Even less income for writers. (What you don't know about the austerity-minded library)

That libraries are doing badly was already known. But in related news, made public on 27 July by RTL, is still hiding something that the editors themselves leave underexposed. Because who pays the real price in the austerity operation? Indeed, the writers.

Libraries settle this with a simple trick. They cancel the rent of their own building and transfer collection and staff to a neighbouring school building. This is more than an efficiency move. After that move, libraries also no longer have to pay money to the writers whose works they lend. Indeed, schools are subject to the educational exception in feudal law.

35% less

A survey released in June already clearly that authors' income from lending rights fell by 35% between 2006 and 2016. It saves Dutch writers many hundreds to thousands of euros in income. In particular, authors who have to make a living from writing children's books are cutting back sharply, sometimes by as much as 9%, more than a monthly income.

Thus, the municipal cutback on libraries is largely borne by the weakest party: the creators. By lending their work for free, it is now 'off the books'. Thus, they are actually paying for the cuts, while the number of actual books lent has not even decreased that much.

Averted

In the coming months, work will be carried out on a new subsidy system for the arts. That should take effect sometime in 2020. Earlier, it was revealed that in the arts sector, organisations are passing on the cuts to artists and staff. Theatres, for example, may their high level of production maintain by replacing permanent staff with volunteers and (underpaid) self-employed workers.

In the museum sector, this trend is even more extreme. In mid-July, the Visual Arts Platform sent another an open letter to the new municipal museum in Breda. That had issued vacancies for unpaid jobs in vital top positions.

Slave-free art?

State-subsidised museums are also leading the way in not paying artists for the preparatory work of exhibitions, just as theatre companies do not pay or only partially pay rehearsal periods and save on design costs through their set design as a competition.

The formation, currently in holiday mode, has an interesting issue on its hands. Cultural infrastructure was already at risk. Art creators are now in real trouble.