The Culture Council has provided new advice for the distribution of cultural subsidies from 1 January 2029. In the new plans, the advisory body proposes to distribute subsidies from a single national fund. Furthermore, culture must be made more accessible through increased investment in the region.

Subsidies amounting to approximately 500 million euros are now distributed through the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and through the six national culture funds, such as the Cultural Participation Fund, the Performing Arts Fund, the Mondrian Fund, and the Netherlands. Film box. In addition, municipalities and provinces have their own cultural policy.

In the current distribution of subsidies, some regions perform poorly. For example, in 2020, nearly 80 percent of the Performing Arts Fund’s budget went to arts collections on the Randstad. The current system has been the subject of criticism for many years.

The Culture Council’s advice emphasizes a more equitable distribution of subsidies. The Council also wants the government’s contribution to contribute as much as possible to a “rich cultural life for everyone in the Netherlands.”

Nowadays, it varies a lot from region to region in terms of what cultural facilities are available, what to see there, and what options are available. “Culturally strong areas are becoming increasingly stronger, while in other areas opportunities and facilities are diminishing,” the council wrote.

Therefore the advice is to distribute funding more evenly across the country And expanding it to include different types of manufacturers. Now parts of the “cultural sphere remain underrepresented.” Therefore, it is said, the entire financing was placed under one national fund. With departments within it that have a county as their working area.

The Culture Council believes that it has a different role in this matter. In the “new approach”, the Council will no longer provide advice on requests for support, but rather on frameworks and policies. The Culture Council advises the government to structurally increase the budget by €200 million per year.