The future of the ailing Cobra Museum in Amstelveen has become extremely uncertain. A rescue plan that should save the museum of modern art from collapse was described as substandard by a large part of the city council on Wednesday evening.
An official decision on the plan and the continuation of the municipal subsidy, which the museum desperately needs to avoid bankruptcy, has not yet been taken at Wednesday’s council meeting. The mayor and aldermen, which already responded critically to the plan in a council letter last week, will now come up with a proposal that the council will decide on Wednesday, November 29.
Councilor Herbert Raat (Culture, VVD) did not want to anticipate what the council will propose. “Continuing to muddle through is not an option,” Raat said last night. He called it time to “give a piece of cake.” The councilor spoke of a devilish dilemma: “Bankruptcy also costs money, but then there is room for something new.”
The criticism of the museum’s ‘master plan’ is mainly that the financial risks are again placed with the municipality. For example, councilor Femke Lagerveld of coalition party VVD called the plans “old wine in new bottles” and doubted whether it is realistic to expect the museum to attract higher visitor numbers in the future. The other coalition partners D66, PvdA and Goed voor Amstelveen were also disappointed in the plans.
In August it was announced that the Cobra Museum was experiencing serious financial problems. The council then announced that it wanted to stop the subsidy from next year, because it was not an incident. Then entrepreneur and Quote500 millionaire Marius Touwen stood up, who wanted to help in part to ensure that the museum does not have to close.
The municipality then postponed a decision on stopping the annual subsidy of more than one million euros, to give the museum and Touwen a last chance to come up with a rescue plan. That plan was discussed in the council on Wednesday.
The Amstelveen Cultural Advisory Council (AAC) already strongly criticized the plans last week. “The museum needs refreshing new ideas and more entrepreneurial spirit,” wrote the council, which believes that the hand is again being held up too easily by the municipality. A different organization, board and management is essential, was the advice.
Touwen, who recently transferred 200,000 euros to the museum so that the salaries of the employees can be paid, answered questions from the council members about the rescue plan on Wednesday. The entrepreneur stated that the municipality structurally provides too little money to the Cobra Museum. “If Amstelveen attaches importance to a fully-fledged museum, more resources must be made available.”
The museum building is owned by the municipality, the collection belongs to a foundation.