The Council for Culture, recently reinforced with new members with a lot of management talent and business acumen, has to accept defeat. Indeed, culture minister Jet Bussermaker is disregarding a key pillar of the council's latest advice. In a letter to the chamber, she reveals that she is seeking alternatives to the Council's proposal to 'Protect Objects of National Importance through designation of a 'Core Collection'. Instead, Bussemaker said: "My guiding principle is that implementation costs should remain proportional. I am therefore investigating whether there is a more effective and efficient method for protecting such objects."
Is it only about money, or is there also a substantive argument? We do not know, but it is certain that the whole idea of a 'core collection' did not go down very well in the heritage sector. After all, it basically meant that collections now in private hands might just be nationalised because the Council had decided they were 'of national interest'.
NRC commentator Marc Chavannes received a great deal of acclaim when he suggested such a thing in his newspaper in February, and only a month later in real publicity brought. We quote: "The Culture Council deserves a high Soviet award here. Read along. 'From institutions to order'. Hitherto independent museums - most not owned by the state - are to be included in a national 'bestel', a kind of half-open institution for hard-nosed art administrators. Own tradition, own thinking, own plans yield too little 'collection return' for the fictitious 'Collectie Nederland'.
The rest of the opinion is interesting, according to the minister, but nothing more. So it appears. In fact, she says: I am investigating the fact of and law, but whether I will set it up according to the Council's advice, I doubt: "Currently, there are different laws and regulations for heritage conservation, archaeology, archives and museum collections. A new Heritage Act could, as the Council recommends, link these areas together. I am exploring the merit such a law could have for our cultural heritage."
Ministers and state secretaries lay often ignore advice from their advisory councils. Sometimes this is not good and the council in question makes So angry that he quit. Sometimes perhaps we should be happy with a minister who takes her own course.
We are interested in your views.
The council's opinion.
Click to access Unbounding-and-Binding.pdf
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