Recommendation application and review process BIS 2025-2028
In early April, the Council for Culture issued its opinion on the cultural system. State Secretary Uslu had asked the council to advise on the application and assessment process of the basic cultural infrastructure in the period 2025 through 2028 (BIS 25-28). In the fall of this year, the council will adopt the assessment framework in this regard. One of the conclusions in the advice is that the application process for cultural subsidies from the state could be simpler and clearer. The council also thinks that the sector would benefit from a less non-committal assessment of the applicable codes of conduct regarding fair practice, good governance and diversity and inclusion.
Clarity in advance
Cultural institutions that want to qualify for BIS subsidy benefit from clarity in advance. This is provided by a clear entry requirement and clearly formulated general conditions. The council advises a minimum duration of existence of four years at the beginning of the subsidy period. As general conditions, the council proposes that institutions must be both nationally significant and rooted in their own municipality or region.
Assessment criteria
As a new criterion for substantive assessment criteria, the council proposes the concept of "social significance. In practice, according to the council, this goes hand in hand with artistic content quality and is partly determined by the specific profile of the institution. Furthermore, the council sees accessibility and business health as criteria. To simplify the assessment process, the council proposes asking for less detailed program and budget information.
Codes of Conduct
As far as the council is concerned, application of the three codes of conduct on fair practice, good governance and diversity and inclusion will be reviewed less non-committally. Compliance with the codes should be a starting point. In practical terms, this means, for example, that institutions that do not adhere to collective rate agreements when paying staff should not have to count on a positive assessment of their application.
Preservation
Also in the area of sustainability, BIS institutions have an important example function, according to the council. It is therefore necessary to gain more insight into where the institutions stand in that area. BIS institutions are asked to commit to a baseline measurement in the first year of the regulation and to draw up a plan of approach for making their organization and artistic practice sustainable in the run-up to 2030.
Youth Performing Arts
The council recommends bringing the budget per institution for youth performing arts more in line with the budget that theater institutions with adult audiences receive.
Upper-sector institutions
The request for advice on supra-sectoral supporting institutions was part of the State Secretary's request for advice. Five institutions have the function of supporting the cultural and creative sector in the areas of digitization (DEN), cultural education and cultural participation (LKCA), international culture policy (DutchCulture), knowledge and statistics (Boekman Foundation) and professionalization and entrepreneurship (Cultuur+Ondernemen). These institutions can remain part of the cultural basic infrastructure in the coming assessment round. However, it would be wise to better align the assessment criteria with their specific function.
Response Kunsten '92
In their response to the advice, Kunsten'92, the interest group for the cultural and creative sector, identifies a number of questions and concerns. The organization mentions "the council's urge to judge and regulate does look very great." Kunsten'92 hoped "that the council would start more from trust, an important value in the relationship between government and field, which also has a central place in Fair Practice Code."
Kunsten '92 sees a contradiction in the value the council attaches to 'accessibility' and the thresholds the council raises for newcomers, such as the institution requirement that institutions must exist for four years: "We miss in the advice a reflection on the need for new or different places and on the category of development institutions." Furthermore, Kunsten '92 wonders whether the advice really leads to a lighter procedure, given, for example, the additional accountability requirements for the three codes, the assessment of a safe working climate and attention to sustainability. Important points, but "how will the council ensure that it does not create a big paper tiger of plans and assessments from this?".
Kunsten '92 also notes that "hardly any connection is made with municipal and provincial cultural policy", which means that "the compartmentalization in subsidy distribution (...) is still in place and that shared ambitions between governments are not followed up". Kunsten '92 also sees that the council hardly discusses the financial aspects of the policy.ële consequences of his proposals.
Finally, in the response of Kunsten '92: "In her Long-Term Letter 'The Power of Creativity', the State Secretary expressed the desire to deploy the cultural and creative sector more in complex social transitions. We applaud this ambition. However, the addition by the council of the criterion 'social significance' of each institution, is a different interpretation of this wish."
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