No direct cuts to culture. Ministry of OCW does get heavy austerity task

The cultural sector can breathe a sigh of relief. Apart from the damning increase in VAT on all things beautiful and fragile from 9 to 21 per cent, the Basic Cultural Infrastructure (BIS) for the next four years is secured. With the inclement winds coming from the corner of PVV, VVD and BBB, this can be called a windfall. There is even a modest increase coming, and the classical music youth training chain will get 1.6 million.

For now, there is no rescue for those applicants who were found to be good, but fell below the saw line. Whether the Performing Arts Fund will still be rescued by the House in November in that regard remains to be seen. Because the negotiating edges are sharp.

Indeed, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has a huge austerity task ahead of it. Especially in science, but also in regular education. Public broadcasting will also have to cut 100 million in the long run. 

360 million cut

And then there is this passage in the general press release of the ministry: "Furthermore, subsidies will be cut up to some €360 million in the coming years due to the government-wide mandate to spend less on them. The exact details are still being worked out and will be clear in November."

To be on the safe side, we made a quick call to the ministry. Minister Bruins' spokesperson assures us that it does not include the BIS subsidy: "That is fixed for four years, so nothing can be changed about that." So what should we think about? "The ministry has a lot of small subsidy tasks, in all areas. These are subsidies that are set per year, such as for in-service or retraining for teachers. We do not know right now which of those subsidies are at risk, nor whether they include cultural subsidies. In November [when the OCW budget is debated, WS] we hope to provide more clarity on that." 

International cultural policy the bane?

So for now, the cultural sector seems to be out of the picture. Temporary repairs, as requested by the club of 59 saw lines, you can forget about. It also falls International cultural policy possibly in tatters. That is because this is funded on an annual basis, and thus likely to fall under the 360 million subsidy cut target. 

It would fit the image of this cabinet, which wants to keep foreign countries out of the country more than anything else.