Infographic © Taluut
Like many other publicly funded cultural organisations, the Performing Arts Fund NL operates according to multi-year policy periods. Although the 2025–2028 period is still in full swing, we are already preparing for what lies ahead. As we move towards 1 January 2029, a number of important developments are due to take place: from a potential change in legislation concerning the duration of funding periods and a new policy mandate by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) for the Fund, to consultations with the field and the development of new funding schemes. We find it important to share this process with all stakeholders. That is why we have started posting a series of articles on our website. This time we’re taking a look at the ecosystem of the performing arts sector and the importance of having robust performance venues and festivals.
Venues and festivals fulfil an indispensable role in connecting performing artists with audiences. They make choices for the programmes they offer based on their own artistic vision and familiarity with the audience. This way, they are not just a place where the audience and makers can connect, but are also a vital link in performing artists’ development, visibility and career. Without sufficient strong and well-funded venues and festivals, what’s on offer won’t reach the audience, and without an audience there’s no foundation for a healthy performing arts sector. Investing in venues and festivals is therefore tantamount to investing in public reach, in talent development, and in the future of the performing arts.
In the 1980s, public authorities agreed that municipal governments would look after the basic funding for performance venues, that provincial governments would play a complementary role in ensuring the geographical spread of the offer – particularly outside the major cities – and that the state government would support the offer. This means that the lion’s share of subsidies granted to venues are provided by municipal governments. Despite the arrangement that the state government is not responsible for financing venues, since the 1980s the state government has supported the programming at venues through various funds. At the time when the different public authorities made their arrangements, festivals did not yet play a significant role in cultural policy. From the time that they started playing a bigger role in the performing arts, the state government has supported the operational management of (some) festivals, in contrast to performing venues. Nonetheless, municipal and provincial governments remain a more important funding party for performing arts festivals than the state government. For many venues and festivals, the full array of subsidies provided by the different governments is vital to their ability to perform their work.
Subsidies by other public authorities are often not intended for the artistic programming of venues and festivals, but for the maintenance of the organisation and a building. The programming costs are expected to be covered through for instance ticket sales and bar sales. This is often successful when the programming is popular and draws a large audience. However, in the event of costly programmes, on account of their form or large scale, the ticket prices would have to be set so high that it would restrict the programme’s accessibility. In addition, there are performing art programmes that will only draw a small audience, because it is (still) a niche act or because the maker has yet to gain prominence. In that case, the return from ticket sales is usually not enough to cover the costs; certainly not if fair pay for the performing artists is calculated into the costs.
The Performing Arts Fund NL supports programming in order to promote a wide variety of performing arts and performers at venues and festivals. The contribution enables venues and festivals to invest in distinctive programming, to fairly pay the makers, performers and technicians, and to increase the accessibility of the work for a wide audience. It only takes relatively small amounts (to around 50,000 euros per year) to make a real difference.
Many performing artists tour the whole country with their performances or concerts. Programming subsidies help to make such tours possible. Moreover, since venues and festivals are spread widely across the Kingdom of the Netherlands, this ensures that the Fund’s grants find their way to very many locations. At present we support 55 festivals through the Multi-year Festival Scheme, 135 venues through the Stage Grant, and 239 presenting organisations through the Grant for Programming and Presentation.
Together, venues and festivals reach a large audience. In 2025, pop music venues collectively reached 6.4 million visitors (data VNPF), while theatres and concert halls reached 16 million visitors (data VSCD). Besides successes there are also concerns, however. Venues and festivals are financially vulnerable. For several years in succession, the costs have risen faster than the income. This development restricts the amount of risk organisations can take in their programming. As a result, there is less room for artistic offer and emerging talents. In a worst-case scenario, where venues and festivals cease to exist, it would put the accessibility of performing arts under pressure, which would have a major impact on the activities of performing artists.
As said, performance venues and festivals play an indispensable role in connecting performing artists and audiences. A healthy and accessible performing arts sector needs healthy venues and festivals. For that reason, in the 2025-2028 period we will be investing additionally in programming grants, using one-off resources. This way we can support venues and festivals, contribute to a wide public reach, and increase performance opportunities for companies, bands, ensembles and individual makers. That these resources are not available structurally is a source of worry, looking ahead to the future. To continue to operate at minimally the same level as now requires additional investment from 2029 on. This is a recurrent topic in our conversations with the field and the different public authorities. We will continue to discuss this in the consultations about our plans for 2029 and further ahead.
Several studies and publications on the state of performance venues and festivals have been published in recent months. Here are a number of reading suggestions (please note these pages are available in Dutch):