It's official: 15 million extra for Performing Arts Fund

In several places around the country, corona rules are currently being flouted as the champagne has been opened. The companies and creators who depend on the Performing Arts Fund for their existence, and who were all found good by the advisory committees, will now also get their money, even if they fell on the wrong side of the saw line. It was already announced, it was also leaked, but so now it is official because it is in the million note state.

On top of the 15 million, the ministry also talks of 2 million being set aside for regional distribution in six provinces, namely Zeeland, Flevoland, Limburg, Drenthe, Overijssel and Friesland. That money is not new, but comes from the previous structural increase in the culture budget of 80 million a year, which was the dowry with which Ingrid Van Engelshoven once took office. A ministry spokesperson stressed that this is not about the so-called 'cash shifting' with which the ministry made such a name for itself in recent reigns.

Matching

In the parliamentary letter that went out this afternoon, the minister said: 'In addition, I follow the advice of the Council for Culture to give an extra impulse to the cultural infrastructure in the provinces of Flevoland, Friesland Drenthe, Zeeland and Limburg. Because of a similar position, I am adding Overijssel to this list. I will use the €2 million available annually from the 'Verbreding en Vernieuwing' matchmaking scheme for this purpose. In this way, the cultural infrastructure, in places where it is currently less robust, will be strengthened.'

What did succeed thanks to cash transfers was the rescue of Noorderslag and Scapino. For Scapino, the subsidy ceiling for the dance sector has now been raised, at the expense of the museum purchasing fund. The same fund is also the source of a 'project subsidy' for Noorderslag. That Groningen showcase festival will thus not enter the Basic Infrastructure, but must continue for four more years on the basis of annual allocations. The museum purchasing fund is as much as 9.5 million lighter thanks to these actions, so it is to be hoped that members of the Royal House will not be selling out on art in the coming years.

Eindhoven also gets an extra five tonnes a year, for the Next Nature Network, thanks to VVD's El Yassini.

Half discount

As this is D66 culture minister Van Engelshoven's presumably last budget year, the press release once again emphasises that a total of 95 million extra has now come into the culture budget during her tenure. It is too early to draw far-reaching conclusions. It has cost more blood, sweat and tears than is good for a healthy cultural climate. For now, therefore, it can only be seen as almost a halving of the rancorous cuts of the PVV-VVD-CDA cabinet that Halbe Zijlstra spearheaded.

This half-recovery is not enough to allow the cultural sector to continue as before. Should there ever be a new normal after Corona, a total redesign of the subsidy system will be inevitable. Talks on that can now continue, with a little more fat on the bones. That is a win.

PS: In an earlier article, we spoke of the price the VVD would charge for increasing the culture budget. We now know that it amounts to eight tonnes. After all, the Performing Arts Fund had asked for 15.8 million, but only gets 15. Must be cut anyway. That's how The Hague works. 

See the new figures below: