Additional funds for cultural sector worked out

The coronavirus outbreak has a major impact on artists, creators and organisations in the cultural and creative field. The cabinet has therefore taken several measures, which institutions and creators in the sector can make use of. These include cabinet-wide generic measures, specific measures for the sector and an additional package of €300 million.

Minister van Engelshoven: 'Despite the investments we are making, the corona crisis remains a huge challenge for the cultural and creative sector. 30 - and if possible 100 visitors for theatres and cinemas by 1 July - is a first step to restart, but for many this is absolutely not a revenue model. And audiences having to keep 1.5m distance from each other also leads to much lower than usual visitor numbers in museums. The government is doing all it can to preserve jobs, especially in this sector. Every day we look at what help is needed where, and we are in continuous dialogue with the sector about this.''

Cabinet-wide generic measures

Meanwhile, 1,682 cultural entrepreneurs have been eligible for the Temporary Emergency Work Retention Bridge (NOW), which allows them to continue paying their staff. This amounts to €46 million in advances granted. For thegemoetkoming Ondernemers Geroffen Sectoren (TOGS), as of 19 May, a total of 181,210 applications had been received and 14,194 institutions in the cultural and creative sectors had been granted €4,000. That totals €56.78 million in awards in the cultural and creative sectors. More will be known in June about the number of self-employed people from the cultural sector who made use of the Temporary Bridging Scheme for Self-Employed Entrepreneurs (TOZO); it is estimated that some 92,000 entrepreneurs from the sector are eligible for support here. On top of this, the government is in talks with fellow governments about additional compensation for the cultural sector, on top of the 300 million.

Elaboration of additional package of 300 million

To safeguard the unique Dutch artistic product and additionally invest in employment in this sector, €300 million has been made available. A supplementary grant or loan will help institutions, creators and entrepreneurs in the cultural and creative sector through the financially difficult first months and enable them to invest for the next season. The supplementary grants are expected to be paid out in June. Minister Van Engelshoven also adopts the advice of the Council for Culture (18 May last), which means, among other things, that there will also be broad-based leniency for the sector in subsidy year 2021. The package consists of five components.

1. € 113 million is earmarked for institutions that are part of the Basic Infrastructure 2017-2020 and a limited number of institutions funded from other parts of the budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. €40 million is made available for institutions and festivals receiving multiannual grants from the six State Culture Funds. Of this, €5 million is earmarked for film producers through the Film Fund.
2. €50 million has been earmarked for the `Opened Monuments Loan' at the National Restoration Fund. This is credit for owners of national monuments such as churches, castles and country houses, industrial heritage, mills, city restoration organisations and museum monuments who are losing income due to the corona crisis.
3. €48.5 million will be made available to support municipalities and provinces that provide additional support to regional museums, (pop) venues and film theatres. These are institutions with a regional function and national importance. For the subsidy scheme for museums at the Mondriaan Fund, €16 million is available and for the scheme for (pop) stages at the Performing Arts Fund, a maximum of €29 million is available. For film theatres, €3.5 million is available through the Film Fund.
4. €30 million goes to the Culture Start-up Loan. This is for organisations in the cultural and creative sector whose revenue model is mainly focused on own income and which cannot make use of the other measures in this package. The loan is intended for developing audience-oriented productions, programmes, exhibitions or projects.
5. €16.8 million is invested in the State Culture Funds and the Rights Sector Support Fund, which specifically support creators.

Specific support for makers

Of the €16.8 million, €11.8 million will be invested in the State Culture Funds. They themselves previously made over €15 million available. This budget complements existing schemes and focuses on work for makers in all sectors. The budget focuses on projects, work and commissions for makers. There is also room to support institutions and festivals, mostly small and medium-sized cultural enterprises.

The remaining €5 million will be released for the 'Rights Sector Support Fund', an initiative of the Federation of Copyright Interests. This federation also contributes €5 million itself, bringing the total to €10 million. This fund is there to support professionals in the creative industry in developing (new) works (books, music and films). The fund will have three components: image, writing and music. Thousands of self-employed and freelancers, artists, musicians, composers, writers, directors, performers, music publishers and producers can apply for it. The fund is currently being fleshed out by the Copyright Interests Federation.