Performing arts promotion office kaputt

We are far from having all the info, but we have enough by now: the Bureau Promotie Podiumkunsten (BPP), funded by the Association of Theatre and Concert Hall Managements, is quitting as of 1 October. Reason unknown, but surely the malaise in the cultural sector, and especially the performing arts, will have something to do with it.

Earlier, it was revealed that the Dutch Association of Performing Arts, the NAPK, had been virtually decimated thanks to the subvention cut that hit the performing arts harder than all the other arts put together, leaving many of its staff on the street. That the entire BPP now has to close down, and 12 people with a nice education and totally irrelevant work experience (according to the UWV) are out on the street, is a telling sign.

Should anyone still want anything with the Giving Act by Martin Bosma and Halbe Zijlstra: the time to invest in the performing arts seems to be definitely over. After all: that BPP had also taken over the tasks of the Netherlands Theatre Institute, where it came to promoting Dutch performing arts abroad. That too is now ending, or being taken over in a death house from which a few directors are taking a second mortgage.

It is deeply sad

The crisis needs some time. Starting this autumn, the balderdash will become increasingly clear. We will keep you informed.