UPDATE: House passes motion. Minister works on 'support package'. Culture Council sounds alarm. (And look what the eastern neighbours are doing!)

UPDATE Friday, March 13, 9:30am: After the Culture Council sounded the alarm on Thursday night, the House of Representatives passed a motion urging a support package for the affected cultural sector. The text of the motion, tabled by D66, Groen Links, PvdA, Partij van de Dieren, Denk and 50Plus, reads as follows:

The Chamber, having heard the deliberations,

• whereas meetings with more than 100 people are being cancelled, whereas this has a major impact on the cultural sector, whereas the percentage of freelancers in the cultural sector is 60%,
• noting that the government has taken several measures to support entrepreneurs and employers to cope with the economic effects caused by the coronavirus outbreak,
• Calls on the cabinet to work on a support package for the cultural sector to bear the case of this crisis,

and moves on to the order of the day....

Pleased that the motion was passed, the minister said: 'We will soon get around the table to see what is needed.'

Gonna wait and see. Follows below the original message from Thursday night

When a government's senior advisory board raises concerns about government decisions, we know there is serious shit going on. And so there is. First just the announcement from the council itself, emailed tonight, also quickly found on their website (they passed it on, link here):

Culture Council: concerns over corona impact on cultural sector

With the latest measures around corona, cultural life is at a standstill for the next few weeks. The council understands the necessity and inevitability of these measures. However, they do represent a hard blow to cultural institutions and creators. The cancellation of performances and closure of museums means an immediate financial problem for institutions and independent creators.

The situation is very worrying, thinks the Council for Culture, meeting this afternoon in The Hague. The council points to the emergency economic measures taken by the cabinet for SMEs and the self-employed. The council supports these measures and finds it only logical that appropriate compensatory measures for the cultural sector are also in place.

Invisible paper

Good that the Council is jumping on this, especially since it is clear that the government really has no idea what is going on here. The recreational sector is of course affected, sport is just as stagnant as culture, but the difference with sport is that the cultural sector has a huge number of independent professionals who depend entirely on performing in halls with audiences. And often also paid per performance. Who are therefore, as of now, off-limits for at least two weeks, but probably longer. That means: no income, and above all: no compensation. Because often the contracts are signed on invisible paper. That was already a forgotten point at the fair practice code, it is now a doomsday scenario.

Those playing in the 'regular' circuit are still best off. Often there are clauses in contracts, there are subsidy pots to cover the worst losses. But that is less true for big shows like Media Lane's Hello Dolly. Now those still have a few euros in the bank to cover losses. The jazz saxophonist whose trio is going to miss 18 schnabs in 10 days, and more after that, usually does not have that savings.

Entrepreneurial risk?

Cultural entrepreneurs are more dependent on the business cycle than anyone else, and if all goes well, they have covered themselves against it. After all, doing business is taking risks, so you make sure you can absorb a setback. But the Corona crisis is not your everyday, calculable setback. More than two weeks without income is bad enough, but while the meters for electricity, insurance and maintenance are running, a total lockdown a complete disaster.

And the dicky thing is, the government does have compensation for 'SMEs', and so hospitality entrepreneurs can count on some form of relief. That compensation only does not apply to the small self-employed, the ZZP'ers, who are completely dependent on the very hospitality industry. That the Culture Council is now asking the government for help is nice, and more than desirable. The question is whether that same government, which only last week let it be known that fair payment is something the sector itself must solve, will now move.

When this crisis is over, the barrenness in the unsubsidised cultural sector could be much worse than you can imagine. But even among small, subsidised production hubs, the number of bankruptcies without government support could grow. Harm Lambers, former director of Utrecht's Theatre Kikker: 'The consequences are there not only in the unsubsidised sector, but undoubtedly also among groups that have meagre project subsidies. These have no buffer and need buyouts to pay their staff (actors, technicians), mostly self-employed. Those are going to pay the price.'

Rescue from the Germans obvious.

And then there were the Germans. Tonight, the Federal Minister of Culture brought the following message outside:

'In view of the cancellation of cultural events and the noticeable drop in attendance due to the coronavirus, Culture Minister Monika Grütters has expressed her support for cultural institutions and artists:
"I am aware that this situation is a major burden on the cultural and creative industries and can cause considerable unrest, especially for smaller institutions and independent artists," Grütters said.

The federal government's commissioner for culture and media recommends that federally funded cultural institutions follow the advice of the Robert Koch Institute. According to them, larger events should be cancelled, especially those taking place in confined spaces. In the case of smaller events, one should consider whether it is justified to hold such events given the circumstances of the individual case.

"In this situation, however, we also recognise that culture is not a luxury that one indulges in in good times, but that we now see how much we miss it if we have to do without it for a certain time," Grütters said. "If we do recommend cancelling events in this situation, we will do so because we are currently dealing with an exceptional emergency situation."

Grütters continued: "Artists and cultural institutions can rely on this, especially given the living and production conditions of the cultural, creative and media industries: I won't let them down! We have their concerns in mind and will ensure that the special needs of the cultural sector and creative people are taken into account when it comes to support measures and liquidity support." She therefore suggested that the Federal Government invite cultural and media sector representatives to the upcoming discussions on support measures. "We must respond to and compensate for hardships and emergencies for which we are not responsible. This should be worthwhile not only for the economy, but also for our cultural landscape, which has been hit hard by the cancellations," Grütters said.'

Good to know

A spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science informed on Thursday night that the conclusion that "the government is not offering compensation" is premature. We hope so too.