Arts in Belgium face 7.5% cuts
mainThe culture minister will tell Parliament today that institutions in the Flemish region must cut back, starting now.
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What about Wallonia? Will they have to cut as well? (Lord knows they have less money.) And Brussels? I presume Brussels has a separate culture budget, even though, geographically speaking, the city is located (just barely) within Flanders.
Please, read the original article well.
1. This is about the Flemish speaking community in Belgium (Flanders and partly Brussels). It is not about Belgium.
2. The average cut is 4%
3. A certain number of institutions will face a 2% cut: the Flemish Opera (Vlaamse Opera), the Ballet van Vlaanderen and deFilharomie Orchestra, deSingel concert hall in Antwerp.
4. The 7,5 % applies to project subsidies. These budgets are very important for a lot of smaller ensembles, especially in the field of Early Music, like les Muffatti, Le Concert Olympique, but also the Flemish Chamber Orchestra.
The cuts wll surely affect the classical music scene in Flanders.
Flemish speaking community???? Dutch speaking community, Flemish denotes the region, the ‘nationality’ but NOT the language. Dutch is the English term denoting the common language spoken in Flanders and the Netherlands.
The cuts were necessary. Loads of money is being wasted on PR, press offices, directors etc. There is simply not enough money anymore to subsidize everything and all, especially when performances are not always sold out. Subsidies have run out of control and the state is not responsible for everyone aiming a career in the arts, there are other jobs. Why on earth should we subsidize authors? If they can’t sell enough books to earn a living let them look for another job….This from someone who believes in subsidy but the way money was/is thrown out of “doors and windows” is in fact criminal against the hard working taxpayer.