Utrecht boosts cultural sector with extra €85,000 annually for fair wages
The Province of Utrecht is injecting an additional €85,000 per year to ensure fair pay for artists and employees in the cultural sector. This move aims to strengthen the sector’s sustainability without cutting programs, directly benefiting hundreds of creators and workers.
| Key Data Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Additional Funding | €85,000 per year (2026–2028) |
| Total Fair Practice Budget | €200,000 per year |
| Fair Pay Shortfall | ~€1 million annually (sector-wide) |
| Province’s Share | €85,000 (based on subsidy calculations) |
| Organisations Surveyed | 39 multi-year subsidised cultural institutions |
| Focus Areas | Fair remuneration, business operations, support for smaller institutions |
| Next Policy Period | 2029–2032 (structural embedding of Fair Pay in subsidy policy) |
The Province of Utrecht plays a key role in funding and shaping the regional cultural sector, ensuring its sustainability and accessibility. By subsidising institutions and festivals, the province supports fair labor practices and helps maintain a vibrant creative industry for residents.
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Province of Utrecht allocates additional funds for Fair Pay in the cultural sector
The Province of Utrecht is making additional funds available so that cultural institutions and festivals have more scope to provide creators and employees with fair remuneration for their work. With this step, the province is helping to ensure Fair Pay and investing in a strong and future-proof cultural sector.
Fair remuneration is a key component of the Fair Practice Code, which stands for fair, sustainable and transparent business operations in the cultural and creative sector. To determine how the province can contribute to this, a study was conducted among 39 cultural organisations that receive multi-year subsidies from the province.
One of the conclusions from this study is that, assuming a constant cultural offering, there is a combined Fair Pay shortfall of approximately €1 million per year. Since the province is often only one of the subsidy providers for these organisations, it has been calculated what share of this shortfall the province should cover. This amounts to approximately €85,000 per year.
Phased approach
For the period 2026–2028, the province therefore makes an additional €85,000 available to compensate for the Fair Pay shortfall. This will give organisations more scope to remunerate employees and creators in accordance with the Fair Pay principles, without this immediately impacting their activities.
The total subsidy for the Fair Practice Code amounts to €200,000 per year. The remaining funds will be used to support organisations in their business operations to implement the Fair Practice Code. Attention will be paid to the different starting positions of organisations, with smaller institutions in particular requiring additional support.
Shared responsibility
Deputy Rob van Muilekom: “A strong cultural sector requires fair remuneration for creators, employees and other professionals. With this step, we as a province are taking our responsibility as a co-financier and giving an impetus to a future-proof cultural sector. But we cannot do it alone: Fair Pay is a shared responsibility of the sector, governments and funds.”
Follow-up
For the next policy period (2029–2032), the province will explore how Fair Pay can be structurally embedded in subsidy policy. In this way, the province will continue to invest in a strong and future-proof cultural sector.
For press information: 634543242
See also
- Report ‘Additional costs of Fair Pay’ external link
- Provincial Council letter ‘Research and policy deployment Fair Pay’ external link