Here we go again: Cuts to culture funding in the Netherlands
I was educated in England, which means Shakespeare featured a great deal in my schooling. Later on, I worked with many theatres, often encountering the works of Old Bill (or ‘The Bard’ as I should more respectfully call him). Henry V Act III Scene I features one of the best-known speeches. During the siege of Harfleur, the young king declares:
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more!”
The creative and cultural sector (CCS) in the Netherlands is about to experience its own ‘once more unto the breach’ moment. The incoming coalition government is determined to make extensive public funding cuts to a sector they regard as elitist. Not only are these cuts likely to be hugely detrimental to Dutch higher education and research they’re also unlikely to deliver the promised budgetary savings.
Overall, the very definition of a lose-lose situation.
The Dutch CCS has been here before
The last time this happened on a serious scale was in 2011 when State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science Halbe Zijlstra took a chainsaw approach to the cultural sector. I was living and working in Spain at the time but had clients in the Netherlands and suddenly found myself in demand for seminars on fundraising and for work with cultural organisations. There was widespread dismay in the sector, a lot of protesting and political campaigning, and a general sense of gloom.
What happened next? Well, the sector adapted and innovated. More critically, it invested in fundraising. Before 2012, there was almost no professional fundraising for arts and culture in the Netherlands, but now every medium or large organisation has a fundraising department, whether it be one person or more than ten.
As a result, the sector flourished! Cultural and creative professionals learned to diversify their sources of financial support (beyond national and local government) while maintaining a high quality of artistic and creative output.
Fundraising managers in the sector also discovered the power of networking, finding synergies and harnessing the potential of community engagement.
This resilience was hard won, and it did not benefit everyone. The cuts tended to spare the more prestigious organisations — which were better able to invest in fundraising — and fell harder on small organisations.
Can the cultural sector in the Netherlands make it through another storm? Yes, it can!
Compared to post-Brexit UK, for example, most Dutch cultural organisations have multiple fundraising and income-earning avenues to explore. Subsidy is essential for the cultural sector and in the UK the scope for more fundraising and more commercial income may be reaching an end. That is not yet the case in the Netherlands or indeed in other continental European countries.
One interesting new development is an increasing focus on identifying and measuring the impact of cultural organisations. Until recently, there was a fear that looking at social, educational, and economic impact would result in ‘intrumentalism’ i.e. using cultural projects to achieve social aims to the detriment of their core cultural mission. This anxiety is fading as cultural managers realise that, in fact, their organisations do have other impacts and perhaps it’s a good idea to identify, measure, and amplify them.
The trend is partly driven by funders who now want more detailed information on the work they’re paying for and partly by the realisation that new kinds of funding could be found for these other impacts, including from other government departments.
Room for growth, room for innovation
Impact investment and impact philanthropy are growing areas, and there’s talk of a new cultural impact investment fund in the Netherlands.
In the meantime, should cuts fall disproportionally on smaller organisations, the pipeline of emerging talent and initiatives will feel it more urgently. In light of this eventuality, larger organisations arguably have a responsibility to find ways to support the ecosystem they ultimately rely on.
In the end, after much hardship, Henry V’s troops succeeded in capturing Harfleur, and his message to keep fighting seems appropriate now more than ever.
TrueMotion brings a wealth of experience and dedication to helping you navigate this challenging period. Should you need the help, don’t hesitate to contact us.
By David Dixon
David is the Managing Director of TrueMotion. He oversees the work of the team, contracts, and client communications. He’s the lead consultant for strategy consultancy services and fundraising consultancy. You can reach him at david@true-motion.co.
