Culture for and by everyone?

Recently, Dialogic, in collaboration with Significant APE, completed the policy review on cultural participation. The report titled "Culture of and for everyone" has been presented to the Dutch Parliament by the State Secretary for Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The Minister of OCW is responsible for creating conditions to sustain, develop, and socially and geographically distribute cultural expressions. Considerations of quality and diversity are leading in this regard, complementing cultural offerings developed without government involvement. A key aspect of cultural policy is to promote cultural participation. This policy review covers the period from 2001 to 2020 and focuses on the cultural participation component of cultural policy.

We identify the following three strengths of the Dutch government's cultural (participation) policy tools:

1. The toolkit is broad, covering almost all aspects of cultural (participation) policy and has remained stable over the years;
2. The Dutch cultural system (including the cultural basic infrastructure (BIS)) is highly transparent with limited political interference;
3. There is a focus on (artistic) quality.

We identify the following three weaknesses:

1. The toolkit predominantly contains indirect instruments aimed at the supply side, with few instruments directly targeting cultural participation;
2. There is limited innovation and diversification due to establishment bias (subsidies often go to established cultural institutions) and performance indicators;
3. Many steps still need to be taken to ensure inclusivity, diversity, and accessibility.

Interested in this research? Contact Frank Bongers for more information.