News item | 6/16/2023 | 5:27 pm
Fair pay, confidence in the cultural sector and less administrative burden are among the most important starting points for the cultural subsidy period 2025 – 2028. State Secretary Uslu (Culture and Media) wants to use this to bring as much peace as possible to the sector in the coming years. She also tackles a number of bottlenecks, for example in the youth performing arts. It largely follows the advice of the Council for Culture on the organization of the coming period.
The most important assessment criteria for the basic cultural infrastructure (bis) will be artistic/substantive quality, social significance, accessibility and sound management. Geographical spread is also an important element. In addition, it is important that bis organizations comply with the Fair Practice Code, the Diversity and Inclusion Code, and the Governance Code.
State Secretary Uslu: “Cultural institutions are yearning for breathing space to recover from the corona years that have really cut into it. I notice that in the conversations I have with people from the sector. That is why I want to ensure peace and continuity in the coming years. My spearhead remains the improvement of the labor market, and fair remuneration for makers and employees. I think that is more important than the number of productions that an institution makes. That is why I am allocating 34.1 million euros for this. There is also more attention for sustainability and how we can help institutions prepare for the future.”
In the period 2025-2028, an additional 1.6 million euros will be available annually for the subsidy for youth performing arts and 0.47 million for performing arts festivals. There will also be a place for an institution that focuses on improving the labor market position of workers in the cultural and creative sector.
A total of 497.22 million euros is available annually to subsidize bis institutions and national cultural funds. An additional amount of 34.1 million euros per year is added to this fair pay to stimulate. There are 120 places in the bis. Institutions are also subsidized for a period of four years via the various national cultural funds.
The State Secretary has previously announced that he wants a relatively simple application round for the period 2025 – 2028. Agreements have been made to ensure that subsidy applications from the national government, the national cultural funds and the municipalities are more closely aligned. The functions within the bis will remain the same for the coming period, and the extra places that have been added to the bis at the request of the House of Representatives will be retained.
These principles are incorporated into a subsidy scheme. Cultural institutions can then submit their application. This is possible from 1 December 2023 to 31 January 2024. The Council for Culture will then advise on the applications submitted. The final subsidy decisions will be announced on Prinsjesdag 2024.
The culture subsidies from the national government consist of two elements: institutions that receive a direct subsidy for four years and thus form the so-called basic infrastructure, and subsidies that are distributed via the national culture funds. In both cases, the government is at a distance in terms of content: the independent Council for Culture issues weighty advice for the bis institutions. The national cultural funds determine, on the advice of content experts, how they distribute the available money.