Figures

Shortly after the publication of the previous BK Information (No. 4, July 3, 2016), it was pointed out to me that the glee expressed in the preface about postgraduate art education getting extra money in the coming BIS period was unjustified. While it is true that postgraduate institutions will get a substantial amount of money added in the BIS, that money will be taken away on the other side, at the Mondrian Fund.

In fact, the increased amount over the coming period is a direct consequence of OCW's decision to transfer the guaranteed grants for postgraduate institutions, granted through the Mondrian Fund in the current period, to the Basic Infrastructure.

In the previous Culture Plan period, the Mondriaan Fund reserved 2.5 million euros for practice deepening at the request of OCW. Of this, 2 million euros went to artists at post-academic institutions through scholarships. The remaining half million went to Practice Deepening Scholarships for postgraduate education abroad or another form of practice deepening.

For the culture plan period 2017-2020, the Council for Culture recommended an amount of €4,300,000 for the postgraduate institutions, including the scholarships for the artists. For the current period (2013-2016), these institutions were allocated an amount of €2,550,755, excluding the €2 million for the scholarships. A simple calculation shows that postgraduate art education is thus certainly not improving.

In Space for Culture (June 2015), in which the starting points for cultural policy 2017-2020 were given, Minister Bussemaker already let it be known: "Funding will be entirely through the Basic Infrastructure. There will no longer be a mixed model via grants from the Mondriaan Fund and funding from institutions. The budget of the grants that were awarded through the Mondriaan Fund will be transferred to the Basic Infrastructure."

Arts education may be clearly on the agenda with the current minister, but unfortunately it is not yet expressed in OCW's accounts.