The closure of the National Education Museum in Dordrecht seems inevitable. The outgoing cabinet will not respond to a motion from the House of Representatives to extend the flow of money, State Secretary Koen Becking (Culture, VVD) wrote in a letter on Friday afternoon. letter to the House of Representatives.
In March, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science announced that it would end the subsidy as of 2027, which would mean that the museum would have to close its doors. At the end of September, a large majority of the House of Representatives then voted in favor of a motion by Ilana Rooderkerk (D66) to extend the flow of money.
However, according to the State Secretary, the motion has “inadequate coverage”: the money for the subsidy would only come from resources that are temporarily left over or were already intended for other matters.
In addition, the motion would assume that the museum can continue to exist while retaining the subsidy. But that is not the case according to Becking. According to him, the current situation of the museum, which was already struggling with financial shortages before its move from Rotterdam to Dordrecht in 2015, is “not sustainable” even with subsidies.
According to the State Secretary, there is a lack of maintenance, a backlog in the collection administration and a shortage of staff. This would require an additional subsidy on top of the current subsidy to save the museum financially.
Six tons
In addition to the ministry, the municipality of Dordrecht had also initially put the museum on a list of possible cuts. The city council put a stop to that in August this year. However, the subsidy from the municipality – 350,000 euros, compared to 600,000 euros from the government – is far from sufficient to fund the museum.
Hans van de Bunte, interim director of the museum, says in response NRC to be “disappointed” about the letter from the State Secretary. “We are surprised that an outgoing minister has ignored a parliamentary motion. Both the council and the House of Representatives have said: we must keep the museum.”
He places his last hope on an objection procedure with the ministry. “It is a national collection that must be preserved. We will not leave it at that.”
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