For future municipal councils: take a look at how Drachten found its strengths

The House of Representatives elections are less than a year behind us. The start of the new cabinet a month. Local council elections are coming up. And in the meantime: the clash between municipalities and the state, as witnessed, for instance, in January 2022, sharp statements by VNG chairman Jan van Zanen. If nothing changes, the freshly elected councillors are going to have a tough time with municipal finances. It is well known: free play was already low there. Culture will bear the brunt of it. The VNG's call for full corona compensation for the culture sector may therefore be seen in a broader context.

Local cultural facilities like libraries, centres for the arts or museums may have suffered less directly from the art cuts of Rutte I a decade ago, but once again they have felt the effect of the implemented decentralisations in other sectors. You saw it coming: austerity, decentralisation, reorganisation, a three-pronged approach that would lead to lumps. The collateral damage hit the music school and/or colleagues. In the pre Rutte era, there were cuts too. Often under the slogans 'privatisation', 'recalibration' and 'slimming down government'. There was, with a happy exception here and there, no mood to invest precisely in a strong local cultural infrastructure.

Arts '92

With the election campaigns in sight, Kunsten'92, knowledge centre LKCA, in particular, but also the Creative Industries Federation, for example, are going to bombard local politicians. If you want to stand up for strong municipal policy, it starts with an emphasis on the obvious, autonomous value of cultural supply. But besides that, there are so many more forces to be identified, such as the economic or the social. Still too little do we count the qualitative and quantitative yield of these other values in the local context. It is super good that the various organisations are now forcefully putting them forward. In doing so, there is always a certain risk: that they are generalisations, perhaps too abstract, perhaps too applicable to Rotterdam and not to Capelle aan de IJssel. How nice would it be to make the translation per municipality?

Take a municipality like Smallingerland. I don't want to speak of an average municipality, because do average municipalities exist? But in terms of size, composition of the population and many other characteristics, Smallingerland is neither at the top nor at the bottom of all sorts of lists. Some 56 thousand inhabitants, living in the urban core (Drachten) or the spacious countryside around it. Twenty per cent over-65s. Ten per cent residents of non-Dutch origin. A broadly composed municipal council - ten political groups - including local interest. Drachten, originally a village, grew big from the first Philips establishment. With urban allure. Architectural firm Van den Broek and Bakema really did more than just rebuild Rotterdam. Drachten gained its urban allure thanks to them.

A municipality with core cultural facilities: Theatre De Lawei, Popcentrum Iduna, Library Drachten | Smallingerland and Museum Dr8888.

The aforementioned four cultural institutions asked me in early 2021 if I could map out with them the added value for the local society and if I could explain this to groups of the city council. I inventoried the 'eight strengths of Drachten' and together we translated that into the day-to-day practice of their offerings and their public significance. The eight values are not new; they have been put forward individually or in combinations more often, but perhaps not yet as a whole and then consistently translated into practice in one municipality.

The Handbook for local administrators from Kunsten'92 and Federatie Creatieve Industrie, 9 February 2022 also juxtaposes a large number of forces, with cases in a variety of municipalities and good suggestions for practice. For the economic aspect, the Handbook refers to my publication "Eight Forces of Culture". This publication - with the necessary references - can be read at http://www.wevragenerik.nl/acht-krachten-van-cultuur. I summarise it in this article.

The publication would not have been possible without the initiative and cooperation of the directors of Schouwburg De Lawei, Library Drachten|Smallingerland, Poppodium Iduna and Museum Dr8888. For a complete picture, amateur life in the municipality should also be highlighted even more strongly.

Imponderable

About the autonomous or experiential value we will not discuss at length here: either it is obvious or it is not. What the Mattheus Passion or Rijneveld's latest collection triggers in someone personally is immeasurable and imponderable. Interestingly, in Drachten, Poppodium Iduna applies the principle of 'experiencing in three stages': rejoice, experience, remember. The stage therefore offers extra information about performing artists in advance precisely because of the rejoicing. And afterwards there is material, such as photo reports, that helps the memory to hold on to memories.

The economic value of culture is comparatively the most described. It is found, for example, in the business climate of a town, in its significance for tourism, in employment figures or a spatial quality. The four institutions in Drachten attract an average of almost 500,000 visitors a year. This has an impact on visits to shops and restaurants. In big cities, quantitative research has been done on this, although beware of hard conclusions. Recent economic research on both Schiphol and Aachen- Maastricht airports to substantiate their significance also provoked debate. What can you really attribute as economic gains? Nevertheless, we can safely say: cultural visits also lead to spending elsewhere.

