As part of "Hi, Figures!", Statistics Netherlands today released updated figures on the performing arts in the Netherlands. These show a cautious recovery, although the consequences of the 2011 interventions by the VVD and PVV are still painfully visible. The figures show that theatre in particular is struggling. There, not only did the number of plays decline in recent years (from 12062 to 11524), audiences also stayed away more and more often (from 2,015,000 to 1,864,000). In the south, however, something else is going on.
Southern Netherlands, we should think mainly of North Brabant and Limburg. There, as in the rest of the country, the number of playings grew in 2017 in all genres except pop music. In the carnival provinces, 232 fewer pop concerts were held in 2017 than in 2016, but despite this, the total number of pop visitors increased by 38,000 to 1,083,000. This means there were fewer concerts, but those that were there attracted significantly more audiences.
Growth
Much more striking is the growth in drama and dance. Whereas the rest of the Netherlands sees a decline in those very genres, in the south both the number of playtimes and the number of visitors in drama and dance increase. Now these are marginal increases of 18 theatre evenings respectively bringing in 1,000 extra visitors and 56 dance performances attracting 10,000 more spectators, they are breaks in trend with the rest of the country, where everything is rising except drama and dance.
It could just be that the deviation from the norm in the south is largely due to two festivals. The drop in pop offerings could then be due to the disappearance of Tilburg's Incubate festival, which mainly brought many concerts on small stages. The growth of Theatre Festival Boulevard in Den Bosch, could explain the increase in theatre and dance. At that festival, the number of small theatre performances with a capacity of around 50 seats increased, as did the number of larger dance performances, which could hold 200 spectators.
Toneelgroep Maastricht
Another important growth factor for the south is the success of Toneelgroep Maastricht. Its performances The Advocaat and Pinkpop set an absolute audience record in 2017.
So the fact that the rest of the country lags behind has to do with clearly local or regional influences, which are both artistic and financial in nature (Brabant still enjoys after financial injection by the sale of the regional energy company.) So whether the deviation from the norm will continue in 2018 and 2019 remains to be seen. In Limburg, Toneelgroep Maastricht is still going like clockwork, but Tilburg is saying goodbye to another pop festival after the 2018 edition, namely Mundial, which had to file for bankruptcy this year after a few languishing years.
Oversupply
Overall, it can be argued that in the theatre and dance sector, the negative impact of some of the policy choices of the Fons Podiumkunsten are becoming visible. The Fund recognises this, by the way: the subsidy's emphasis on the number of shows rather than the number of productions creates production pressure. If a group fails to reach the number of performances with one production (due to disappointing quality or oversupply), they quickly make a second production, which in turn leads to possible loss of quality and oversupply. This vicious circle is clearly visible in CBS figures.
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