Culture Monitor 2021

The Culture Monitor is an online tool by and for the cultural sector. The Boekman Foundation collects the data, analyzes it, reports on long-term trends, and acts on current developments. 

Whereas in 2018 almost three-quarters of the Dutch population still visited the performing arts, by 2020 it will be less than half. Film attendance declined by 23 percent, visual arts by 18 percent and heritage by 19 percent. For 2021 similar figures are expected. Over the years - on average from 2014 to 2020 - cultural attendance is unevenly distributed across the population. On average, cultural outreach differs the most by a person's level of education, age, and income. These social differences appear to have increased in 2020. 

Self-employed

Self-employed workers in the sector were hit hardest during the corona crisis by the loss of income, the lack of financial support and the failure to realize trickle down effects. The number of self-employed workers increased the most between 2010 and 2019 in the arts and cultural heritage sub-sector; however, the number of jobs did not increase.

Fine Art 

The online Culture Monitor provides information by sub-sector. Within the visual arts, trends and developments surrounding the production, distribution, exhibition, acquisition and experience of visual art objects were examined. 

Art still very uneven

The Culture Monitor on the Visual Arts domain: "Before the corona crisis, the position of visual artists was already particularly precarious. And although many institutions have been clamoring since the crisis for recently established employment guidelines, the field of Visual 

Art still very unequal. The pay gap between visual artists are large, women makers are underrepresented at fairs and in collections, and despite increased attention to diversity remain museum and institution boards white, highly educated and male. On top of that, visitor numbers for art museums and institutions are still low after two years of corona, putting some institutions at risk of irreparable financial damage. Yet there are also bright spots: diversity and inclusion are being fought even harder, art buyers remain loyal, and digitization, since the corona crisis, has in part provided a solution for museums, makers and galleries." 

Figures 

There are currently 15,000 visual artists counted (in 2012 still 19 thousand and in 2017 11 thousand). Between 2017 and 2019, 13 thousand visual artists made up eight percent of the total group of artists in the Netherlands. Alumni of a full-time hbo education for autonomous visual arts earned an average of about 1,160 euros in 2020 a year and a half after graduation gross per month.

There are currently 15,000 visual artists counted

For their colleagues who completed the full-time course in visual arts and design, the average was 1,822 euro. The average of all full-time art programs at the hbo is 1,690 euro, that of all full-time hbo programs is 2,427 euro. Graduates of visual arts courses are less likely to find a job that matches their training. 

Sales decline

Of those who work as visual artists after their training and fall within the definition of visual artist used by CBS, almost all work as self-employed workers. It is not yet possible to give an unambiguous picture of the effects of the corona crisis on their income. What is clear, however, is that of those who fall within the SBI category "Writing and other creative arts," 59.9 percent experienced a decline in revenue in 2020, averaging 50.1 percent compared to 2019.

Locality 

Visual arts have a strong relationship with museums and especially presentation institutions, and in doing so are strongly linked to local policies. Fine art museums are for a larger part of their income dependent on municipal and provincial subsidies. "The display of visual arts also seems to be of growing importance among municipalities.

Displaying visual art seems to be of growing importance among municipalities

In funding visual For years, the municipalities that receive money from the Decentralization Allowance for Visual Arts and Design have been spending the largest share of this budget on museums. The share of presentation institutions is also increasing, but at eight percent this is still not as high as it could have been. nowhere near the 63 percent that museums for visual art received." 

Inequality 

For new creators and institutions within the domain of Visual Art seems to be getting harder and harder. This has to do with high real estate prices in urban areas and the great inequality within the domain, which is increasing in these times of corona.

Makers are increasingly pulling together

The question is whether there are enough facilities for new Dutch artists, galleries and institutions. Creators are increasingly pulling together to combine their strengths and Within the current subsidy system, there is little room for sustainable development of young talent. The corona crisis has not caused a turnaround within the Visual Arts domain. "The biggest trends - an unstable and unequal labor market, digitalization, the question of whether there are enough subsidies and facilities to structurally maintain the domain, and an increasing focus on diversity and inclusion - were already in play before the corona crisis." 

Here is the entire text on visual arts from the Culture Monitor