jq5 **⏸️ Planned Breaks** After 12 km: Lunch break at Castle Doorwerth https://maps.app.goo.gl/qLe6DfxL8C6mKrmZA **💸 Payment** Please pay as soon as you sign up: To keep things fair for everyone, if we don’t receive your payment within 48 hours, we will need to remove you from the participant list. If there’s a waiting list, this will happen sooner (in less than 48 hours). If that happens, no worries — you’re always welcome to sign up again if there’s space. 🌟 Early Bird Deal! Join now for just €4 — available for 3 days (72h). After that, the price will be €5. The Tikkie link has been removed as the event is now fully booked. If a spot becomes available due to a cancellation and you would like to take it, you can message me directly and I will share the Tikkie link with you. **👟 Good to know** * Refund policy: Cancellations are fully refundable up to 1 week before the event (This is Friday 9 January at 23h59). After this period, the fee becomes non-refundable. * Hike difficulty: Our hikes are moderately challenging. Please only join if you’re confident you can keep up with the group’s pace (5 km/ h)— it’s more fun for everyone when we can walk together without long waits. * If the pace is too challenging: We may kindly suggest you continue at your own pace. We’ll give you clear directions to the nearest bus or train so you can return comfortably. * At your own risk: You participate at your own risk, so please make sure you have appropriate insurance coverage for outdoor activities. * Payment note: With Tikkie we only see initials (e.g., J. Doe instead of John Doe). Please include your Meetup name in the payment note so we can match it easily. * Friends joining: If you bring a friend, make sure they also register and pay. * What to bring: Snacks, lunch, and water/ or hot thee/ coffee (depending on the hike distance). * Stay connected: Join our WhatsApp group to be the first to hear about future hikes — ask for the QR code during the hike. * T-shirts: Fairwear-certified organic cotton, eco-friendly inks — €25. Sustainable, odor-resistant, and perfect for hiking. Let us know your size and we’ll bring one for you.

Zaterdag, 17 januari 2026 – 10.00 – 17.00 uur AMSTERDAM Kosten: € 130,–, inclusief btw en lunch Facilitator: [Susanne Hazen](https://susannehazen.com/over/) Assistentie: Iris Pinkepank Taal: Nederlands We gaan deze dag werken met ons voorouderveld. We gaan healing **vragen** EN we gaan op zoek naar en ons verbinden met voorouders die ons kracht kunnen geven en ondersteuning kunnen bieden met de strubbelingen die we op ons levenspad tegenkomen. Aanmelden via: https://susannehazen.com/voorouderrituelen/

Join us to meet new people, and discover the local side of Amsterdam. In a 2 hour walk, we cover the highlights from Amsterdam and share the history as well as our best local places. Join us to see the local side of Amsterdam.

Another week, another bootcamp! Lets go! All levels welcome. Last details are communicated through the Whatsapp group. Please sign up via the sign up form: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=DQSIkWdsW0yxEjajBLZtrQAAAAAAAAAAAAMAAJ0-AkBUQVdTSUk2SzFGSUxJWlZLVFJDNUI3RTVLVi4u&origin=QRCode

**Modern and Authentic kintsugi workshop in Utrecht.** Choose from three options: * 1-Day Modern Kintsugi workshop-€60 * 2-Day Modern Kintsugi workshop-€96 * 4-Day Authentic Kintsugi workshop -€180 For all details, please visit my website. [https://japanworkshopnet.com/upcoming-workshops/](https://japanworkshopnet.com/upcoming-workshops/) Location: **CLAY TO PLATE** [Biltstraat 55, 3572 AG, Utrecht](https://www.claytoplate.com/) **Booking is essential**. Please contact me if you would like to participate in the workshop. Email: info@japanworkshopnet.com Mobile:0616059840 Instagram:[@japanworkshop.net_ ](https://www.instagram.com/japanworkshop.net_/)

