Cabinet invests in Theater on TV: 10M to NPO
Phase 1 is now complete, on to phase 2. The cabinet is investing an additional 10 million euros in public broadcasting to make ‘the largest stage in the Netherlands’ available to the struggling cultural sector. With the money, the NPO is freeing up airtime to broadcast theatre performances and other major productions on television that cannot go ahead due to the coronavirus crisis.
Television as a new stage where creators and the general public are brought together. It is one of the ways the cabinet intends to deploy the 482 million euros from the second support package for the cultural sector during the first six months of 2021.
In November, the NPO already announced its intention to support the cultural sector in this way and is now receiving extra funding from the cabinet for this purpose. How the broadcast time will be filled still needs to be worked out. After all, a stage play cannot simply be filmed as if it were a TV series.
While the first support package of 300 million euros primarily benefited venues, theaters, music venues, and museums, the intention now is for artists themselves to benefit most from the support money. With 49.75 million euros (including the 10 million going to the NPO), actors, directors, writers, filmmakers, musicians, visual artists, and designers must be ‘helped to get to work and kept working,’ according to Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven (Culture). No assignments, no income
Many people in the industry often work as freelancers and are left without assignments and therefore without income due to the crisis. They desperately need this support, states Van Engelshoven. “So that a strong and proud cultural and creative sector remains in the Netherlands even after the crisis.”
40 million euros has also been allocated for independent theater producers, who normally do not receive government subsidies. Due to the coronavirus measures, they saw performances and concerts fall through, while they had still incurred costs. The newly available funds are intended to partially compensate for this expense.
Producers must, however, promise to also invest in new productions for the 2021-2022 cultural season. This is to ensure new employment opportunities. The Performing Arts Fund will handle the distribution of the money.
Libraries
Municipalities will receive a total of 150 million euros in extra funding to support local cultural institutions. This comes on top of the 68 million euros they already received at the end of August to keep libraries, music schools, and art house cinemas afloat.
“The corona crisis is lasting a very long time for cultural and creative institutions as well,” acknowledges Van Engelshoven. “And unfortunately, this was compounded by the disappointment of having to temporarily close the doors again.” Theaters, museums, and cinemas are expected to be allowed to reopen their doors on Thursday.
The second support package, which was already announced at the end of August, comes on top of the general support packages the cabinet has set up due to the corona pandemic. The cultural sector is also making use of these, for example, the compensation for personnel wage costs.
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[Parool - Hanneke Keultjes - November 16, 2020]