Culture Council says 'No, unless' to Cinekid. So does it still have to prove itself?

For the most beautiful and creative youth films, Cinekid has been the place to be for more than 30 years. The festival that is also a leading youth film festival internationally. You shouldn't think about it disappearing. How likely is that? The Culture Council recommends ending the OCW subsidy. Unless. Unless there are measurable objectives, more audiences and Cinekid strengthens its financial position. And at least makes it concretely clear exactly how that will happen. Has the not-yet-in-office new director been spooked by this?

"Not really," is the answer from Heleen Rouw, who has been in charge since 6 January this year. On the Cinekid website she even calls the Culture Council's advice an "encouragement".

Work to be done

"I took office in January with the idea that there is a lot of work to do. I wrote the plan for the Culture Council in three weeks, including a renewed focus and vision. It had to be done very quickly, which is why it has not yet been worked out in great detail. So the Council's reaction is not unexpected, although I had hoped for a 'Yes, provided'."

"That the opinion has become 'No, unless' is unfortunate, because in the meantime we have long been working on our new plans. This has to go to the Council in November. That should not be a problem, although it is inconvenient that it runs parallel to the challenge of organising a festival this year that will look very different because of the corona situation."

"But reactions I have received from the Culture Council do give me confidence."

According to the opinion, the Culture Council supports Cinekid in terms of content, but insists on measurable objectives, more audiences and a firmer financial position.

So what is this new focus that Cinekid wants to realise?

For all children

"First and foremost, we want to be a festival for ALL children. So not just for children of parents who are already familiar with what Cinekid offers. We want to position ourselves more broadly. In doing so, there should also be a place for big Dutch youth films at Cinekid."

"We want to achieve this widening of audiences not only nationwide, but also through activities in neighbourhoods and districts. We want to cooperate more with film theatres and connect to the programming that is already there. Not just in the autumn holidays, but more throughout the year. Many discussions are already taking place, there are many ideas. Among other things, Cinekid can help film theatres to promote youth films, for instance with a Cinekid label."

Storytelling

"In addition, we want to integrate the Medialab more into the programme. Film should come first, but of course the media world of children has changed. It is still about the creativity of storytelling, but keeping in mind the much more diverse media landscape that children are now used to."

On criticism of the financial situation:

"Own income from ticket sales has to go up, but you can't compare Cinekid with other big festivals. A children's film festival will never be able to achieve the same level of own income."

The Culture Council notes in the opinion that other festivals are also engaging in programmes for children. Recently, for example, we saw that when the corona crisis broke out, the Taartrovers Film Festival had very quickly rigged up a home viewing programme for children. What did Cinekid do then?

"We also sought out the children. Not with our own website but through social media. For example, we have engaged with the target audience on Insta."

"But we are definitely looking to collaborate with Taartrovers, the Dutch Film Festival and others. There is a lot of dialogue going on. In this, Cinekid claims the position of expert and wants to build on it. Cinekid should be the platform where everything comes together."

As for those concrete plans and figures that the Culture Council misses: according to Rouw, it was difficult to work that out in such a short time and in a relatively concise description. Something like that is incremental, and you always work with estimates.

Declining visits

Asked how serious then is this drop in attendance figures cited by the Council, Rouw gives the following figures:

Year	visits
2017	66.555
2018	69.479
2019	62.039

Bottlenecks

These are festival visits in the autumn holidays, Amsterdam plus nationwide. But without the extra activities throughout the year. This does not immediately look like a disaster scenario, although Rouw does acknowledge that last year, she apparently did not succeed enough in making it clear to the target audience what wonderful and special new films were on show. So partly the recent drop would be a matter of not optimal communication, partly she also notes that there were technical problems with website and ticket sales.

As for the possible competition from major cinema titles, she notes that a good connection with commercial cinemas is important. Of course, a new Pixar and Cinekid should not be allowed to thwart each other.

Also very important according to Rouw is that Cinekid is a platform where makers of youth films feel at home. That is what she wants to work towards. She has, as she says, already had many inspiring conversations.

Optimism

So what now, if the Culture Council is unconvinced? If the requested grant of 875,000 euros (about 27% of the budget) falls away?

"That would be a very big problem, a disaster, although we would find a solution for that too. But I don't want to assume that. So far I haven't had any signs that it's going to come to that."

She believes there is good ground for optimism. Hence, the website says: "We take this opinion as encouragement and look forward to developing the plans further."