nescivi:I'm more of a sound artist myself, so I would make infosonics.I'm sure you have to keep financial records being an institute this big, so the info should be easily available...
Willem Velthoven:
well nescivi, our national funding is 660.000 euro, that's o,13 percent of the arts funding on the dutch state. All new media art labs together get ca. 4.500.000 from the state. That is less than 1% of the arts funding in the netherlands.
The current policy proposal is to stop all direct state funding for all new media labs.
Yes, I am aware of the situation and the uncertainty at the moment of how things will go on for these institutes, who certainly contribute to the arts. Especially for media arts the situation is still quite unclear, as far as I have heard.
However, in discussions I am having with people (and I'm sure others as well) there are questions raised about where the money actually goes, how much goes to the artists, and how fair the current situation is in terms of competition for non-subsidized cultural institutes and/or festivals and the like. I'd love to have a well founded opinion on matters such as these, so I jumped on the wagon to get some insights.
As this debate will be going on, it is good for all the cultural institutes to have their facts ready so they have a solid ground for their arguments against the cuts. Better to be prepared in a fight.
I've signed the petition that demanded "no cuts on the arts without all the facts". So why not take the first step as cultural institutes and provide all the facts. That means relating both to other state expenses, like the infographics posted show quite clearly, as well as relating to how the art money is spent at the moment. How many artists get their income from the subsidies, how many other personel in cultural institutes, and from these two, how much goes back into the state in the form of taxes, how much do the cultural institutes generate in terms of income (sales on tickets, workshop fees, etc) and tax income for the state? How much would introducing the cuts actually cost the state in the short term (in terms of unemployment money, additional rent subsidies and health care subsidies (huur- en zorgtoeslag) because of lower incomes? How many performances, exhibitions, festivals, public art works, etc are open to the public because of the subsidies.
Maybe together as cultural sector we can present all the facts as they are now, and in addition provide insight in what the current proposals would cost the state in the short term (it seems this government wants quick results, so show them). And maybe together look for possibilities for the future in the long run.
If there is a better forum to have such a discussion, then please let me know; my intention is not so much to attack Mediamatic, but since the post suggests you want to open up the debate, I thought I give it a try.