Culture Council threatens to pronounce 'unacceptable' on cabinet plans with arts and media

"It cannot be ruled out that previous choices by the cabinet, such as on the VAT increase and the sharp cut to the Music Centre of the Broadcasting Corporation, together with the announced cuts, will do irreparable damage to the cultural sector."

Of course, even though Halbe Zijlstra has thankfully banned the term 'Leftist Hobby' when it comes to culture, the distinguished gentlemen and ladies of the Council for Culture do not put your mind at rest with it. In any case, this independent advisory body of the Ministry of OC&W wipes the floor with the intentions of fresh secretary of state, who thinks 1997's The Full Monty is the best film of all time. The man, who on Monday 6 December's Pauw and Witteman broadcast still openly accused the advisory committees for cultural subsidies of favouritism, continues to irritate the lords and ladies of the arts.

It is made difficult for them to do their homework properly, they report in a letter which was sent today (just before the postal strike):

"The abolition of the WWIK, the substantial cut to the Netherlands Broadcasting Corporation's Music Centre, the restriction of tax benefits for cultural investments and, of course, the increase in VAT and its abrupt introduction directly affect the cultural sector, and make it even more complicated to arrive at a good and coherent opinion. The cut to the Regional Historical Centres also deserves reconsideration: after all, it affects the cultural provision level for heritage in the very areas for which the coalition agreement calls for attention. It is the accumulation and pace of these measures that will intensify the effect of the cuts and risk making choices that lead to irreparable damage."

The requirement that you are entitled to subsidies only when the audience is full is also a cause for criticism. The Culture Council reiterates that in recent years all energy has already been focused on increasing the audience reach for the arts. Only, says the advisory board, art cannot be compared to milk. Although, as we delicately note, more subsidies go to milk than to all the arts in the whole of Europe, but that aside:

"In the Council's view, arts and culture are not ordinary commodities. This means that the laws of supply and demand cannot apply in full. Artistic expressions of high artistic quality without a large audience reach should also be supported. Moreover, even unsubsidised supply is in many cases kept accessible by government support, for example by the millions invested by local governments in theatres that also show musicals and cabaret. Without such specific support, these programmes would be considerably more expensive and thus unattainable for many. Society ís the owner of art and culture, the government helps to maintain it."

That the Culture Council is really angry is clear from the letter's conclusion. In it, the council states, bluntly, that it will no longer cooperate with the policy if its own research shows that the situation is indeed getting as bad, as is now threatening:

"In the coming months, the Council will make a sharp analysis of the consequences of the cabinet's intentions. If this shows that the future of the Dutch cultural infrastructure will come under too much pressure, the Council will show which consequences of the cuts are not acceptable in its eyes."

In that case, the measures would be substantially delayed. And the whole of the Netherlands will feel that quite a bit.

You can read the letter yourself here: response_to_policy_brief_final_(2)1