NPO the lifeline for the cultural sector?
The current thinking is to let Hilversum help the cultural sector through the winter. And who knows, it might spark a new discussion about the value of culture at the NPO.
With a bit of goodwill, the empire of the Dutch Public Broadcasting Corporation can be seen as a truly magnificent cultural palace. View the television channels NPO 1, 2, and 3 as large theaters and concert halls, and the radio station NPO 3FM as a bold pop venue. The digital channel NPO 2 Extra is just like a cozy art house cinema, and the online platform NPO Start is a multiplex full of popcorn and entertainment. With cultural life in an ‘intelligent,’ a ‘partial,’ or, as is currently the case, ‘hard’ lockdown, the NPO looks to many (performing) artists like an attractive, flashing fairground in a dark world.
They draw hundreds of thousands of viewers and listeners there day in and day out. These are numbers that the combined stages from Middelburg to Winterswijk can only dream of.
Helping hand
It was therefore not such a crazy idea when composer Stephen Emmer called upon the broadcasting world in October to lend a helping hand to the struggling cultural sector. ‘Yet it took off like this, I couldn’t have predicted,’ says Emmer, known among broadcasting executives for his many opening tunes for TV programs. ‘I’m used to four out of five ideas I propose not going through. But this went from the green sofa at my home in a few weeks—with a petition and pushing hard—straight to the minister’s desk.’
In early November, the NPO leadership submitted an action plan in The Hague based on the ideas of Emmer and others in Hilversum, and 10 million euros promptly became available. With that budget, the broadcasters must allow musicians, actors, dancers, writers, and other independent arts creators to shine during the first five months of 2021, now that they have lost their stage and income due to the coronavirus crisis. It is one of the most remarkable measures from the second emergency support package, the details of which Minister of Culture Ingrid van Engelshoven announced in November. ‘Let Hilversum help the cultural sector through the winter’ is a sympathetic idea. But it falls into the category of ‘easier said than done’. To devise a plan, the NPO asked Lisa Boersen (45, children’s book author, program maker at Paradiso, De Balie and the VPRO) and Carel Kuyl (68, TV veteran of the NTR and the NOS, with a long list of cultural and journalistic programs to his name).
As a result, the two have been seeing each other ‘about 14 hours a day’ since the end of November. On the table lies ‘a 360-degree puzzle’, says Boersen. It is ‘a bit of a megalomaniacal project’, says Kuyl.
To be clear: they are not there to simply come up with ten new programs – and indeed, there aren't any yet. They are ‘matchmakers’ between the broadcasters’ creators and the creators of theater and music, so that the latter can showcase new things on the NPO channels starting in January (see box for the first ideas).
The first program ideas are on the table
The strict lockdown does not make it any easier to plan new arts programs for January and February. However, theater and concert recordings from the archive can already be viewed again via the on-demand platform NPO Start and the freely available digital channel NPO 2 Extra. All overviews can be found here.
Additionally, plans for a program à la Zomergasten featuring live performances, in which prominent cultural creators host new, up-and-coming talents, are on the table of coordinators Lisa Boersen and Carel Kuyl. Under the working title Straattheater, a program is being developed in which professional artists trade the stage for the street corner. And several high-profile theatre productions from the past year are receiving a new interpretation for the screen (already starting January 1 with Adem by Nasrdin Dchar on NPO 2). Furthermore, a new cultural agenda program is being considered, possibly titled Straks te zien.
On the one hand, Boersen and Kuyl are considering, together with the National Theatre in The Hague, various formats to bring the play De eeuw van mijn moeder to NPO channels by the summer. A podcast with director Eric de Vroedt for online use? A making-of documentary for a TV channel? And a good ‘video adaptation’ of the play for NPO 2 Extra? After all, no one knows yet how many people will be allowed in the theatre by then.
And on the other hand, they are exploring the possibilities with radio stations 3FM and FunX for night programs to encourage a ‘night out’. DJs have been out of work for months because clubs have been closed since March. Why not let them play a live set on the radio? And how do you make something special out of that? The 10 million euro fund enables broadcasters to pay artists properly for performances or other work they create for a program. The broadcasters themselves are pooling another 3 to 4 million euros to contribute to program costs, as the intention is not for Van Engelshoven’s money to be spent on camera and technical staff, production, catering, set design, and presentation. The Ministry of Culture is still working on a ‘decree’ outlining the conditions for the use of the 10 million. In the meantime, connections have been made with private cultural funds to see if they can also contribute financially.
