Six professional Brabant cultural institutions will receive multi-year subsidies from the Province of North Brabant. The Provincial Executive has upheld their objections against the rejection of subsidies for the Contemporary Culture Professional Arts 2025-2028 program. In total, this amounts to € 2.6 million. The objections from 16 other institutions have been rejected.
The decision is the result of a careful process based on the advice of the independent Hearing and Advisory Committee (HAC). Provincial Executive Bas Maes (Culture, Heritage, Sports & Recreation): I find it unfortunate for the objectors that this procedure has taken so long and caused unrest. Therefore, it is good that there is now clarity and that we can still allocate funds to six institutions.
With these additional allocations, the province will support a total of 63 professional Brabant cultural institutions with € 37.5 million in the period 2025-2028. In the previous period (2021-2024), 54 applicants received a total of € 33.8 million. The higher amount for the period 2025-2028 is one-time. The institutions offer the residents of our province a colorful range of art and culture.
The six cultural organizations that will still receive subsidies are: Stichting Kamerata Zuid, Stichting WArd/waRD, Stichting Grote of Onze Lieve Vrouwekerk, Stichting Verkadefabriek, Stichting Onomatopee, and Stichting Artistieke Communicatie De Link. With the total subsidy of € 2.6 million, these institutions can still develop cultural activities in the coming years.
History
On July 2, 2024, the province made the original decision regarding the subsidy allocations based on the advice of an independent advisory committee of experts. Out of 106 applications, of which 99 were complete, 53 were granted. Due to high interest, some applicants were left out due to reaching the subsidy ceiling. Of the 34 objections, 5 were previously addressed by the independent Hearing and Advisory Committee (HAC) earlier this year. Recently, another 22.
The HACs advice to the province consisted of two parts: a general recommendation regarding the implementation of the program plus individual recommendations for each objection. The objections committee noted that parts of the program may not have been applied uniformly to all applicants. This may have led to unjustified rejections of applications in some cases.
External evaluation
The Provincial Executive acknowledges that the process has taken a long time and that this has led to unnecessary unrest among applicants. Provincial Executive Maes: “We take the criticism to heart. Therefore, we will also conduct an external evaluation. We hope to learn from it so that it goes better in the future. Therefore, we will also engage in dialogue with the cultural field.”