Op 18 januari (ja, een zondag) organiseren de Nederlandse QGIS gebruikersgroep, Openstreetmap gebruikers en OSGeo weer de traditionele nieuwjaarsborrel. We heten iedereen deze middag welkom in de Kargadoor in Utrecht. Aanmelden graag via [onze Pretix aanmeldomgeving](https://pretix.eu/foss4gnl/nieuwjaar/). Toegang is gratis, maar we weten graag met hoeveel personen we rekening moeten houden... ook voor de borrelhappen! We heffen deze middag het glas op het mooie open nieuwe jaar, en geven ook een podium aan mensen die wat over hun open project willen vertellen. Er is een scherm beschikbaar, maar het idee is wel dat we het leuk en luchtig houden. Kort en snel werkt het beste in deze setting. Dus als je iets wil laten zien: super. Mail even aan [bestuur@osgeo.nl](mailto:bestuur@osgeo.nl), dan weten we welke verhalen we kunnen verwachten. Aanvang 14:00 Formele programma 15:00 Einde 17:30. Ter plekke kijken we wie er na afloop mee wil nog iets eten (eigen kosten).

Maki-e is a traditional Japanese lacquer decoration technique. Techiniques are involved drawing pictures, patterns, and letters on the surface of lacquerware using lacquer, and then sprinkling and fixing metal powder, such as gold or silver, onto the surface. In our workshop, you have the opportunity to create maki-e designs using traditional Japanese patterns (wagara) or your own original designs. Then your canvas can be a glass cup or a glass picture frame. Join us for this unique Japanese art workshop in Utrecht. * Place: CLAY TO PLATE Biltstraat 55, 3572 AG, Utrecht * Price: three options you can choose from €56 pp(for a glass cup) €60 pp (for a glass picture frame) €76 pp (for a lacquerwares)Limited seats available. **Booking is essential for adequate preparations. If you've enrolled/registered on the Meetup app, we'll contact you through the app message. Kindly communicate with us accordingly, and refrain from showing up without prior contact. We appreciate your understanding** Website:[https://japanworkshopnet.com/ ](https://japanworkshopnet.com/) [MAKI-E workshop info](https://japanworkshopnet.com/maki-e-workshops/) Email: info@japanworkshopnet.com Instagram: [@japanworkshop.net_](https://instagram.com/japanworkshop.net_?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) Mobile:0616059840

**❄️ It’s snowing outside, and it’s the perfect time to warm up with paint!** **Kick off the year with our first winter workshop in a small group of five only— “Winter Landscape in Watercolours.”** **Join us for our first workshop of the year - “Winter Landscape in Watercolours.” This calm, winter-themed watercolour session is an invitation to slow down and paint simple with limited palette, peaceful winter scenes. We’ll focus on the wet-on-wet technique and a limited colour palette to capture soft light, misty skies, and quiet snowy landscapes.** **Workshop Details** **📅 Sunday, 18 January** **🕚 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM** **📍 Schepenbuurt, Utrecht** **💶 €75 (all artist grade materials included)** **✨ Early booking offer:** **Use the code SAVE15 to receive €15 off your ticket.** **🎟 Reserve your spot:** **[https://eventix.shop/jwj79yxy](https://eventix.shop/jwj79yxy)** **What We’ll Learn & Create** **During this workshop, you’ll create two winter paintings while learning how to:** * **Use wet-on-wet techniques for soft skies and snowy surfaces** * **Mix and pour diluted colours for natural tonal variation** * **Create grainy, foggy textures for a quiet winter mood** * **Work with a limited palette to keep compositions simple and balanced** **I’ll begin with a short demonstration, after which we’ll paint together at a relaxed, easy pace.** **Materials :** **All artist-grade materials are provided - just bring yourself.** **Refreshments** **Tea, coffee, and light snacks will be served. (Feel free to bring your own lunch during 15 min break)** **Parking** **Free street parking is available.** **Stay connected for future workshops:** **[https://www.instagram.com/rangartbypooja/](https://www.instagram.com/rangartbypooja/)** **[https://www.instagram.com/poojavermastudio/](https://www.instagram.com/poojavermastudio/)** **I am looking forward to starting the year creatively with you.** **Warmly,** **Pooja**  **email address - [poojavstudio@gmail.com](mailto:poojavstudio@gmail.com)**

