It could have been so beautiful. In a not so grey past, the Council for Culture, then under a different management, initiated a movement that would give more authority to the region outside the Randstad. That was three years ago. Now there is an (entirely justified) angry letter in the newspaper from the culture deputies of 9...
A thousand schoolchildren a day in the House of Representatives. No less than that. That's what Culture Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven wants. Costs 4.8 million. Money that you will actually pay through your theatre ticket, the library book, the museum ticket. Because real art could have been made from that 4.8 million. It is a big question why the compulsory Second Chamber visit has to be paid for from...
Today, the Culture Council comes out with one of the weaker advices in its existence. The Netherlands' highest cultural advisory body showed vision, leadership and boldness earlier this season with the 'Verkenning' and the 'Sectoradvies Muziek'. The exploration called for a reversal of subsidy flows, with urban regions taking the initiative. In the advice for the music sector, it broke...
Art subsidy cuts have been passed on to the weakest shoulders. Minister Jet Bussemaker made no bones about it in one of her latest public appearances. 'I have often praised the resilience of the sector, and we should celebrate that,' she declared yesterday at the presentation of the Fair Practice Code, 'but I also saw that subsidised institutions...
The SER report published on Friday 21 April rubs it in nicely: the cultural sector is on the verge of collapse. It is even worse than a year ago. This shows that the patience of a PvdA culture minister over the past four years has not helped. Indeed: Halbe Zijlstra's multiplier of misery is doing its job entirely as expected....
The positive effects of culture are demonstrated again and again. It is high time the sector used these facts in improving its image. Our western and southern neighbours have boosted the image of culture with a number of successful initiatives. The sports sector is another example of image building that the cultural sector can learn from. There...
Tomorrow, Culture in View, the annual OCW conference for the cultural sector, is dedicated to diversity. Although the topic was already raised by Rick van der Ploeg in the late 1990s, diversity within the cultural sector anno 2016 still lags far behind the changing demographic composition of the population. Diversity should no longer remain just an agenda item. Under the motto: No...
On the day that in the Lower House, Minister Bussemaker passes up a chance for extra money for culture, young artists further down the street are winning prizes. On Monday 21 November, the Education, Culture and Science Committee spoke to Minister Bussemaker about the Culture Budget. Something that has far-reaching implications for the culture sector. Later in the evening, the presentation of...
The NAPK (Dutch Association for the Performing Arts) is sounding the alarm bell for the performing arts. The association of employers in the performing arts is launching a petition today and submitting a second fire letter to the Lower House on 1 November. Earlier this year, NAPK already sent a letter to the Lower House. And that was then written about here. Now, in preparation for the Lower House debate on the culture budget, a second...
It really is there, although it is unclear whether there will be an additional 100 million twice or whether public broadcasting and the entire cultural sector will have to make do with one additional 100 million. But at least it is clear: as in the rest of the draft election programme, the party mainly distances itself from the VVD and the four-year...
That 10 million is officially in. The art world is doing its best to sound grateful. The employers in the performing arts, gathered in the NAPK, have sent Bussemaker a thank you. Because she is not cutting 300 million from culture, but only 290 million. The extra money raked together last year by various lobbyists and parties is now anchored in the...
Last year, arts festival Musica Sacra was all about 'the road', inspired by the many pilgrim routes that lead to holy places. This year, Maastricht is all about the 'sacrifice of love'. At first sight, an anachronistic theme, which seems at odds with sentiments in our current society. The aggression against asylum seekers, the ruthless pursuit of profit by...
'At the time, under the influence of the populists, we perhaps went too far in our attack on art subsidies.' So declared Jeroen Hatenboer, VVD member and culture alderman of the municipality of Enschede, during the annual Paradiso debate at the end of the Uitmarkt 2016. In the context of the current cabinet's sorry campaign, quite an interesting footnote, and entirely appropriate in the upcoming...