Then there is the employment. Outside corona time, the four institutions in Drachten employ about 130 staff, some of them salaried. Their combined turnover is over 10 million euros, half of which is municipal subsidy. Conversely: the municipal subsidy of 5 million enables a commensurate amount of own income.

Inclusiveness

The binding value of culture becomes more easily visible in note language than in reality. Yet a municipality and organisations can be very concrete about it. The Drachten|Smallingerland Library is open for free walk-in visitors and thus also has a connecting, socio-cultural function. Schouwburg De Lawei organises the annual New Year party and invites specific groups throughout the year: AZC residents or local residents. The cultural sector's own emphasis on diversity and inclusiveness may contribute to many more Dutch citizens feeling that they also belong, to culture, to society. Many newcomers confirm that they have internalised Dutch in Dutch culture through Dutch songs, children's books, drama. Museum DR8888 has special programmes for target groups, including status holders. They work as volunteers in the museum. Young people are invited to create their own exhibitions or a magazine.

Volunteering has a great connecting value by itself. In Smallingerland, the four institutions mentioned offer work to around 350 volunteers. When organised well, it cuts both ways: practical help with technology, in the cloakroom or behind and a meaningful use of time for those involved.

In addition, leisure art as a connecting force should not be underestimated. LKCA regularly publishes about it. Some 43 per cent of the Dutch actively participate in art and 37 per cent do so collectively. The individual and social significance of choirs, corps, ensembles or painting classes will also be great in the Frisian community.

Amateurs

The educational valuee offered by cultural institutions runs mainly along the lines: education, adult education, cultural citizenship, talent development and literacy. Museum DR888 uses internationally widely used methods such as "Visual Thinking" and "Ways of looking". Theatre De Lawei organises close cooperation between educational institutions, subject teachers, arts professionals and between cultural institutions. The library shows children and adults the way on digital information, use of tablets and smartphones or tax issues. It supports reading clubs and offers 'the Library at School'. Amateur pop bands can train in technique and repertoire at stage Iduna.

The museum world has adopted the concept 'Collectiewaarde' coined. In Drachten, much can be seen of Theo van Doesburg, De Stijl and Dada and of architects from this period. Yet it is not only in museums that our collective cultural heritage is preserved and transferred. For our literary treasures, national musical harvest and accumulated theatre repertoire, we visit stages, libraries, museums in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Zevenaar or Drachten. The library in the latter municipality has a book collection of 85,000 titles. It now has an e-book collection of 28,000 titles. The theatre offers contemporary repertoire, but has much on the shelves that belongs to our shared historical collection.

That arts and culture contributing to health and healthcare has been getting more attention in recent years. Also internationally, for instance at World Health Organisation WTO. Sector organisations LKCA and ZonMW have jointly explored possibilities for elderly care, for example. What about in Smallingerland? There, for example, the museum participates in the 'Unforgettable' project, rolled out by the Stedelijk Amsterdam and Van Abbe Eindhoven, for people with dementia and their families. The library, among others, offers the 'Feel Good' programme that teaches health skills to vulnerable people. Schouwburg De Lawei offers special programmes focusing on feeling good about yourself, about loneliness, dementia or stress, for example.

Drachten|Smallingerland Library took sustainability as a spearhead in programming. This included topics such as 'living without gas'. The library organised information evenings on sustainable solutions and facilitated the training of energy coaches. Schouwburg de Lawei acquired the 'Green Key Gold' as a hallmark for sustainable creative enterprise.

Energy saving

When it comes to sustainability culture's strength lies partly in its relatively low impact on the environment and energy. Partly also in its exemplary role in areas such as energy saving. But the sector also actively contributes to awareness and innovation, as in the example of the local library. The creative industry, in particular, shows itself to be good at developing new concepts. The nationwide 'Idols' project was just one illustration of this.

As a final value, I mention here the regional strength of the cultural sector, made visible in Friesland during Capital of Culture 2018. Regional strengths include contributing to regional identity and connection and preserving regional history, tangible and intangible heritage. The institutions are a link in the overall regional facility structure, but also switch between the national cultural offer and the region. In a Frisian municipality like Smallingerland, this aspect naturally takes on an extra dimension. The local institutions offer Frisian-language programmes, they preserve and transfer Frisian culture. They were involved in Cultural Capital 2018 and participate in the 'Legacy' programme of this project. Examples of Frisian offerings from Drachten: from Frisian theatre performances to Frisian books in the library, and from regional pop projects to exhibitions such as Frisian Expressionism.

It would be nice if all over the country aldermen, civil servants, councillors and cultural institutions - stimulated in part by the Handreiking by Kunsten 92 and FCI and by the example in Smallingerland - looked together for all the strengths of culture in their municipalities. It could be an impetus in the new period to now really give shape to what often remains an empty concept: coherent policy.