The discussion was and is endless, but now we have figures. Thanks to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science's new 'key figures', we now know how much the state (all of us) are spending for the opportunity to experience art: per inhabitant, the state spends 38.90 per year on subsidies for dance, theatre, museums, youth theatre, opera and orchestras. So that's just over 3 euros a month. Indeed something to get into each other's hair about, we think.
In this climate, where this 3 euros per Dutchman per month was spent on institutions and individuals who also earned 55% of their income on top of it themselves, there are of course outliers. Let's mention a toy of the state itself: the Foundation for the Exploitation of the State Office for Art History Documentation in The Hague received the small sum of 1246 euros per visitor in 2009. The production house in Almere made it even worse, where those 280 visitors in 2005 received more than 1400 euros added to their ticket. Not that the total amount was that high, but so there were just few people visiting. In 2009, things were more normal and 30 euros of subsidy went on each ticket.
Otherwise, the numbers are slightly closer together, although the differences are large. The National Reisopera had an expensive year in 2005. At that time, the Dutch taxpayer added 257 euros to each ticket sold for a performance by that company. The same taxpayer got off cheapest at the Terschellinger Oerol Festival: in 2011, the state added 2.15 to each ticket sold there.
Of course, these are apples and oranges, in terms of comparison, but it nicely reflects how wide the variation was in the Dutch art supply. We say was with emphasis, because it is all diminishing. And for once we are not talking about the government's subsidy policy, but about the crisis. It is starting to be felt quite a bit, also in the art sector. The ministry has also commissioned research into the consequences, and it shows that the future holds little hope for the arts in the Netherlands.
In recent years, the crisis was felt mainly by unsubsidised providers: musicals and entertainment saw their ticket sales fall dramatically, despite sometimes rigorous discount offers (you know: second ticket free at the C1000). In terms of visitor numbers, the subsidised sector seemed to escape the dance, but the researchers express fears that the tide is now really turning.
One fears especially measures in the field of VAT, which are also now circulating among the cabinet: they want to eliminate the difference between the high and low rates, thus arriving at a uniform rate of 16, or even 21 per cent. We quote the researchers:
Even without additional government cutbacks or additional own-revenue targets, the number of visits trend is slightly negative in most sectors in the coming years. Only cinemas have a virtually unchanged number of visits in the baseline scenario, without having to make price concessions. However, if the purchasing power trend is disappointing, and that is not inconceivable, there is a risk that the number of visits and hence audience revenues will fall. This illustrates that the scope for a possible VAT rate increase is effectively absent. Such a measure, combined with the current economic crisis, would have a negative impact on the cultural sector and make the acquisition of more own income more difficult.
Rutte and Samsom can pocket that.
Below the figures, below the complete pieces.
| Sector | Own income | Subsidy per visit | Total visitors | Duration | Cheap |
| Dance | 26% | € 75,72 | 406.305 | North Dutch Dance 2009 € 171.65 | Dance group Amsterdam 2005: 29.72 |
| Stage | 41% | € 62,87 | 493.109 | The Utrecht Games 2010 € 172.00 | The Utrecht Games 2011 € 23.00 |
| Orchestras | 39% | € 70,86 | 848.691 | Residentie Orkest 2009 € 119 | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra 2009 €59 |
| Opera | 27,6% | € 203 | 178.426 | National Tour Opera 2005 € 257 | Opera Zuid 2009 € 68.17 |
| Youth | 33,3% | € 37,71 | 139,405 (reg)188,492 (sch) | Theatre Artemis 2010 € 92.92 | Merkx and dancers 2009 €10.75 |
| Production houses | 60,6% | € 44,78 | 292.058 | Almere 2005: € 1462.00 | Grand Theatre Groningen 2009: 9.55 |
| Presemtation BK | 22,3% | € 28,26 | 314.469 | BIN 2009 324.74 | MU Art South 9.97 |
| Museums | 64,3 | € 26,46 | 6.065.198 | Foundation for the Operation of the National Office For Art History Documentation The Hague : 2009 1246 | Van gogh 2011: 4.00 |
| Festivals | 107% | € 12,99 | 1.255.543 | Architecture biennale 2011 204.86 | Oerol 2011 2.15 |
| Total average | 55,7 | € 38,21 per inhabitant | 10.181.696 | Amsterdam 2009 160.23 | The Hague 2013 17.80 |
Click to access culture-in-figures-v6.pdf
Click to access def-1016-final-report-economic-effects-culture.pdf
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