Removal of Silence grant affects 40,000 children annually  

Youth dance threatens to lose national coverage

BREDA - The Culture Council's proposal to completely end the subsidy of dance company de Stilte from 2025 has major consequences for 40,000 children across the country. "It has disastrous consequences for the cultural development of children, especially in less accessible regions and outside the Randstad," argues business director Jan Baanstra.

de Stilte has been successfully creating performances for children for 30 years and serves 60,000 youth audiences annually, from the north to the south of the Netherlands. The company presents 600 performances at schools, day-care centres, in theatres, and in public spaces, and gives 1,100 dance workshops in special and regular education. To this end, it cooperates with 300 primary schools and 170 childcare centres.

With the intention to end the subsidy completely by 2025, the genre of youth dance will suddenly become inaccessible to large groups of children and Silence will have no chance to maintain the investments together with partners for the future. The offer will have to be drastically reduced if the minister ratifies the negative opinion. The consequence is already being felt. "We have had to cancel over 50 performances in Drenthe alone by spring 2025," Baanstra said. "A bottom is being broken in the accessibility of dance for children in the region."

the Silence is successful in the region

de Stilte has in recent years built up an impressive network of schools, childcare venues, theatres and cultural centres throughout the Netherlands, from Groningen to Zeeland. The complete cessation of the subsidy particularly affects children in regions where performing arts are more remote. Baanstra: "de Stilte makes dance accessible to all children, but now children outside the Randstad are particularly at risk of losing out as a result of the removal of the subsidy. This increases inequality in access to culture."

Dance helps all children in their development

Art and culture play a major role in children's development. Silence's performances give thousands of children the opportunity to be introduced to dance, an art form that contributes to their creative and emotional development. Experiencing dance performances stimulates imagination, creativity and social interaction. This is important at a time when more and more children face mental health problems and social isolation. Particularly for children with visual and hearing impairments, Silence's dance performances are a first chance for a meaningful introduction to performing arts. With the complete discontinuation of its subsidy in 2025, the company will not have a chance to sustain this with its partners.

Unnecessary capital destruction

The demise of a company that has operated internationally for many years and enjoyed recognition for its work with children is unnecessary destruction of capital and a loss for the future of Dutch dance. "Building up a national and international network like ours takes decades," Baanstra argues.

Without structural funding, the accumulated expertise and network is in danger of being lost. That would mean irreparable damage to both Silence and the wider cultural field in the Netherlands. This impending loss is endorsed by directors of schools, child care centres, theatres, centres for the arts, local and regional authorities, among others. They are willing to comment on this.