Background information

The Dutch government presented a package of emergency measures to support businesses and workers during the COVID-19 crisis. The cultural and creative sector appears especially badly hit by the crisis and this has led to extra measures being taken. On 27 March, the Minister for Education, Culture and Science sent a letter to Parliament explaining the need for and content of the planned measures.

Following this first letter on plans to initiate a package of measures, a few weeks later, the announcement was made (after lobbying form the cultural and creative sector), that more support was needed. The Minister for Education, Culture and science announced on 15 April that more financing would be provided to the sector.

In April extra budget (€300 million) has been made available by the government to raise subsidies to the institutions crucial to the sector at national and regional level.

Content of measure

The target group of the measure are the approximately 70 institutions involved in the “basic cultural infrastructure” in the Netherlands, approximately 178 institutions, and the Film Fund for film producers. A total of €153 million have been assigned to these extra subsidies, 113 coming from the Ministry for Education, Culture and Science and the other 40 million from National cultural funds.

This instrument is one of several through which the €300 million will be spent on the cultural and creative sector. The goal of these extra subsidies is to maintain continuity, to invest in the next cultural and creative season, and to stimulate employment.

Use of measure

No information yet.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Does not apply to workers	Sector specific set of companies	Does not apply to citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
National government Social partners jointly	National funds

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative	Agreed (outcome) incl. social partner initiative
Form	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies	Consultation through tripartite or bipartite social dialogue bodies

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Sectoral or branch level

Involvement

As with the extra package of support measures for the cultural sector, the sector had lobbied for more support from the government, showing that their sector is being especially badly hit. Based on consultation and discussion with organisations form the sector and cultural funds, the government decided to add extra financial support to the existing emergency measures for the cultural and creative sectors.

Views and reactions

Given that the social partners lobbied for extra financing for these sectors specifically, it is reasonable to assume that social partners are satisfied with the outcomes. The government has indicated that interaction with social partners has generally been good during the COVID-19 crisis, though more details than this are difficult to identify.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 27 May 2020: Rijksoverheid, (2020), Infographic aanvullende ondersteuning € 300 miljoen culturele en creatieve sector (www.rijksoverheid.nl)
• 17 August 2020: Rijksoverheid, (2020), Kamerbrief aanvullende ondersteuning culturele en creatieve sector– April 15th 2020 (www.rijksoverheid.nl)
• 30 August 2021: Einde steunpakketten voor banen en economie (www.rijksoverheid.nl)
• 26 November 2021: Aanvullende steun voor culturele sector bij nieuwe maatregelen (www.rijksoverheid.nl)