More art supply does not create more demand, but free helps
More seats do not bring more spectators. The only way to get more spectators to venues and museums is: drop the price. This is according to figures from the Central Bureau of Statistics.
museums
Daan Roosegaarde for president? Alderman? Councillor?
Jet Bussemaker believes in Daan Roosegaarde. She confessed this on Sunday 1 September during the traditional Paradiso debate. She admired his courage to imagine the unthinkable and his drive to come up not with opinions but with proposals. Her message to the arts sector, again almost fully present in Paradiso, was clear: stop complaining, start doing something.
Saving Tropenmuseum paid for from art acquisition budget
The Tropenmuseum has been saved, we already knew that, but the House of Representatives still wanted to know where that was paid from. After all: the government is not going to spend more money, we have to do that. Anyway. Culture minister Jet Bussemaker's answer to the parliamentary questions shows that museums will be able to spend 5.5 million less on art purchases in 2016 at least....
Things were well wrong with Halbe Zijlstra, Jet Bussemaker reveals
Jet Bussemaker, minister of culture since last autumn, is slowly but surely starting to repair the damage done by the previous cabinet, supported by the Dutch culture-hating party PVV.
5 million back for culture card, 2 million for museums, something more soon
It's official: Bussemaker dist Council for Culture in battle for art-loving voter
We saw it in March already been coming, but now it is official: culture minister Jet Bussemaker is ignoring the Museum Council's advice. So the advisory panel led by Joop Daalmeijer has not done its homework properly: its idea
Revolt against art partly caused by museum-less era?
More than a decade without national pride does a lot to a country. Could it be true that the simultaneous closure of Stedelijk Museum and Rijksmuseum helped lead to the
Minister finds important advice from Culture Council too pricey
The Council for Culture, recently reinforced with new members with a lot of management talent and business acumen, has to accept defeat. Indeed, culture minister Jet Bussermaker is disregarding a key pillar of the council's latest advice.
Jet's letter: 'alas, peanut butter'
The previous Secretary of State for Culture, Halbe Zijlstra, made his draconian cuts cast in concrete. The 35-40 per cent cut in the budgets of orchestras, theatre companies and some museums has become law. The new minister of culture, PvdA star Jet Bussemaker, cannot change that at all an iota. And if she even wanted to: the architect of the cuts she has to allow sits in the chamber as the ruling party's group leader. No chance that he will allow his policies to go down the drain.
Are we saying 'No' to EU culture money again?
If the Netherlands consistently sticks to previously adopted PVV positions, the second chamber will say 'No' to a European investment in culture, innovation and media on 21 November 2012. However, if the current Rutte government sticks to the pro-European stance included in the coalition agreement, the Netherlands will cease its opposition to the 1.8 billion euro contribution to strengthening culture, which has now been approved by all other European member states.
Art for all: €3 per person, per month
The discussion was and is endless, but now we have figures. Thanks to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science's new 'key figures', we now know how much the state (all of us) are spending for the opportunity to experience art: per inhabitant, the state spends 38.90 per year on subsidies for dance, theatre, museums, youth theatre, opera and orchestras. So that's just over 3 euros a month. Indeed something to get into each other's hair about, we think.
'Windfall cuts': bricks saved, people sacrificed
The major research and management consulting firm Berenschot has calculated that, on balance, the cuts to the arts turn out to be not too bad. Client of the study, De Volkskrant, then headlined that big. And indeed, it is kind of good news that the pile-up of cuts (the state 24% less, the provinces 20% less and the municipalities only 9 % less) is so low in net terms. We were surprised for a moment, but when we asked around, we found out
Tate London has 100,000 members. Fortunately not all of them are active
Martin Barden realises that an old model works, where everyone is always clamouring for new forms. As marketing boss of the Tate museums in London, he created a large network of friends. So that museum has more than 100,000 members. people who feel part of the club, and whom you need to pamper.
Their carnival is already more fun, too. Brazilian arts budget grows by 10% a year.
Brazil has 10% more every year for arts, sports and entertainment, plus an extra 600 million this year. If we in the Netherlands ever start growing the economy again, we can choose between the Chinese and Brazilian models. In China, growth goes mainly to puissant wealthy entrepreneurs, and wealthier citizens buy mass-produced luxury goods. For...
Henk Pröpper: 'Writers Unlimited has always opposed panting and short-term ambition.'
He is now a publisher, and the man who was director of the Dutch Foundation for Literature until last year will be quite happy with that. As director of the Bezige Bij, one of the country's largest publishing houses, he will surely never again have to submissively toast the sarcastic State Secretary for Culture Halbe Zijlstra. At least the relief was audible in Pröpper's...
