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Orchestra members fired without waiting pay? A new collective agreement could cause that

On Thursday 27 October, FNV KIEM, the Nederlandse Toonkunstenaarsbond (Ntb) and NAPK sector orchestras discussed the terms of employment of musicians employed by the Randstedelijke and Regionale Orkesten that fall under the collective labour agreement Dutch Orchestras. Out of a total of 11 Dutch orchestras, nine are covered by this collective agreement. The orchestras of the Muziekcentrum van de Omroep and the... 

Read More "Orchestra members fired without waiting pay? A new collective agreement could cause that

Even if they quit, Halbe Zijlstra is cracking down on culture clubs

Letters from Culture Secretary Zijlstra are dangerous, especially when they are about figures and schemes. And we haven't seen the latest one for now. So right now, it is about 'friction costs' for the cultural sector. These are the costs that subsidised institutions have to incur when their existence ends due to the subsidy freeze. Think redundancy payments, damages, flower arrangements for funerals of suicides and selling real estate at a loss.

Read More "Even if they quit, Halbe Zijlstra is cracking down on culture clubs

Performing Arts Fund announces plans; institutions must perform with performances

Since the decision in June to reduce the BIS, many eyes have focused on the Performing Arts Fund, which has an annual budget of €60 million to give away. However, the Fund is also facing a cut: the budget for the multiannual scheme will be reduced by 40% from 40 to 24.5 million euros. The multiannual scheme is meant for... 

Read More "Performing Arts Fund announces plans; institutions must perform with performances

Sports sponsor pays top price, culture sponsor sits front row for a pittance and expects no less

The smallest opera company in the Netherlands beats the biggest. Not in visitor numbers, not in subsidy received, but in bringing in sponsorship money. On closer inspection, however, it becomes painfully clear once again that there is no giving culture in the Netherlands and sponsorship is limited to a pittance. A rattling giving law will not change that.

Read More "Sports sponsor pays top price, culture sponsor sits front row for a pittance and expects no less

Reply Zijlstra (culture) to question on friction costs confirms chamber did not pay attention in June

It came as a shock that still hasn't quite worked out. Haf September, dozens of arts organisations received a letter from the State Secretary for Culture, informing them that they could start using the subsidy they thought they were getting for projects until 31 December 2012 for redundancy procedures, selling property at a loss and staff lawsuits against... 

Read More "Reply Zijlstra (culture) to question on friction costs confirms chamber did not pay attention in June

Weekers (finance): 'No reason yet to reverse VAT increase' despite dramatic start to season

The story continues. On 1 July the VAT increase came into effect, on 8 July NRC quoted Halbe Zijlstra as saying that "it was not the most mature scheme" of this cabinet, words he later nuanced during parliamentary questions. In late August, the Berenschot report came out with startling figures: the VAT increase would mainly cost the Netherlands money rather than generate it. Meanwhile, the Music... 

Read More "Weekers (finance): 'No reason yet to reverse VAT increase' despite dramatic start to season

Saskia Kriekhaus has her director's job back. Now all that remains is a workplace.

She was accused of fraud and therefore suspended in September. However, a judgment has now been handed down in the summary proceedings that Saskia Kriekhaus, director of the Lucent Danstheater and the Anton Philipszaal, both in The Hague, had filed against her dismissal. And so Saskia Kriekhaus won that. So that suddenly everyone in The Hague's arts sector is heartbroken,... 

Read More "Saskia Kriekhaus has her director's job back. Now all that remains is a workplace.

Had the cabinet been a restaurant and the country's connoisseurs Johannes van Dam, Rutte could have closed the joint.

A nice side effect of the Giving Act is that it gives the tax authorities a vital role when it comes to determining what is art, and what is not. That was the outcome of the hearing on Tuesday 11 October in the House of Representatives. There, the MPs listened to people from the philanthropic sector and tax experts in turn. Outcome of the two... 

Read More "Had the cabinet been a restaurant and the country's connoisseurs Johannes van Dam, Rutte could have closed the joint.

Henk and Ingrid screwed again: Dutch tax advisers burn new Giving Act to the ground

The new Giving Act, the cultural palliative with which the Rutte Cabinet claims to be accommodating the art world, is flawed. We don't say this, because we only know about art, but this is what the Dutch tax consultants say. And they know a lot about your taxes, and little about art. Extremely reliable, in other words. And what virtues... 

Read More "Henk and Ingrid screwed again: Dutch tax advisers burn new Giving Act to the ground

Mayor Hoes provides proof: for the VVD, art is only about sport anymore

Anyone who was still left wondering what the vision of the governing VVD party on art is now out. For that vision is simple. Art is sport. According to the VVD. So said the alderman of Rotterdam, so said the spouse of top wrestler Albert Verlinde, the as mayor of Maastricht ancillary runner Onno Hoes. During the opening of the Dutch Dance Days, he gave... 

Read More "Mayor Hoes provides proof: for the VVD, art is only about sport anymore

Red Bull: the ideal power boost for languishing museums?