‘Corona makes things possible that were previously impossible,’ says Boersen. ‘Whereas in the past six months of lobbying were required, now, due to the acute need, 10 million euros has been made available within ten days. There is money, momentum, and among the broadcasters, enthusiasm and room to come up with new things together with artists.’
‘We must now ensure that it is not just makers from the Randstad who know their way around Hilversum who get a chance. Program makers must look beyond that as well. It cannot be just big names to primarily attract viewers: young makers must also be given a chance. And of course, we want to reach the largest possible audience, but not just older white people.’
The emergency project is turning a lot upside down
What started as a call for a helping hand from Hilversum could easily turn into a laboratory to find new solutions for two sore points in the relationship between the arts and audiovisual media. How do you make successful cultural programs, and what do you measure that success by? And: how do you avoid exploiting artists for the glory of a TV maker?
‘If we can give a little push, that would already be quite something,’ says Kuyl. ‘Of course, 10 million isn’t much, but hopefully it will have a flywheel effect.’
Evening of the performing arts on Radio 1
On Monday, December 21, starting at 7:00 PM, the evening broadcast on NPO Radio 1 will be dedicated to the performing arts. From the Pandora Hall in TivoliVredenburg, writers, actors, musicians, poets, and cabaret artists will have their say until 1:00 AM. The broadcast can also be followed on TV via NPO 2 Extra, where singer Spinvis and rapper S10 perform during the hour in which Met het oog op morgen is broadcast on the radio.
Pain Point 1 : Successful cultural programs
The course of the VPRO cultural talk show Mondo demonstrates just how difficult it can be to produce TV programs about art within the power dynamics of Hilversum. On Sunday evenings—since the summer at the same time as the eight o'clock news—singers, dancers, writers, and visual artists took their seats at the table. They not only told presenter Nadia Moussaid about their work, but often showed and played it as well. The viewing audience fluctuated significantly during the corona months: between 50,000 and 200,000 viewers. This prompted the network manager to decide in late October that the broadcasts of Mondo ‘did not resonate enough with the NPO 2 audience’ and that the program had to end at the end of the year.
It shows that there is no simple formula for ‘bringing creators and audiences back together.’ This is how NPO Executive Chair Shula Rijxman described the goal of the action plan to support the cultural sector in early November at a time when the doors of theaters and museums could barely open. ‘For NPO 1 and 2, 150 or 200 thousand viewers is a small number, but for many artists performing there, that is a large audience,’ says Willem van Zeeland, who is responsible for a portion of the arts and culture programs on the VPRO editorial board. ‘If they stream performances via their own website, many artists do not reach that number at all. By increasing the number of viewers and listeners for them, you, as a broadcaster, also contribute to the Dutch arts system.’
The corona action plan is ‘hopefully a catalyst’ for a new discussion about the value of culture at the NPO, says Van Zeeland. ‘Recordings of performances and concerts, for example, have disappeared from television because too few people watched them. But online, in an on-demand environment, opera or theater can be very valuable over a period of years. Also for use within education, for example. Now that linear viewing is declining, we need to look for a new media model.’
The cultural talk show sometimes resembles a holy grail. Attempts to create one are countless, yet success is rare. "It’s not a no-brainer," says Lisa Boersen at the quartermaster's table with Carel Kuyl. "It depends heavily on the presenter, and one might also question whether talking about it is the right way to convey the power of performing arts on television. It is not at the top of our list."
Presenter Cornald Maas produced the cultural talk show Opium for Avrotros for seven years, and it was a process of "trial and error" until 2015. The approach—the "format," in broadcasting jargon—changed four or five times. "Sometimes we hadn't attracted enough viewers and a new recording location had to be found, for instance. Or we decided to talk less with the artists themselves and more with critics about art. Or there had to be more reports included."
It has been a long process of "tinkering" for Maas as a creator of cultural programs. In the 1990s, he was the managing editor of De plantage, the illustrious art talk show hosted by Hanneke Groenteman. ‘It showed how important it is for the presenter of such a program to be genuinely engaged and capable of inspiring enthusiasm. But make no mistake: there was a lot of criticism of it within the VPRO at the time. It was seen as a rather cozy Sunday afternoon tea party.’
Maas has been on screen as a presenter since 2008, but ‘for the past three years, I have truly felt fully supported by the NPO and Avrotros.’ In the program Volle zalen, he sketches portraits of singers, actors, and other performing artists in over half an hour. Viewership numbers initially varied considerably. The broadcast featuring comedian Herman Finkers attracted 800,000 this year – ‘that was also due to his appeal, of course.’ Two years ago, only 180,000 watched the life story of Golden Calf winner Majd Mardo. ‘Then I did get an email from the network manager: keep making these kinds of broadcasts as well.’
