In a letter to parliament, Minister Van Engelshoven has revealed how the previously announced support measures of 300 million euros for the cultural sector will be divided. A very succinct summary: About half of the funds will go to the ‘basic infrastructure’ of the cultural field, such as the Rijksmuseum and the National Opera. Then, there are substantial sums for monuments, regional institutions, and cultural enterprises. Finally, the amount of 16.8 million euros has been allocated to individual producers of culture. Artists and cultural workers will most likely see the effects of the 11.8 million euros within this sum, which will be distributed within the field by the national funds. This 11,8 million is a supplement to the 15 million euros that the funds have freed up within their own budgets. In the case of the Mondriaan Fund, this is an amount of 1.6 million euros, that will, presumably, be doubled by the minister.

Soon, we expect to hear more precise information about how the Mondriaan Fund will distribute this money and exactly how much will go to visual artists, mediators, collectives, and small institutions. In any case, it is clear that a large amount of money will be available for creators soon. This is hopeful!

However, the support measures are disappointing. First, autonomous artists are still not eligible for the TOGS-scheme, which provides a one-time compensation of operating costs of 4000 euros. It seems more and more likely that artists will not receive this support at any point in the future. Second, the measures ignore the problems concerning affordable (living) studios in the bigger cities. The rent relief, which Platform BK and Kunstenbond  requested, has already been ruled out by Minister Kajsa Ollongren. Now, Minister Van Engelshoven, reacting to questions of Platform BK in an informative meeting between the minister and interest organisations from the field, has also placed the full responsibility to maintain social real estate, such as broedplaatsen and studio buildings, on the municipal governments.