The council advocates a transition from "often immovable structures that are no longer effective, to an agile, constructive, creative, contemporary reality" and calls the sector's agility exemplary. The council would like to think with the minister about ways to increase the sector's resilience as well.

The advice will be issued in November, but the council has already made a number of recommendations for the shorter term, which may also be of significance for the deployment of the support package promised on 28 August.

Resilience

While there is little doubt about the sector's manoeuvrability, its resilience is another story. Of all the sectors, the cultural sector suffered the greatest loss of turnover last summer: 62%. The sector has suffered significant financial damage and job insecurity.

"Plans are being forged, solutions devised, innovative collaborations, art products and forms of work developed with great vigour everywhere. The downside, however, is that insufficient resources are available for these new practices and for the transition that is needed on a larger scale to achieve a resilient sector; there are hardly any healthy earning models for new forms of work and presentation (such as digital distribution) and at the same time existing income from ticket sales, sponsorship and advertising is falling away."

The council believes that there is an important battle to be fought here: the development of earning models and the release of resources to enable the sector to survive the crisis and to perpetuate its innovative strength.

Not very promising

As a first task for the minister, the council mentions the consequences of the crisis. For many institutions and freelancers, the possibility of continuing to exist in the coming period has become remote.

The council has four short-term recommendations:

1. Ensure that the second aid package benefits the whole sector, including the unsubsidised part and the many freelancers.
The council emphasizes, among other things, that the subsidized part of the sector also benefits from this and that there is a risk that otherwise highly qualified professionals will leave the profession sector-wide. It calls on the minister to distribute the resources from the second support package (see also BK Information #6 of this year) to also take responsibility for the 'vastly unsubsidised part of the sector' and also calls on the municipalities to do so by means of their EUR 150 million impulse to maintain the local infrastructure.

2. Review in close consultation with fellow ministers of SZW and EZK where generic support measures could be better suited to those working in this sector.
The generic measures such as NOW (Emergency Measures for Bridging Employment) and Tozo (Temporary bridging arrangement for independent entrepreneurs) do not sufficiently benefit those working in the cultural sector. The council therefore recommends that the Ministers of Social Affairs and Employment and of Economic Affairs and Climate Change discuss the extent to which the measures could better serve the sector.

3. Relax the one and a half metre measures in the cultural and creative sector as quickly as possible. The Council advises reviewing and relaxing the corona measures and their application within the sector as soon as possible. It goes without saying that public health must come first.

4. Encourage impulses from national culture funds and private funds.
The council recommends that the national culture funds be given sufficient scope and confidence to maintain the energy they have recently invested in ad hoc initiatives and to continue to respond rapidly to changing circumstances as a result of the crisis.

Coercion in the current system

The council sees a second task as making the system more flexible and reforming it. Across the sector as a whole, he sees a strong desire for flexibility and is relieved to see that there is no longer any pressure to make decisions, performance agreements or the limitations of subsidy schemes. There is more creative space and new initiatives can arise spontaneously on the basis of what makers and institutions find relevant together. There are more opportunities for spontaneous collaboration, current programming and unexpected steps. "This also includes the desire to be able to take risks, whereby standards for audience numbers to be achieved are not a straitjacket."

The effectiveness of fixing performance in advance will have to be re-examined, the council says. "A system whereby the impact of a subsidised institution or artist is measured in retrospect can give the sector more breathing space and allow creativity to flow more freely."

Smaller and more intimate

The sector is looking for ways to work on a smaller scale and in a more intimate manner, which is linked to a closer relationship with its own city or urban cultural region. For many venues the focus is shifting from well-known, national and international to smaller, local or regional, which has consequences for the audience that is reached. There is a need for more money for flexible programming based on demand, instead of a more supply-oriented production planning.

Digitize and collaborate

In contrast to the search for small scale, the sector is looking for new forms to expand its reach. Digitalisation and cooperation are very important in this respect. New possibilities for interaction with the public must be sought, both physically and digitally.

"This requires a new view of digital production, in which digitization goes beyond the actual recording of physical forms, such as concerts or theatre and dance performances. In this regard, the cost goes before the benefit; the investments required in time and money are substantial."

Societal challenges

The council notes a decline in employment in the cultural sector, but at the same time sees an increased role for artists and creatives in other domains, such as care or the neighbourhood. The council would welcome it if more artists and designers could play an active role in processes and issues in other domains right from the start. Professionals from the cultural sector and from other domains, such as education, care and sustainability, should be brought closer together.

Experiment and fieldlabs

Across the sector, there is a need for more time and opportunity to try out new things in well-designed fieldlabs. There is a broad desire to be allowed to experiment with adjustments to physical conditions, whereby experiment and research may also be aimed at customised solutions that deviate from the restrictions applicable to corona.

The council recommends setting up fieldlabs In which work can be done with partners in the field to deepen a number of urgent themes in the sector. At the moment, the idea is to stimulate the setting up and development of fieldlabs around four themes: digitisation, redesign of cultural spaces, targeted audience building through the development and sharing of audience knowledge and, finally, product differentiation.

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