Culture Secretary presents policy plan

The Dutch State Secretary for Culture Mr Zijlstra has revealed his plans on how to realize a nearly 25% cut in spending on culture. According to the State Secretary, nationally-important arts and cultural institutions, museums and libraries will be largely unaffected, but this is only a part of the story. “The budget cuts as proposed by the government are an attack on the cultural future of the Netherlands”, says Martijn Sanders, former CEO of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and still active in the cultural field as cultural entrepreneur, advisor and art collector, in the Dutch newspaper Trouw on 14 June.   

With his policy plan Meer dan kwaliteit, een nieuwe visie op cultuurbeleid (More than quality, a new vision on cultural policy), the State Secretary for Culture aims to reduce the dependence of the art field on state funding and increase the role of private sponsors and sources. But this week, during a hearing in the culture committee of the Dutch Parliament, several successfully cultural entrepreneurs warned that private investment will continue to be seen as a supplement, not a substitute for state support in the arts. It takes more time to adopt new business models and to develop a culture of giving in the Netherlands.       

Large effects in performing arts and visual arts
The performing arts and visual arts will be hardest hit by the cuts, especially medium and small sized companies and organisations, including internationally acknowledged institutions like the Rijksakademie, Mediamatic, De Waag and many theatre and dance companies that are frequent and much-loved guests on stages all over the world.     

Supporting structure also affected
Supporting organisations like Theater Instituut Nederland (TIN), Music Center The Netherlands and the Netherlands Institute for Heritage are facing closure by 2013. The budget of the Performing Arts Funds will be cut, the same goes for the budget of the Mondriaan Fund, the merger of the Mondriaan Foundation and the Funds for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture.

The proposal of State Secretary for Culture will be debated and voted by the Dutch parliament on Monday 27 June. Many arts organisations are preparing actions, including a March of Civilization, starting in Rotterdam on 26 June and finishing on the next day in The Hague at the building of the Parliament.

Some further reading
Tom Service in The Guardian on the effects of the funding cuts in the field of classical music

An open letter by sixty artistic directors from around the world to the Dutch State Secretary for Culture (in Dutch) and an unofficial translation in English on DutchNews

An overview of the situation in the contemporary arts by Ann Demeester and others

Michal Shapiro on Music Center The Netherlands in Huffington Post