Cultural sector representatives and Culture Minister Van Engelshoven agree to continue paying self-employed workers as much as possible

Today, outgoing Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Science, the Netherlands Association for the Performing Arts (NAPK) and the Free Theatre Producers Association (VVTP) agreed to use the funds from the support packages to pay self-employed people as fully as possible. This is a prelude to broader agreements on the pass-through of the specific support packages within the entire cultural sector, which the Taskforce Cultural and Creative Sector plans to present in January. 

The conversation recognised the importance of creators, technicians and other self-employed people to the cultural sector. Without this group, many concerts, plays and other performances would not come to fruition. To maintain a rich and diverse cultural offering, now and after the corona crisis, it is important that the creative and essential knowledge and skills of this group remain available within the sector.

Restrictive measures to combat coronavirus have restricted and banned cultural displays. With this, self-employed people in the sector have a lot of uncertainty about their income and their position in the sector. Therefore, the interlocutors agreed to use funds from the specific support packages for the cultural sector to continue to pay this group as fully as possible for commissions given. The announced replenishment scheme, under which up to 85% of tickets of limited or cancelled performances will be bought up and which is currently being worked out by the Performing Arts Fund, is a tool in this regard. This replenishment scheme will be of great importance to the hard-hit performing arts sector.

Despite the current lockdown, the conversation also looked forward. The parties consider it important that new contracts for self-employed workers in the sector are also awarded. Therefore, they aim to continue providing orders to this group within the financial possibilities of the support packages.

Minister Van Engelshoven: "I am pleased that the sector is willing to take its responsibility and land the specific support where it is needed most. This way, we keep creators such as directors, scriptwriters, actors, technicians at work as much as possible. In doing so, we ensure a strong and proud cultural and creative sector that is so incredibly valuable."

Mirjam Terpstra (director NAPK): "Since the first lockdown, our members have worked to use the support package as much as possible to compensate self-employed people and create new commissions. We aim to use the current support package to once again contribute to maintaining jobs in the performing arts sector."

Dian Hoelscher (VVTP director): "The free (non-subsidised) theatre producers also consider it of great importance that all the highly valued and indispensable self-employed in the performing arts sector continue to work. We trust that the specific support packages offered by Minister Van Engelshoven will allow us to arrive at a scheme that does justice to the desired trickle down effect as much as possible. After all, theatre producers are nowhere without the self-employed."