Do you remember? The band-aid Halbe Zijlstra offered the cultural sector in the form of the Giving Act? Tax breaks would definitely lead to more sponsorship, so the impact of the austerity measures would not be nearly as dramatic as the sector itself cried out.
A joke, that whole Giving Act, we immediately wrote. Not only does many companies lack the knowledge to bring in sponsors, precisely because of the cutbacks, there is no time, money and staff left at all to look for the money.
And now the Culture Council sees that too. In its Culture Outlook, published today, we read, besides many open doors, unequivocally:
Public funding available for the arts and cultural heritage has declined. The hope was that this would be compensated by more private resources. But despite great efforts, this has not succeeded. The trend is (also internationally) that sponsorship of arts and culture is declining and, moreover, that cooperation between business and art institutions is becoming more complex. Private donations are declining, but patronage and crowdfunding seem to be growing slightly. Overall, the picture on private funding is anything but positive.
The (aftermath of the) economic crisis, the tone of the political debate in recent years and the retreating government are certainly not attracting potential sponsors and individuals to the cultural sector. Incentives such as the Giving Act have not yet been able to compensate for this.
Ultimate consequence? The audience declines, as does the "focus on deepening and developing top creation". In short: the entire exploration tells us nothing we didn't already know, and the minister will shrug it off. Whether it will spark any discussion in the sector? Perhaps about the toothless tiger that the Culture Council has now become. The entire exploration can be found here (pdf alert):
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