Radical measures are needed to close the financial gaps at Stichting Cultuurhuis Hoogeveen, which includes De Tamboer. This is what consultancy firm Berenschot says. For example, cuts could be made to youth theater. The theater and the municipality must now sit down to make decisions.
Berenschot conducted research into the Cultuurhuis Hoogeveen Foundation, which includes De Tamboer and pop venue Het Podium. With the current state of affairs, we can still enjoy the coming year, but after that the curtain threatens to fall. In 2023, 350,000 euros more was spent than was received.
This has several causes, the researchers say in the report. Higher costs, a subsidy scheme that did not keep pace with costs and loss-making cultural activities. The latter is unavoidable, performances and activities cost money on balance. This must be compensated for with other income and if this is insufficient, choices must be made about what will and will not be done, the researchers say.
After a cry for help from the theater in April, the municipality of Hoogeveen called in the consultancy firm Berenschot. Among other things, the way of booking performances in De Tamboer had to be looked at. Berenschot is positive about this, De Tamboer scores well in terms of number of shows and visitor numbers compared to similar theaters.
The personnel costs are also in line with other theaters. One option to save costs is to replace paid employees with volunteers. This will lead to dissatisfaction among the staff, Berenschot warns. Foundation director Pieter-Bas Rebers says he doesn’t feel like it.
So there doesn’t seem to be much to be achieved from the professional performances in De Tamboer, and savings are not an obvious option at Het Podium either. There is now renovation going on to bring in more people and better acts. According to the researchers, more can be achieved in youth theater, school performances and city programming. In 2023, the foundation committed 300,000 euros to this.
Youth theater is a spearhead of the foundation, but the researchers raise the question to what extent it should remain that way. Youth theater requires relatively more effort and generates less income. “It could be decided not to see youth theater as a spearhead and to program more cautiously. This could at least limit the loss (about 150,000 euros ed.).”
If the foundation does not want this, it can also look at the costs of school theater and city programming. The latter includes projects such as the neighborhood theater project De Wijk De Wereld.
At the moment, the annual subsidy from the municipality (1.2 million euros in 2023) is just sufficient to pay for the buildings and staff. Performances and activities must therefore be paid for with other income such as catering revenues and project subsidies.
The fact that the foundation above De Tamboer has little fat on its bones is partly because Hoogeveen did not allow subsidies to increase in line with rising costs for ten years (until 2022). Additional money was transferred incidentally. Remarkable, say the researchers. According to the researchers, this gap continues and also puts pressure on mutual relations. Better and clearer agreements are recommended. And the municipality should also consider compensation for the gaps created by the subsidy scheme.
For a stable financial basis, it is also important to have a good maintenance plan for the buildings for the coming decades. Sustainability can also be discussed in this. Solar panels on the theater roof can save costs in the future, but that is not something that can close a gap in the budget next year.
The municipality and the foundation want to have the advice processed into plans by the spring. The discussions will also examine whether new users can come to De Tamboer, as the ‘expensive square meters’ are unused for most of the week. Improving business rental is difficult, also because there is a lot of competition for conference locations (Atlas Theater Emmen, De Spiegel in Zwolle).