"If 1 person can prove that by collaborating with Red Bull, a sixteenth-century painting thins out or falls off the wall, I will stop working on it immediately." Edwin Jacobs, director of Centraal Museum Utrecht, opened his doors to the soft drink manufacturer. Under the title 'Art of Can', the museum is exhibiting artworks made from Red Bull cans. "Red Bull gives you wings,... 

Read More "Red Bull: the ideal power boost for languishing museums?

Letter Zijlstra is just a request for information. But it does include a tickable invitation to suicide

Has state secretary Halbe Zijlstra the Lower House lied or misled in June when he stated that rushing through the culture cuts was necessary to absorb friction costs? Or does it just turn out to be improper governance?

Read More "Letter Zijlstra is just a request for information. But it does include a tickable invitation to suicide

"1 billion loss? There are other figures." Halbe Zijlstra refers Berenschot report to trash.

At the end of August came the figures. And what figures they were. Due to the stacking of extreme cuts by government, provinces and municipalities, the abolition of the successful Work and Income for Artists Act and the equally successful culture card, plus the VAT increase on the arts, the Netherlands' cultural sector would end up missing out on €1 billion in revenue. Berenschot had estimated that in... 

Read More ""1 billion loss? There are other figures." Halbe Zijlstra refers Berenschot report to trash.

Budget note: We put together the cultural haircut percentages

Let's start again with yet another sloppiness of the Rutte government: that damned VAT measure on the arts, which are the only ones to be bounced to the 'normal' rate of 19%. VVD doesn't like it, CDA isn't happy about it, but, because tolerance specialist Martin Bosma once had to play a red toadstool in the school play, he has forever... 

Read More "Budget note: We put together the cultural haircut percentages

Royishment threatens Gouds Museum over sale of Dumas painting to unknown party

Ok. It is not Victory Boogie Woogie, the Mondrian painting that, in a distant and then cultural past, embarrassed ministry and municipality of Hilversum, because of the planned sale of the canvas to pay for the renovation of the town hall. Still. 'Schoolboys' by Marlene Dumas is also a canvas by a cherished painter, and you don't sell that either 

Read More "Royishment threatens Gouds Museum over sale of Dumas painting to unknown party

New Culture Council president? 'Van Klink creates a crisis himself so he can then solve it'

Pim van Klink is his name. He has been popping up everywhere lately. Especially when the malicious subsidy orientation of the cultural sector needs to be pointed out, every medium calls Van Klink first. Last week, he once again threw his hobbyhorse into the henhouse in the NRC and was invited to join Buitenhof. And according to our trench-coat-clad... 

Read More "New Culture Council president? 'Van Klink creates a crisis himself so he can then solve it'

Kick off subsidy addiction requires greater government effort than Zijlstra wants

Arts organisations are subsidy-addicted and so we are withdrawing subsidies. The VVD's approach is clear. On the exact how, they appear to need to think longer about that, now that there is so much opposition from the country. Cold Turkey, the treatment proposed by tolerance partner (nice word in this context) PVV, could well result in deaths. To... 

Read More "Kick off subsidy addiction requires greater government effort than Zijlstra wants

It's final: the format for arts subsidies until 2016 is with the chamber

We have another letter from the secretary of state for culture. Halbe Zijlstra has sent it to parliament, to make it official that from 2013 a very bleak wind is going to blow in arts land. That makes cuts of 200 million final, still excluding the probably 150 million in so-called friction costs that the ministry also has to get from somewhere (u... 

Read More "It's final: the format for arts subsidies until 2016 is with the chamber

Cackling fresh location artists prepare for Festival DE BASIS

With a few creative friends and a nice budget, romp around in a playground of many tens of acres of pristine nature. Surrounded by the remains of military might. It automatically makes you talk riotously. But that's how it goes sometimes. With art. So, to get right to the point: cuts are not always bad. For instance, divesting the... 

Read More "Cackling fresh location artists prepare for Festival DE BASIS

Rutte cabinet answers chamber questions on 'unsupported' VAT measure

That's going to be fodder for chambers exegetes, though the question is whether it will make any difference. But Halbe Zijlstra says he did not say that the VAT measure "was not the most accomplished measure in the coalition agreement. Although that is what that interview with him in NRC Handelsblad of 8 July 2011. At the time, everyone thought that was a funny

Read More "Rutte cabinet answers chamber questions on 'unsupported' VAT measure
Grassroots Arts Center in Lucas

Small arts initiatives in the US are going to have a very hard time

Opponents of government support for arts and culture quite often cite the United States of America as an example of how things can be done differently. There, according to these people, no tax money goes to art and culture, and art is there despite this. Others point out that America does have government support for art, and that much of the top art in the US is partly... 

Read More "Small arts initiatives in the US are going to have a very hard time

Delft opens with fewer chamber music surprises than other years

For another 15 years, the Delft Chamber Music Festival, so named to reflect its international character, has encompassed 15 years. Violinist Isabelle van Keulen handled the chamber music festival's programming for the first ten years, Lisa Ferschtmann - also a violinist - took over from her five years ago. But even this already successful festival fears the upcoming budget cuts. A pity, because what... 

Read More "Delft opens with fewer chamber music surprises than other years

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