In Perspective #13 - A GOOD COUNCIL FOR ROTTERDAM? (II) - New version.

The Rotterdam Council for Arts and Culture (RRKC) has been disbanded from 1 January 2023. I wrote about this in June this year2, and previously the editor-in-chief did so3. At the time, formal decision-making in Rotterdam had yet to take place. Given the question marks in the City Council, it is safe to say that the council eventually pushed through the dissolution. Meanwhile, the Municipality has not yet made any new provision for cultural advice. It is still thinking about it while the old shoes have already been thrown away.

The Rotterdam Art Foundation that served as the support agency for the RRKC bravely remains afloat, but without mission, budget or staff. It looks like a strategic move, just as in the children's game of 'conquer land' you used to have to ensure you were already two toes ahead of the territory to be conquered. But it also seems like a consistent tribute to what Rotterdam once had: the Rotterdam Art Foundation as an engine for developing sustainable initiatives such as the International Film Festival, Dunya Festival and Poetry International.

Was Rotterdam's Arts and Culture Council a good advisor, but not seen as such? And was it okay to call him good if he apparently lacked authority and the power of persuasion among key stakeholders?

I haven't followed it closely enough to interpret that, but apparently the RRKC no longer had a natural position. This is something that an advisory council needs to work on first and foremost itself. But that is not easy. You have to advise wisely, expertly and with a long-term perspective, even - and perhaps especially - if it is not in good taste beforehand. But you must also do everything in your power, as far as you can, to keep that earth receptive. You have to get ahead of the troops, but not to the point where you get out of sight. You must dare to get ahead of the administrators, but not trip them up. You have to be able to act independently of the field, but not alienate that field.

That requires tremendous balancing skills, usually in a politically unbalanced context, faced with official sensitivity and with too few resources to do your job optimally. And if you manage to be that balancing act, it remains to be seen whether you won't still be brought down by the circus management or the public. The task does remain: advise well and keep relationships warm within the bounds of possibility.

what is "out of date"

Apparently, the councillor and his officials were not happy with the RRKC. Instead of openly discussing it, questioning its functioning and naming where the tree was crooked, it was cut down with a blunt axe. The councillor's statement that the advisory council was "out of date" speaks volumes.

How is it "out of date"? Is the fire service also "out of date" or the police or the civil service simply because you criticise them? Apparently, there was no appetite for discussion or no convincing arguments. And above all, apparently there was no vision of what the infrastructure for debate and advice should look like. While many different visions are possible there, especially for a city like Rotterdam.

the Zoutman note

Coincidentally, while clearing out my archives this very week, I came across a note, written in June 1994 on behalf of the Rotterdam Art Foundation4. It was about the mission for the RKS in the newly formed city province of Rotterdam. (The fact that that city province ultimately did not materialise is irrelevant for the moment). The report was written by Rento Zoutman, former staff member of the RKS and the later (also last) director of the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture, but at the time an independent consultant. He sought answers to the question of how the Rotterdam city province could best be served in the field of culture, and oriented himself not only on the policies of the various Rijnmond municipalities but also on the tasks of the North Holland Cultural Council (CRNH) and the South Holland Cultural Council (CRZH).

The CRZH had an advisory function, and initiating function and a, what was called in the jargon of the time, 'support function'. The CRZH provided advice to the province in a more formal setting, to municipalities in an open relationship and to the field mainly in a supportive and contributing sense. The initiating function led to projects such as: theatre during the day, a video art fair, a cultural tourism Uitkrant, a jazz festival or a project to stimulate amateur dance in the province. There were also numerous art education projects. The support function translated into services to umbrella organisations in amateur art, professional art, local history, music schools/creativity centres and so on.

As a former director of the CRZH, I too was interviewed by Zoutman for this report. Apparently, I gave the Rotterdammers the motto: "Service makes power". In other words: don't put your energy into acquiring power and competences, but make yourself indispensable through the concreteness of your projects and the quality of your advice. Furthermore, I drew attention not only to the non-organised part of the amateur art world, but also, it says: "In the enumeration of tasks, he misses the immigrant policy, which should receive a lot of attention precisely in the city province of Rotterdam."

tools for a big city

From then to now. A big city with a 'mature' cultural policy should regulate its instruments for urban culture, whether or not brought under one umbrella:

1. advising on policy and on basic infrastructure
2. (Advice on) grant awards outside the basic infrastructure
3. cultural driver/initiator
4. platform for consultation, collaboration and debate.

Policy advice does not emerge from a high tower of pedantry. Perhaps from a high tower of brainpower, but after this, the aforementioned balancing artist will still have to walk a tightrope and make contact with the outside world.

Grant advice comes on the wings of Thorbecke5. But the Thorbecke doctrine alone is too thin and risks keeping politics too far away. Again, dialogue with the uninitiated is really important.

You cannot easily define the initiative role beforehand. There has to be a place where things can arise that may fail but may just as well turn out to be seeds for successful multiyear events. It can be done without such an engine, but it will be slower and it will demand much more of initiators' own energy and perseverance.

Finally, the platform function. The local, regional and provincial culture councils that emerged in the 1950s focused mainly on private initiative, cooperation and consultation.6 But even now the government needs a discussion partner from the cultural field, even now private initiative must be given opportunities, even now cooperation and consultation can contribute to the cultural profile of a city. The fact that in Rotterdam, the major cultural institutions have increasingly found each other, also as interlocutors for the alderman, did come into play to marginalise the role of the RRKC. But if you want to give the field a voice, you have to take the whole field, including the smaller institutions and also the world of amateur art.

a retake

Rotterdam's culture alderman Kasmi gets a great re-match. It is "out of date" to define, initiate and implement cultural policy solely from City Hall. So the College will have to give its vision on how these functions for advice, collaboration and debate will be shaped. And if the councillor seeks advice on this, he will later have to carefully examine whether he thinks it is good advice or not.