STEIM Funding in DANGER! Call for Support!

STEIM is a very important and influential organization with a huge positive impact on the electronic performance field, helping many performing artists to develop alternative ways interface movement and gesture with media outputs. It has developed software, hardware and educational platforms that have allowed hundred of artists from all over the world to experiment with technology with DIY and sustainable approached.
I was able to create my very first wireless sensor system at STEIM during an artistic residency in 2003 using hacked game controllers. That support has continued during the past 4 years and have always been open and generous with my new projects and their evolution. They were one of the first dance-tech.net "institutional friends" and I know that they have supported many of the members of this network!!
I got the bad news that they might be loosing their funding from the government.
This is the content of the announcement, please read and take action to help STEIM continue supporting our experimentation!

STEIM needs your support!
Things are not well at STEIM. We are in the danger of losing our structural funding from the government, based on a review from the advisor board which called us 'closed and only appealing to a niche audience'. The outlook isn't exactly bleak, but at the moment our future is unclear.

As we see you as an important friend and colleague of STEIM, we would like to ask you to help us present our case that we are connected to a diverse network of professionals and that our work has significant influence on both a Dutch and an international community.

What you can do is to send a letter of support, and make sure we receive it by May 26. We hope that these letters will show the variety and depth of the effect STEIM has in the real world. The contents are up to you, a few good lines will suffice. You could tell how you or someone you know benefited from their contact with STEIM: making or refining an instrument or an idea for a performance or meeting fellow artists, or what you feel would be lost if STEIM ceased to exist, or waxing aphoristic, just 12 words about STEIM.

Also include some specific details of your context: as an artist or educator or musician or code hacker - so your place in the world will be visible for the committee. A letterhead with your organization or institution and your position or title above your signature are small things that can leave an impression.

As for how to reply, time is of the essence so email is the preferred option. If you have time to scan a printed letter that's great but we can print emails or faxes as well.
Unfortunately we have only a short period for our response, so we would like to receive your letter by May 26. You can address the letter to the Council for Culture.

Please send your letter to:

Email: knock@steim.nl
Fax: + 31 (0)20 6264262
Address: Achtergracht 19, 1017WL Amsterdam, The Netherlands

> > > Sending a personal letter is the best, but for a quick message use the online support letter.

See the petition in their site here