Brabant’s cultural sector is closely linked to society

The cultural sector in North Brabant is deeply engaged with society. It places great emphasis on public engagement activities, demonstrates a strong commitment to social projects, boasts a financially sound voluntary sector, and is reaching an ever-wider audience of children and young people through cultural education.

At the same time, the cultural infrastructure is relatively modest, cultural participation lags behind that of other provinces, and there are inequalities in cultural participation.

The cultural sector in Brabant is proving to be financially resilient, with growing own-source income and a wide range of offerings, but it is also vulnerable, with expenditure rising sharply, whilst government spending on culture is not keeping pace.

This is evident from the research The Value of Culture 2026 – by Het PON & Telos, the Boekman Foundation, Pyrrhula Research Consultants and Kunstloc Brabant.

A profile of Brabant in 12 points

Every two years, ‘Waarde van cultuur’ takes a close look at the cultural sector in Brabant. The current situation in Brabant is compared with that in the rest of the Netherlands; Brabant’s local authorities can compare their data with one another; and trends over time are identified. On 10 September, the research findings will be presented at the Verkadefabriek in Den Bosch.

Based on the survey, we have drawn up 12 overarching conclusions which, taken together, illustrate the value and significance of culture in Brabant. On waardevancultuur.nl all conclusions are explained in detail and substantiated.

• Compared with other provinces, North Brabant has a modest cultural infrastructure, with few cultural organisations per capita.
• Despite this modest cultural infrastructure, these organisations manage to put on a relatively large number of events, thereby reaching an ever-growing audience.
• Cultural practitioners and organisations in Brabant are actively involved in social projects and often regard this as a core activity.
• Despite the attention paid to this issue both within the sector and in policy, participation in cultural activities remains unevenly distributed. Almost all forms of cultural participation – whether attending events or taking part in cultural activities – are more common amongst those with higher professional or university education. This is in line with the national picture.
• Young people (aged between 16 and 29) take part in cultural activities more often than other age groups, both as visitors and as participants, online and offline (this varies depending on the cultural activity).
• From 2025, all municipalities in Brabant will be taking part in the ‘Quality Cultural Education’ programme for cultural education in schools, and pupil numbers have risen.
• Two-thirds of the people of Brabant take part in cultural activities on a weekly or monthly basis. The majority of the people of Brabant engage in cultural activities individually and informally, for example at home and without taking lessons.
• Most amateur arts organisations in Brabant are in a sound financial position, with more organisations growing than shrinking and a stable pool of volunteers. The proportion of people in Brabant who are members of a cultural organisation or association will be the same in 2025 as it was in 2023.
• Just over two-thirds of people in Brabant believe that art and culture are important to society. This figure has fallen in recent years (from 83% in 2017 to 68% in 2025).
• Financially, the cultural sector in Brabant is proving resilient: its own revenue has increased in recent years. At the same time, its financial foundation is under pressure: costs are rising sharply and a larger proportion of the budget is being covered by one-off grants.
• Local authorities remain by far the most important source of funding for culture in North Brabant: 69% of the multi-year grants in BrabantStad (a partnership of the largest local authorities) comes from local authorities.
• The creative sector in Brabant is growing: both the number of businesses and the number of self-employed people rose significantly between 2017 and 2024, by 38% and 23% respectively. Employment (the number of jobs) is also rising.

New in this edition: In-depth research into young people and culture

Young people participate in cultural activities more often than other age groups. This is evident from *The Value of Culture 2026* as well as from previous editions of this study. Attending festivals is their favourite activity. There are clear differences between various groups of young people. Young people in VMBO and MBO education make less of a clear distinction between culture and leisure, whilst students on arts courses and VWO pupils, on the other hand, demonstrate a broad cultural interest. For all young people, cost is a significant barrier, and due to the demands of work, school, travel time and sport, they have little scope for new initiatives.

Young people and culture

About the study

‘The Value of Culture’ is an initiative by Kunstloc Brabant, Het PON & Telos, Pyrrhula Research Consultants and the Boekman Foundation, commissioned by BrabantStad. As well as providing a comprehensive overview of Brabant, the website offers a dedicated municipal profile for each of the seven major towns in Brabant. A dashboard allows anyone to explore the research data for themselves. For this edition, the website and the dashboard have been completely revamped, expanded and made more user-friendly.

From 8 September, you can visit waardevancultuur.nl take a closer look at the results.

10 September: Presentation on ‘The Value of Culture’ at the Verkadefabriek

What is the state of cultural life in Brabant? How is the cultural offering rated, how do funding flows work, and where can we see changes over time? With ‘The Value of Culture 2026’, we are using data and analysis to shed light on these issues. During the presentation – on 10 September from 9.30 am to 1.30 pm – you’ll gain an insight into the key trends and what they mean.

Ionica Smeets is this morning’s keynote speaker, and Deputy Bas Maes will kick off the morning’s proceedings.

This fifth edition of the monitor focuses specifically on implementation. How do you translate insights into concrete actions, policy and programme planning?