Culture Council deploys design power for renewal of cultural system

The Culture Council will be given room to elaborate on the renewal of the cultural system from 2029. State Secretary Uslu of Culture and Media has asked the council to issue an opinion on this before the end of this year.

"As a council, we cannot wait to address this question together with the industry. To this end, we have now devised an innovative design process. By starting now, there really is room to fundamentally think through the system and follow it up," said chair Kristel Baele in a response.

Spearheads

Among other things, the council advocated last year in April already for renewal of the cultural system. For the future, the council envisions a subsidy system that is open to new genres and disciplines to appeal to a wide audience. An order with better accessibility to culture for everyone across the country. A vital system in which there is room for talent, experimentation and connection with young people. And an order in which, by easing the regulatory burden, there is a good balance between trust and accountability. This led to four spearheads for the new system to be designed: broaden, spread, vitalise and lighten.

Design thinking

The council wants to use the brainpower and creativity from the field for the system review. Therefore, the council has incorporated these spearheads into a design approach based on 'design thinking'. The council has now formed four so-called 'design teams', which delve into one of the four spearheads. The full breadth of the field is represented in these: from novice or advanced creator to programmer of a large stage or festival, from employee of a producing company to trainer and talent developer, from employee of a private or public fund to those of municipalities and provinces.

The design teams will work together in the coming months on building blocks for renewing the cultural system. In May, the design teams' ideas will be presented to a large group of representatives from the field. Their reflections will be included in the final advice. In addition to the design teams, three specific expert groups will consider the position of the Caribbean Netherlands in the system, funding and the pros and cons of different models for its main organisation. At regular intervals during the process, the council will also include involved stakeholders in relevant developments.

Question

The state secretary writes in the request for advice that she specifically wants to know how cultural practice among the population can be strengthened. She also wants to know how to better anticipate changing public preferences and where the opportunities lie for a better distribution of supply. At the same time, it asks how the system can be made more open to new developments in art disciplines and genres. She also asks for a discussion of the division of tasks between provinces, municipalities and central government and for a discussion of developments in the Caribbean parts of the Kingdom. Finally, the State Secretary asks to look internationally for best practices that could also be applicable in the Netherlands.

Current subsidy system

The current subsidy system will remain in place until 2029. This means that early next year, cultural institutions can apply for subsidies for the Basic Cultural Infrastructure for the period 2025-2028 (BIS '25-'28). In early April, at the request of the state secretary, the council will issue a separate advice on the application and assessment procedure for this round.