VVD leader says sorry to art world during #paradise debate

'At the time, under the influence of the populists, we may have gone too far in our attack on art subsidies.' This was stated by Jeroen Hatenboer, VVD member and culture alderman of the municipality of Enschede, during the annual Paradiso debate at the end of the Uitmarkt 2016. As part of the sorry campaign of the current cabinet is quite an interesting footnote, and entirely fitting in the upcoming repair of the worst damage to our art subsidy system. Indeed, in the new budget, after some formal sputtering, the VVD will agree to an annual extra 24 million, now announced by D66 leader Alexander Pechtold.

"For the Arts, 2016 is the last year of the journey through the desert", @APechtold at the #Paradisodebat pic.twitter.com/sKMwW9zpV9

- Jan Paternotte (@jpaternotte) August 28, 2016

Pechtold's promise followed a slightly more cautious 'hint' from culture minister Jet Bussemaker. She felt very strongly that by the current system a successful and esteemed company like Orkater had to disappear. And we know: when a minister openly thinks something is very bad, it doesn't happen. When asked, she pointed to the 10 million which the cabinet had found under opposition pressure for this year. After which, therefore, the bidding began.

There was applause in Paradiso, but no cheering. Logical, because as one Twitter user noted: 24 million is still not the 300 million which was snatched from the Dutch art world without any substantiation by VVD party leader Halbe Zijlstra.

The culture budget has been cut by more than 300 million and now everyone is cheering at 24 million reparations #opical #paradisodebat

- Géke Roelink (@gekelink) August 28, 2016

Enfin. That takeaway was, of course, also the subject of the Paradiso debate, but in a different way. At least that was the intention. Every year, organiser Kunsten '92, the interest club of all art producers, wants to avoid talking about subsidies and having any complaining artists in the room. Doesn't work, of course, but this year's attempt to make things broader was special. Invited was the Dutch American economist Saskia Sassen, the female example of Thomas Piketty. She made a robust speech with menacing sheets, making it clear that we are all pretty seriously screwed, as the economic middle class is literally being dredged dry by the big systems of Google, Facebook and the banks. 'We can manufacture destruction,' she declared, 'but can we also make something beautiful?'

Sassen #paradisodebat 'Art can tell a tale that can not be narrated by science yet'.

- Clayde Menso (@cmenso) August 28, 2016

Henk Oosterling, the Rotterdam philosopher who - once he gets up to speed - guarantees interpretation without airs and graces, called on the art world to really look for an audience for once. He has no truck with autonomous art and terms like "intrinsic value": according to him, nowadays art is public property anyway. He told his audience that in a world where everyone has the creative means at their disposal, and everyone can engage in mass communication, it is increasingly important to be unique and special, and that is only possible if you understand the world in which your audience lives.

a report and later a publication will follow with Sassen and Oosterling's contributions

- Arts '92 (@Kunsten92) August 28, 2016

After this philosophical hour, it was politics' turn, and so, after some philosophical hesitation, it was back to just plain old-fashioned talking about money, and thus who was going to hand out how much.

At the drinks afterwards, shorter than usual because everyone still had to go to theatre director Melle Damen's farewell party, there were no bitterballs.