Austerity year review 2011. Or how the PVV cry 'Arts subsidies we abolish' was widely heard
While 2010 was still the year of PVV positions on culture that were suddenly shared by other parties ("we are abolishing art subsidies"), the year 2011 fell under their implementation. What was striking was the ease with which regional and local administrators also wielded this same machete, as PVV spokesperson Bosma did not fail to testify. For instance, in the municipality of Almelo, 30 % went àff from...
Investing in culture is economically valuable, but not with us ...
A Belgian professor was good enough to compare the own revenues by venues from the US, the UK and Belgium; in all three countries, the companies raise about 42% of their budgets themselves. The innovation professor also reiterated that research shows that investing in culture contributes to economic prosperity ... a wisdom that ...
News from the national culture front
Positive news to start with: in The Hague, the municipality is doubling photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn's contribution to his youth culture fund Haagse Bluf by €75,000. Corbijn explicitly told the fund not to interfere in the subsidised cultural sector. So compensation for the cuts need not be expected. In Arnhem, the alderman is satisfied with the...
Benefit Giving Act, cultural budgets, Brabant, Amsterdam, Arnhem, Eindhoven, Goes, Utrecht et al.
Tax benefits to be gained this year (...) With effect from 2012, under the new Giving Act, there is an additional tax facility for donations (incidental or via periodic donations) to charitable institutions (non-profit organisations) designated as cultural institutions. Those cultural donations may be multiplied by a factor of 125 per cent for the gift deduction. This...
Slack start to art lottery, production houses don't fire, Krabbedans, Rivierenland Library, MuZIEum et al.
Poor economy hinders new art lottery The business market is not yet warming up to the National Art Lottery launched in July. The organisation is looking for sponsors, but the poor economic climate is playing tricks on the lottery. (...) The number of cultural organisations that applied to supply lottery tickets actually exceeded expectations (...) Only when there are enough sponsors will the...
A'dam: big loss of art subsidies, fact-free politics at art colleges, sacred museum collections, N-H halts small cultural education, culture in abandoned railway station
'Amsterdam loses 127 million arts subsidy' (...) The 127.1 million euros is a sum of cuts from the state (70 million), the increase in VAT to 19% (45.6 million) and the announced municipal cuts to the 2013-2016 Arts Plan of 8 million annually. In addition, the so-called ID jobs (subsidised jobs) are being phased out more quickly. This will give Amsterdam's arts and cultural institutions another...
Museums, Boxmeer theatre, IKON, ANP, regional broadcasters, impoverished library
MuseumgoudA not expelled MuseumgoudA may still remain a member of the Dutch Museum Association (NMV). A majority of the members were still of the opinion in September that the museum should be expelled because it had auctioned Marlene Dumas' The Schoolboys at the end of June without consulting other museums. That is against the NMV's rules. It did, however, decide to change the rules for the...
Daily news: Sale in Rotterdam, protests in Amsterdam and an arts centre closes in the south
Culture sector signs agreement on youth pass Eight umbrella organisations in the culture sector signed a covenant on Wednesday advocating the continued existence, albeit in modified form, of the Culture Card. It should remain free, but will henceforth only give discounts on cultural outings. The 15-euro credit will disappear because the state will no longer provide subsidies. Instead, students in the...
Fransche School in jeopardy, blind library closed, nibbling on VAT measure via CJP and Volkenkunde/Tropen Institute merger possible
Arnhem - Scepticism over success of cultural heart Rijnboog Arnhem city council has many doubts about the financial feasibility of the Rijnboog arts cluster. (...) [Alderman] assumes 16 million subsidy from the province and another 4 million in contributions from sponsors for the new arts centre containing the Museum of Modern Art Arnhem, the Schouwburg and Focus Filmtheater....
News summary: Children have nothing to do with free museums and opposition has effects of austerity calculated
Opposition: have arts cuts calculated (...) These are cuts by the state, provinces and municipalities. The aim is to clarify how big the total cuts together are and what exactly the effects will be on supply and employment. (...) "With this request, we want to counter the politics of the short-term agenda. Good policy, including austerity policy, takes into account...
Region review: chain letters in Rotterdam, only 1 year right to renewal in Zierikzee, and Eindhoven not happy with Chamber Choir
Groningen municipality cuts back on Gezinsbode The municipality is going to cut back 150,000 euros on publishing city notices in the Groninger Gezinsbode. The City Council wants to publish decisions and permits electronically from now on, for example on the municipality's website. (...) The number of pages in the Gezinsbode will be halved. (...) source: OogTV 10 Nov 11 Most councillors expect subsidies to be cut...
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