International Cultural Policy
In November, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science published the International Culture Policy 2020 report, which provides an overview of projects and results of Dutch cultural activities in the world.
In it, the goals of international cultural policy are described as follows:
- A strong cultural sector that grows in quality through international exchange and sustainable cooperation and that is also seen and appreciated abroad.
- More room for culture to contribute to a safe, just and future-proof world.
- Culture is used effectively within modern diplomacy.
As a result of the restrictions caused by the pandemic, many international cultural activities and visitor programs have been postponed or cancelled and there has been a decline in the number of activities. At the same time, alternatives have been found to implement planned activities and new initiatives have been launched.
Worldwide, more than 8,787 (registered) activities of Dutch creators and organizations took place in 90 countries in 2020. From the international culture policy, 1,316 projects received financial support with a total budget of 7,551,509 euros. The number of projects decreased compared to 2019 by 227, a decrease of 15%. The government has agreed that the budgets available in 2020 for international cultural policy can be carried forward to 2021. In addition to financial support, the posts, cultural funds and supporting institutions are involved in cultural activities abroad as advisors.
The largest share of the international culture budget was spent on visual arts (17%, i.e., just over 1.3 million euros)
Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy form the top three countries where cultural projects with Dutch involvement have taken place. Of the total budget, 81% goes to the twenty countries that have priority within the policy. In terms of disciplines, the largest share of the international culture budget was spent on visual arts (17%, i.e. just over 1.3 million euros), literature (14%) and heritage (12%). Of the budget, 24% was spent on exhibitions, 23% on productions or events, and over 18% on network development and knowledge sharing, for example through presentations and debate.
Within Objective 1 (i.e., strong cultural sector that grows qualitatively through international exchange and sustainable cooperation and is seen and appreciated abroad), 25% of the budget was spent on visual arts in the countries of Belgium, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Suriname, Turkey, the United States, the United Kingdom, South Africa and South Korea.
As in previous years, the Dutch cultural field was successful within the EU program Creative Europe (sub-program Culture). In 2020 more than 24 million euro was awarded to projects in which Dutch organisations were involved, that is 33% of the total budget. DutchCulture offers support to the cultural and creative field in this program (see dutchculture.nl/en/europa).
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