⚠️ **IMPORTANT: You must sign up and buy a ticket here to attend:** [https://groupvibe.com/](https://groupvibe.com/) **This is a curated, small-group meetup make new friends in Utrecht.** Each meetup brings together 4–6 like-minded people for casual conversations over coffee. We use the Groupvibe platform to organize and ensure everyone’s a good fit. 👉 **To attend, you’ll need to complete registration via this link:** [https://groupvibe.com](https://groupvibe.com) Once you register, and **buy a ticket or become a Groupvibe member**, we’ll share the exact location and match you with your group. **Why this works:** \* Smaller groups make real conversations easier \* Matching helps avoid awkward dynamics **Note:** RSVPs here on Meetup don’t reflect total attendance. Many attendees register directly via our website. This meetup is organized by **Groupvibe**, a small team passionate about helping people form meaningful friendships offline.

Come and join us for an evening of Buddhist meditation with like-minded people. The doors open at 7:00 PM, and meditation begins promptly at 7:15 PM. The meditation will last between 30 to 40 minutes, followed by tea and biscuits for anyone who would like to stay and chat. On some evenings, there will also be a short Dharma talk to provide some Buddhist context. The meditation space is down at the canal. To get there, you can take the stairs down. The meditation is offered on a donation basis. See our [website](https://utrechtbuddhistcentre.nl/) for more information.

**WE'RE MEETING IN A NEW PLACE!** **Bunk Hotel - Long table on the first floor** Join in for a morning of crafting & chatting over a drink. Just bring your own project and payment for drinks. Meet fellow crafting enthusiasts, whether it's knitting, crocheting, stitching, origami, or something more unique! We talk about our projects, exchange tipps, but also just get to know each other and enjoy a relaxed Sunday morning in good company. All ages, levels and crafts welcome! And don't be shy, we have newcomers most weeks! **We have limited space at the café, so if you've RSVPd and can't make it, please cancel as early as possible so another person can join!** We now also have a WhatsApp group, where we want to organise get-togethers and other events. Ask one of the organisers at the next Meetup you join for more information and access.

Come on out for a social gathering of Alexandria locals who are looking to make other local friends. I have one resolution this year, that is to make 5 new friends who live in Alexandria. I hope you all are excited about meeting people in person with the specific purpose of getting to know new friends. Bring yourself and best hope of making a new local friend.

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“Satanic Panics,”** a look at waves of fear of demonic activity as an American tradition, with Luxx Mishou, cultural historian and former instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy and area community colleges. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-satanic-panics) .] The 1980s found the United States gripped by fear of Satanic cults targeting children. They were believed to be corrupting young ones in daycare centers and tempting teens through subliminal messages on heavy metal albums or through the quiet inclusion of demonic rituals in role-playing games. Satanic serial killers supposedly stalked the suburbs. Doctors helped patients uncover what were claimed to be repressed memories of ritualistic satanic abuse. Parents, police, and politicians were urged to protect impressionable youths from both moral and physical danger. With Satanic cults deemed to be a real and material threat, it was a frightening time for everyone, including those who suddenly came under suspicion for doing evil deeds. Then, suddenly, it all faded from public consciousness, just as surely as did eighties fads such mullet haircuts, leg warmers, and Cabbage Patch Kids. Why did it all start? Why did it stop? And has this happened before or since? Hear such questions tackled by Luxx Mishou, a cultural historian and media specialist who has long researched the devious and villainous in cultural artifacts. She’ll discuss moral panics as a longstanding cultural tradition, with each new one stemming from fear of cultural shifts and shaped by the time and place where it occurred. Among the panics we’ll look into are the Red Scare of the 1950s and the public response to the gruesome 1969 murders committed by the Manson Family. Delving into the 1980s panic, Mishou will describe how it began with the 1980 publication of psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder’s memoir *Michelle Remembers*, detailing the suppressed memories of ritualistic abuse reportedly suffered by a patient. As that book quickly became a best seller, its ideas saturated American culture. A California daycare center became the focus of a three-year investigation, followed by three years of trials, based on allegations that its owner had engaged in secret ritualistic abuse of the children in its care. Mishou will lead you through the media that convinced the public that devil worshipers were among them, and she’ll talk about how reactions to imagined threats can have very real social costs. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image by Canva.

