The Income Standard for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the past three to four decades, phenomena such as privatization, di­ minished levels of state support and increasingly intense accountability claims have been a red thread throughout arts policy in many European countries. A results­based management style has become the norm by which non-profit organizations in the arts are funded, to the extent that the systematic measurement of the performance of arts organizations in economic and managerial terms has become a characteristic of the state’s relationship with arts producers (EVANS 2000). Performance in­ dicators are the primary tools for measuring the compliance of organiza­ tions to government’s implicit demands and explicit requests. In this re­ gard, the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) even referred to a ‘cultural indicators agenda’ (IFACCA 2005). At the backdrop of New Public Management (NPM), arts policy has often been devised around regimes of monitoring and evaluation; frequently, this is because, in this manner, claims of the impact of the arts can be substantiated (BELFIORI 2002; JOHANSON et al. 2014). Regardless of their preoccupation with the economic and social value of the arts, or its value for money, central governments in many countries are preoc­ cupied with the financial performance of the recipients of public funds. Probably the most prevalent indicator of the financial performance of arts organizations is their ability to attract private funding. Substantial mixed financing has become a formal requirement of many governments for arts institutions and organizations: