Champagne at BAK in Utrecht, deep disappointment at The New Institute in Rotterdam: the Council for Culture has spoken. Today, Thursday 19 May 2016, the first advice after the draconian art cuts by the first Rutte cabinet came out, and heads are rolling. Amsterdam loses prestigious presentation institution De Appel, in The Hague fellow institution Stroom has to redo its homework. The Orkest van het Oosten and the Gelders Orkest have to come up with merger plans within two years. In Utrecht, the city company Theater Utrecht will no longer receive funding despite artistic appreciation. Het Zuidelijk Toneel in Eindhoven Tilburg must make new plans and Opera Zuid must quickly raise its artistic quality. These are the main conclusions of the Culture Council's opinion.
As dramatic as some of this may sound, the advice is actually not, when you look over the whole battlefield. Thanks in part to all kinds of motions by MPs who, no doubt out of good intentions, successfully lobbied for a company, festival, or part of the country, the Basic Infrastructure, on which the Council advises, is more stuck than ever. This In Memoriam was entirely justified. It made by far most of the new Opinion already predictable.
Differentiation in the amount of subsidy for youth theatre companies, for example? The council wanted to, but it is not allowed by the chamber and the ministry. Advise working towards one travelling opera company? Ditto. More opportunities for young makers through production houses? No money. This time, the Council for Culture mainly had to colour within the lines, and did so. Now, almost.
Battlefield production houses
After all 20 production houses had been thrown out of the Basic Infrastructure in 2013, this time - due to a parliamentary motion last year - they could have a shot at BIS status again. Minister Jet Bussemaker was not amused, because extra money was and is not available. Because the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science subsequently forgot to specify how many institutions could be subsidised as production houses, 15 institutions applied for a total of €5.9 million, while only €1.6 million is available.
So the list of losers is long, from Korzo (The Hague) to Toneelschuur Producties (Haarlem), which did its best to keep some kind of production house afloat in the past period, to Paradiso Melkweg (Amsterdam). However, Frascati (Amsterdam), De Nieuwe Oost (a fusion production house in Arnhem, Nijmegen and Deventer) and the Talent Development Programme of the new Theater Rotterdam did receive funding. which, incidentally, as a whole will have to redo its homework and come up with a more solid application.
Utrecht in trouble
The financial problems at TivoliVredenburg, for which the Utrecht city council offered a solution this week, are of course unrelated to the council's opinions, this does not mean that the Domstad's troubles are over. Not only does production house Coöperatieve Theatertalent Utrecht U.A. receive a negative opinion, but Theatre Utrecht, which, nota bene, participates in this production house, also falls by the wayside. Het Filiaal (youth theatre), which also participates, does receive a subsidy, but the cooperation between six Utrecht institutions, two of which also apply for an independent subsidy, is clearly not to the Council's liking:
"It strikes the board that a large proportion of the creators mentored within Cooperative Theatre Talent Utrecht at Theater Utrecht and Het Filiaal are also described in these institutions' regular subsidy applications. The institutions therefore seem to receive an additional contribution for talent development on top of their own government subsidy through Cooperative Theatre Talent Utrecht. This is particularly not the intention in the case of Theater Utrecht, which, as a medium-sized theatre company in the basic infrastructure, already has this task anyway."
For Theatre Utrecht, the verdict is completely harsh. Indeed, the board is wildly enthusiastic about the artistic quality on offer, but rejects the application because the company is not yet over the disastrous financial actions of the previous artistic director: the own income standard is not met, and will not be met within the new plans.
Opera South falls through
As harsh as the Council is on Theatre Utrecht, it is lenient on Het Zuidelijk Toneel and Opera Zuid. The artistic quality and vision is insufficient, and so a negative recommendation follows. But for both with a escape. Het Zuidelijk Toneel should focus more on the region. Because the ministry has determined that there must be an opera company in the southern Netherlands, the money will remain available if Miranda van Kralingen adjusts the plans and does more work on joint talent development with De Nationale Opera and De Nederlandse Reisopera. The latter, despite all the praise, will therefore receive no extra money, which will irrevocably lead to problems, especially for the Enschede-based Reisopera.
Eastern orchestras merger: Enschede in even bigger trouble
7 million is available for 2 orchestras in the east of the country. However, both the Orchestra of the East and the Gelderland Orchestra cannot survive on 3.5 million. The Overijssel orchestra ventured forward four years ago with an air-based business plan and lots of provincial funds, its Gelderland counterparts are now making an attempt. The fact is that for their core task - performing large symphonic repertoire - they are both too small. The orchestras are not even well able to fulfil their second task - orchestral accompaniment with the Dutch Travel Opera - independently.
The council also observes this, and it therefore recommends that the two orchestras' applications should not be granted unless they jointly come up with a plan that provides for one sustainable and high-quality symphonic facility in the East region, effective in 2019. That is remarkably soon, and no one wants to put the merger word in their mouth, but with one leadership and board, that is exactly what will happen. We foresee major squabbles between the provincial boards over the location of the merger orchestra. And a huge problem for Enschede, where they also already see FC Twente being relegated.
Fill-in dance and youth
As expected, no shocking developments at the dance. The four applicants were assessed positively. In youth theatre, two newcomers (Beumer & Drost and Holland Opera) tried to grab the space created by the Chamber's wish to subsidise nine youth theatre companies instead of eight, but that money was actually meant for the Gelderland-based Kwatta. The rest a simple fill-in, with some touches here and there.
Harsh interventions at Visual Arts and Creative Industries
Stroom (The Hague), Appel (Amsterdam) and Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam) get the full scoop from the council. In The Hague, presentation institution Stroom does not meet its own income standard, the council says. De Appel in Amsterdam, where a crisis broke out this year between staff, management and board, has not shown any reflection on the problems that arose, according to the council. That too is already a reason to review the subsidy. Something similar, but in milder terms, also applies to The New Institute in Rotterdam. There, the council particularly wants the club, which as a representative of the creative industry is actually an odd man out in the cultural subsidies, to put its governance and vision in order, and to submit a new application.
Conclusion: the revolution will not come from the Culture Council
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has increasingly ruled the judgement on arts subsidies away from itself. The Council for Culture, once a powerful national advisory body that dealt with all of culture, can now decide only on a small number of 'functions' deemed nationally important by the Chamber. The rest is up to funds, with their own boards, and their own decision-making processes, which are not directly under democratic control. Moreover, during the last coalition period, the chamber has further reduced the room for manoeuvre for the council: motions have been tabled forcing the minister to subsidise certain named institutions such as Oerol on Terschelling and Kwatta or the Early Music Festival, thus no longer determining 'functions' but naming names.
That lobby will also now erupt in full force. It will - we predict - result in a city company remaining for Utrecht. In any case, the management has utmost confidence in. De Appel in Amsterdam will get its place back after a few heads have rolled, and will surely also apply to Stroom in The Hague. And, of course, a major theatre company will remain in Brabant.
So in the end, it will be a hot summer and a juicy autumn, and some will hope - against their better judgement - for a more culturally minded government after the 2017 elections. And indeed: that would truly be a revolution.
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