The marriage between the arts and broadcasters has been stormy for decades; just think of Kunst omdat het moet (Art because it has to be done). Under that banner, Tros broadcast cultural documentaries to meet a quota with which a cabinet from the 1990s forced public broadcasters to broadcast culture.
To be honest, Boersen hadn't really realized how many cultural programs are on air these days, she says. She was ‘pleasantly surprised’ when the NPO’s communications department emailed her a list of nearly thirty titles. Alongside the evergreens Tussen kunst en kitsch and Top 2000 a gogo, there were also Project Rembrandt, Podium Witteman, and Beste zangers. Further down the list: the Easter musical The Passion and the satire of Zondag met Lubach and Promenade.
The intention is not to continue the action plan in the same genre. ‘We are not going to make episodes of Jeroen Krabbé looking for...’, says Kuyl. ‘We want to seize the opportunity to develop new forms of storytelling. Our conversations with people from the theater and music world also show that there is interest in this. Partly because, for the time being, they have to reach their audience via a screen.’
A recurring challenge in this regard: rethinking the theater experience into a home experience. ‘On television, we are used to playing into a black hole,’ says Kuyl. ‘It is a much more solitary profession.’ With her background as a programmer at pop venue Paradiso, Boersen says: ‘We see people walk out of the venue if they don't like it. On top of that, you have a very different sense of time in the venue than on TV. If you see something happen live on a stage for twelve minutes, it doesn't feel that long at all. On TV, it does.’
Pain point 2: fair payment
Since his idea took flight, composer Stephen Emmer has adopted a different role for himself. ‘I am now a pro bono consultant to ensure, among other things, that the money truly benefits the performers, because unfortunately, there is a tradition in television for artists to perform for free. They euphemistically call that ‘budget-neutral’.’
Indeed, it is customary for anyone performing in a program not to be paid for it, based on the logic that the publicity leads to sales of theater tickets, books, or albums. Emmer: ‘Just two weeks ago, I had a program editor on the line who said: but surely you always do that for free?’
The NPO has stated its intention to adhere to the Fair Practice Code, a set of agreements for fair remuneration with which the cultural sector has recently begun attempting to combat structural underpayment of freelancers in theaters and museums as well. ‘I have since successfully argued with the broadcasters that artists retain the full or partial rights to their television appearances,’ says Emmer, ‘meaning, for example, that they are also allowed to post the clip from a talk show in which they play a song on their own website.’ That is usually not allowed now.’
There is a lot of lingering resentment among artists here, who feel they have been paid too little in royalties by the NPO for years. ‘Matchmakers’ Boersen and Kuyl already know that they won’t be able to resolve this in six months. And however sympathetic VPRO editor-in-chief Van Zeeland may be to paying for performances, he cannot yet promise anything for the second half of 2021, when the support fund from The Hague runs out. ‘We certainly need to look at that again, but the question is where the money is supposed to come from. There have already been significant cutbacks at the broadcaster in recent years, and costs are rising.’
Broadcasters are the largest clients for actors, musicians, writers, and composers in the Netherlands, and therefore it is also in their own interest to support the cultural sector, says Jan Zoet, director of the Zuiderstrandtheater in The Hague and chairman of the Taskforce for the Cultural and Creative Sector, which has been acting as a dialogue partner for the cabinet on behalf of more than one hundred interest groups since the start of the corona crisis.
‘We are pleased with this initiative, but of course, it still needs to be realized. Do not let the 10 million euros be spent on overhead costs for broadcasters and producers. Naturally, the resources must be distributed in such a way that relevant and exciting television and online productions are created. It is not just about job creation, but I do hope that the opportunity to experiment is utilized. Moreover, choices must be made transparently and based on quality and potential. It shouldn't be a case of: first come, first served.’
Artists, actors, and writers have been taking advantage of for years, says Emmer. ‘I know the colleagues a little, and we are often modest and introverted. Now that I am suddenly acting like an untrained trade unionist, I have spoken to 150 or 160 people in the last few weeks. Normally, for my music practice, that is only two people a week. We always have a hyperfocus on creating. But we could certainly be a bit more militant about our payment.’ ‘I remember well that years ago I only received 1,000 guilders for a soundtrack. At the premiere in Tuschinski, there was subsequently no shortage of luxury catering from Maison van den Boer. That’s when I thought: so that’s how it goes.’
[Volkskrant - Alex Burghoorn - December 17, 2020]