Each year, the Boekman Foundation publishes an update to the Culture Monitor, a tool that compiles data on developments in cultural life. The 2025 edition reveals a sector in a state of flux: socially engaged and creative, but also structurally vulnerable, according to the Boekman Foundation.
The seven most significant developments of the past year:
1. Growing Pressure on Artistic Freedom
The growing polarization of public debate has a direct impact on cultural life. The Council for Culture has noted a trend of self-censorship among artists and recommends legislation to better protect artistic freedom.
2. Generative AI: Opportunities and Existential Threats
A survey by the Boekman Foundation of more than 700 creators shows that nearly one in five already reports fewer assignments and lower income due to generative AI; among translators, that figure is one in three. At the same time, AI offers creative opportunities and possibilities for democratizing art.
3. Culture as a Problem-Solver
There is growing attention being paid to the use of culture in addressing societal challenges. However, the instrumentalization of culture raises questions about how to strike a balance with artistic autonomy.
4. Fair Pay: From Ambition to Practice
With the start of the 2025–2028 cultural planning period, fair pay became mandatory for institutions in the Basic Infrastructure (BIS). Yet the path from policy ambition to daily practice remains a long one. Many creators work as self-employed professionals, often for low rates. The ambition is there, and steps are being taken to put fair pay into practice.
5. High cultural participation, persistent inequality
In 2024, 91 percent of Dutch people aged six and older attended at least one cultural event—a recovery following the COVID-19 years. At the same time, disparities in participation based on education, income, and migration background remain significant and persistent.
6. Government funding has declined on a structural basis
Adjusted for inflation, government funding for culture in 2023 will be 1.26 billion euros lower than it would have been if the 2005 spending level had been maintained. Municipalities, which account for 60 percent of public funding for culture, are the largest source of such funding and are simultaneously under heavy pressure. The so-called ‘year of the abyss’ now threatens to arrive in 2028.
7. Reform of the Cultural System
2025 was the first year of the new cultural planning period, but legal proceedings regarding the allocation of grants continued. Concrete proposals were put forward to simplify application and evaluation procedures, provide long-term certainty for creators and institutions, and reduce the regulatory burden. See also the ’Culture Report 2026.’.
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