Plan for the Arts (Kunstenplan) in Amsterdam

Name of the project:
Plan for the Arts (Kunstenplan) 2009-2012 in Amsterdam.

Name of the initiator and excecuting party:
The Plan for the Arts (Kunstenplan) 2009-2012 presents not only the cultural policies and ambitions, but also decides on the allocation of Plans for the Arts subsidies. With a budget of nearly € 87 million a year the Plan for the Arts is the most important source of public funding for the creative industries (especially in the arts).

Start of the project (if applicable end of the project):
The process started with expert-meetings (September 2006), organised by the Arts & Culture Department. The aim of these meetings was to discuss: trends, strength and weaknesses, especially concerning supply and demand. There were two expert-meetings for each of 6 selected sub-sectors of the arts: visual arts and design, film, literature, museums & cultural heritage, music, theatre. Approximately 90 experts participated in these meetings.

These expert-meetings were followed by a two-day debating tour through the city, organised by the City of Amsterdam, The Amsterdam Art Funds and the Amsterdam Advisory Board.

The expert-meetings and the debating tour were part of the preparation for the Arts and Culture Directives Document 2009-2012 (May 2007) in which the City Council presented four ambitions:

• Talent Development, the ambition that each individual child gets the opportunity to discover its talent at a young age, to develop this talent or even to grow into an exceptional talent
• Laboratory, to facilitate the process of innovation and research
• World Class, specific measures to enhance the world-class qualities of cultural production and presentation
• City of Beauty, the ambition to invest in the relationships between people through art and culture – in the community. The aim of this ambition is to increase the quality of life in the communities.

The Arts and Culture Directives Document is the starting point for the cultural institutions. To apply for a structural subsidy they will have to present (between May to October) a 4-year plan (2009-2012). For the 2009-2012 period 259 applications were received.

The applications are reviewed by the Amsterdam Arts Council (October – April). This is a kind of peer-to-peer review, undertaken by 60 cultural experts, in 99 meetings (290 hours). On their advice, the Amsterdam Arts Council allocates the subsidies for each applicant. This allocation is an important milestone in the development of the plan for the arts.

After political debate and some amendments and resolutions the Artplan for the period of 2009-2012 was approved on December 18th by the City Council.

The system of the artplans, with grants for 4 years gives the cultural institutions the opportunity to work in professional cycles. After each period the system is evaluated and adjusted.

Place of excecution:
Amsterdam in The Netherlands.

Best response to the project:
Max van Engen, Head of Arts and Culture Department, Amsterdam

The Plan for the Arts is the core of the art and culture policy of Amsterdam. Four year grants offer more than 100 arts organisations a steady base for the development of their ambitions. The Plan for the Arts reflects the richness, multiformity and diversity of the cultural life in the city, and contributes to the image and attraction of Amsterdam as a creative business-city.

Links to websites and/or social media:
Dmo.amsterdam.nl
Kunstraad.nl

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