Champagne at BAK in Utrecht, deep disappointment at The New Institute in Rotterdam: the Council for Culture has spoken. Today, Thursday 19 May 2016, the first advice after the draconian art cuts by the first Rutte cabinet came out, and heads are rolling. Amsterdam loses prestigious presentation institution De Appel, in The Hague fellow institution Stroom has to redo its homework. The Orkest van het Oosten and the Gelders Orkest have to come up with merger plans within two years. In Utrecht, the city company Theater Utrecht will no longer receive funding despite artistic appreciation. Het Zuidelijk Toneel in Eindhoven Tilburg must make new plans and Opera Zuid must quickly raise its artistic quality. These are the main conclusions of the Culture Council's opinion.
As dramatic as some of this may sound, the advice is actually not, when you look over the whole battlefield. Thanks in part to
'Ultimately, of course, it ends up on my plate,' sighed Jet Bussemaker, minister of culture in cabinet Rutte II, the other day. She was speaking at the presentation of a research report into the functioning of supervisors in the cultural sector, in Amstelveen at the end of April. Because, she summed up: if supervision fails, there is no one but the minister to repair the damage.
I wrote about it a while ago. About all those people who are now barely sustaining themselves on a minimal grant amount from the Performing Arts Fund, and that they have all done a fan-tas-tic job. This is what director Henriëtte Post told me in a conversation sometime this winter. 'Based on their performance, none of the current institutions can get out of...
It will be the big task for companies and interest clubs in culture for 2016: how do we improve the image of 'the sector'? Next year - I predict - no expense will be spared to improve the culture sector's image. There will probably also be a study on how to improve that image. This...
Update 4-12-15: During the plenary discussion of the culture budget on 3 December, Messrs Monasch (PvdA) and Van Veen (VVD) withdrew the controversial amendment. Instead, an amendment was adopted in which a one-off 10 million was released from the additional proceeds of the tax on polluting companies. From this contribution, festivals will be supported, talent development facilitated and...
Apetrots they are, the MPs Jacques Monasch, Jasper van Dijk, Mona Keijzer and Alexander Pechtold. After all, they saved a youth theatre company and managed to add a few festivals to the basic cultural infrastructure of the Netherlands. In addition, they have also already earmarked an amount for some other festivals. Yesterday, the motions from the June debate were put to a vote. Almost...
It is most visible in the performing arts. Recently, a striking number of vacancies for 'business leader' have been appearing in the cultural sector. We put on some ears during the theatre festival, and then you hear something. Nobody wants to respond openly, the interests are too big and the reputations too vulnerable. We therefore sum it up here only roughly...
There is turmoil in the performing arts. This is because Culture Minister Jet Bussemaker has implemented a couple of motions from the opposition. The minister has also ignored the advice of the Council for Culture for a more balanced budget distribution. So, after much agitation on social media, we received a letter on Friday 28 August 2015. From the festivals, addressed to the minister,...
Those who apply for grants but do not receive them must be given insight into the applications of others who have been honoured. That is the most remarkable ruling by the Council of State in the case Holland Opera won against the Performing Arts Fund. Much more important for the company itself, of course: according to our highest court, in 2012 the Performing Arts Fund decided Holland...
It could just be a solution to Greece's problems: investing in culture. For Britain, at least, the softest of all sectors has proved a fertile cash cow. The cultural sector added 15 billion in value to the economy there last year, almost 3 billion more than two years ago. In other words: for every pound the government put in...
The second chamber was also keen to know what exactly Culture Minister Bussemaker meant by that 'cash shift'. After all, it was that cash shift with which she could festively announce that she would put an extra 18 million into culture, after 2017. In a letter to the chamber, the minister has now shown how creatively she can bookkeep. A few costs...
Every company 50,000 euros more. Youth theatre in the Netherlands should be very happy with the letter culture minister Bussemaker sent to the chamber last Monday. After years of squeezing under Halbe Zijlstra, finally more air for the makers. But the investment of 4 tonnes a year turns out to be a cutback. In fact, Bussemaker only gives a gift to eight companies. Company...
English (UK) 
Nederlands 
Français