Who will pick up the gauntlet? Amateur arts call for system innovation

As a cultural strategist, I have worked for years at the intersection of policy and practice. In 2024, I decided to delve deeply into amateur music: a domain to which I am personally attached as a clarinetist, but which is often only indirectly recognised in policy. What started as a practical exploration soon became a strategic deep dive, in which I stumbled upon a field of tension much broader than music alone. It goes to the heart of how we assess cultural participation, quality and initiative in the Netherlands.

Two practical examples show this razor-sharp: the Dutch Symphonic Wind Orchestra Excelsior (DSWO) and Sophia's Vereniging from Loon op Zand. They are models for a new reality of hybrid cooperation, non-formal power and artistic quality outside classical policy structures. But where practice is ahead, policy often lags behind. And that calls for reflection - and action.

The DSWO: craftsmanship without subsidies

In the summer of 2025, the Dutch Symphonic Wind Orchestra (DSWO) played five concerts in northern France. Not in small venues, but for audiences of many hundreds to a thousand per concert. The orchestra consists of a mix of top amateurs and professionals: musicians, producers, technicians, caterers, security teams and artistic directors. Together, they form a temporary, project-based ensemble that runs on dedication, artistic skill and networking capacity. An initiative that started 27! years ago and had its last edition this summer.

What stands out:

1. There is no formal subsidy.
2. There is no fixed structure (such as a foundation or association).
3. It does have professional level, audience impact and organisational ability.

DSWO is entirely driven by initiative, not an institutional framework. This way of working shows that when you give people space, they realise quality and reach that existing subsidy schemes can rarely guarantee. It is an example of non-formal power in optima forma.

Sophia's Vereeniging: local support without a home base

At the same time, I played from November 2024 at Sophia's Vereeniging, a local amateur orchestra that lost its home base in Loon op Zand and had to move to Moergestel. What was in danger of disappearing was actually given new energy thanks to local support: residents, the municipality and informal networks provided space for anchoring and relaunching, until accommodation in Loon op Zand was realised.

Sophia's Society operates on a limited budget but with a lot of professional commitment: conductors, teachers and organisers are partly paid, partly voluntary. The group is close-knit, the quality high, the audience reach stable , but has challenges to maintain local identity, after all, many musicians come from far away.

Both examples show: the future of amateur art does not lie exclusively in locally anchored associations with statutes, but in hybrid coalitions organised flexibly, initiative-driven and professionally.

The skew in policy

Against this dynamic is a policy structure still largely built around formal associations.

Some key facts:

1. Only 11% of amateur artists in the Netherlands participate in formal associations or clubs (Monitor Amateurkunst 2023).
2. About 55% of Dutch people (≥6 years) practice artistic activities weekly - an average of 8 hours per week.
3. In music, almost 20% operates entirely informally, without association or foundation
4. Yet almost all subsidy schemes (such as Cultural Participation Fund) are linked to a statutory organisational form: a foundation, association or cooperative. And a local association cannot apply independently without getting other layers of government involved.

This is where a systemic flaw arises: policy frameworks almost exclusively recognise what is formally organised - not what is artistically or socially relevant.

The Culture Council: intention versus reality

In several opinions, the Culture Council advocates "blurring the dividing line between amateur and professional." But in practice, there is no appropriate policy instrument for this blurring. Indeed, concrete questions about non-formal project forms are not answered, as my own experience showed.

This raises fundamental questions:

1. What does it mean to make policies that recognise hybrid forms of work if you don't speak to the initiators?
2. How credible is an advisory body that addresses blurring but does not develop infrastructure for it?

The reality is that non-formal and hybrid practices - like DSWO and Sophias - are not just a fringe phenomenon, but form the cultural midfield of the future. And as long as these practices remain off the radar of policy, we as a sector are missing opportunities for quality, innovation and audiences.

What is needed now: five strategic interventions

To truly future-proof the amateur arts sector, structural changes are needed at local, regional and national levels.

1. Introduce an initiative scheme for non-formal coalitions

A project grant with no obligation to have a statute, aimed at temporary collaborations between professionals and amateurs. Focused on quality, impact and collaboration - not legal form.

2. Launch a scheme for 'professionals in amateur art'

Recognise the many professionals working within amateur projects as crucial links. Think of conductors, producers, lighting and sound specialists. Support them in a targeted way, also outside association contexts. Also examine how large this professional group is in FTEs; we know this from the construction sector, too, or the agricultural sector.

3. Facilitate intermediary counters in regions

Provide low-threshold access to advice, application guidance and matchmaking - without requiring creators to work through formal structures.

4. Invest in cross-border projects (in the literal sense of the word)

Regional grant schemes are rarely tailored to projects like DSWO. A specific scheme for interregional or international cooperation for amateur arts is needed.

5. Actively collect and share practice data

Use criteria such as audience reach, professional commitment, artistic level and social impact to make visible new forms of quality.

Policy implications: the tension between conservation and transition

National monitors show a double picture:

• 61% of associations is powerful and future-proof (Amateur Arts Action Agenda 2025)
• At the same time, the number of associations is declining due to an ageing population, governance problems and falling membership numbers (Association Monitor 2024)
• In urban areas, young people are more likely to participate in informal groups than through associations

This means: conservation is not enough. Policy must allow for transition without marginalising what exists.

Finally, asking the right question

The key question for the coming years is not: how do we preserve the association model? But: How do we facilitate the potential of all forms of arts participation - formal and informal, amateur and professional?

The examples are there. The energy is there. What is needed now is policies that no longer start with structures, but with people, ideas and cooperation.

The invitation is clear: who will pick up the gauntlet?