[Profs and Pints Northern Virginia](https://www.profsandpints.com/washingtondc) presents: **“The Life of Frankenstein,”** on the birth, evolution and impact of a tale of man-made monstrosity, with Bernard Welt, an emeritus professor of arts and humanities at George Washington University who frequently lectures on Frankenstein in literature, cinema, and culture. [Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at [https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-life-of-frankenstein](https://www.ticketleap.events/tickets/profsandpints/nv-life-of-frankenstein) .] Guillermo del Toro’s lush and lovingly produced film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel *Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus* is just the latest of many iterations of the story to capture the public’s imagination. People have watched Victor Frankenstein give life to his monster in numerous films, on television, and on stage, and even perform “Putting on the Ritz” with him thanks to the comic genius of Mel Brooks. Mary Shelley did not just tell a tale. She spawned the modern genre of speculative fiction and gave rise to a myth that would crop up in debates over nature versus nurture and other matters. Even today it stokes anxieties over the potential impacts of robotics, artificial intelligence, and genetic engineering, by evoking the image of a monster turning on its progenitor. Come gain a new appreciation of Mary Shelley’s creation with the help of Dr. Bernard Welt, who has studied the relationship between nightmares and the horror genre and is the author of *Mythomania: Fantasies, Fables, and Sheer Lies in Contemporary American Popular Art.* Dr. Welt will start by telling a literary origin story almost as famous as Frankenstein itself, of how an 18-year-old Shelley started writing *Frankenstein* in 1816 while staying in a villa on Lake Geneva with two of her era’s leading poets, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, her lover. Housebound by foul weather, the three read Gothic tales of ghosts and monsters and challenged each other to produce something even more terrifying. Mary dreamed up a story of a man who defied death by creating a living being out of scraps of deceased men harvested from graveyards and anatomy labs. The resulting novel, *Frankenstein*, published anonymously in 1818, would by that century’s end become a touchstone in philosophical discourse on the nature of humanity and in political discussions of imperialism and populism. By the 21st century, Mary Shelley (as she became) had earned a more significant place in the literary canon than Byron and her husband Shelley. We will examine how this grisly tale became a landmark of modern thought and look at the part played by numerous film adaptations from the first years of cinema to the present day. (Door: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. The talk starts 30 minutes later.) Image: From a Theodor von Holst engraving in an 1831 edition of *Frankenstein* published by Colburn and Bentley of London.

Per Collective: Ooooh party people. LISTEN UP: we're doing something fun yet again. It's the only way we know how! On Friday Jan 23 Collective is holding a "Dark of Night" event at Rai's Rendezvous. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN!?!?!? Come in black - your fanciest, your most emo, your most badass black leather...it ALL goes. And we're pulling a bunch of older Collective songs out of the shadows and putting them back on stage for ONE NIGHT ONLY. We can't wait to see you!

Gaming, AdTech, EdTech, Media Streaming, and FinTech are just a few of the workloads where high-availability cloud infrastructure matters. Whether you’re doing battle daily in one of these spaces or are just curious about ways to improve performance, meet us in Reston for an in-person discussion on bare metal cloud architecture. You’ll meet our product lead, James MacKenzie, who will walk through how modern bare metal serves as a control plane for hybrid and private cloud architectures. **What we will cover** * Ways to leverage bare metal, containers, and orchestration for better performance and predictable economics; * Real-world hybrid, disaster recovery, and data-intensive architectures; * Our approach to eliminating ingress and egress fees. **Who should attend** * Cloud architects and platform engineers; * DevOps professionals and infrastructure leads; * FinOps stakeholders managing data-heavy or hybrid workloads. **Why attend** This is a technical, architecture-first conversation. You will leave with a clearer understanding of high-availability cloud infrastructure and how organizations are scaling cost-effectively. Food and drinks will be provided. Space is limited to keep the discussion interactive.