City of Culture
BIJ1 fights for thriving arts, culture, media and sports in Rotterdam. The people in our city need to be represented in their entirety, and arts and culture need to be accessible to everyone. Artists, creative thinkers and media creators do important work and need to be able to live from their work.
Unfortunately, this is made difficult for them because the city unilaterally subsidises large institutions in its public funding system. At the same time, the municipality's housing policy is chasing small artist initiatives out of the city. As a result, small initiatives have little or no opportunity.
The current Rotterdam art and culture policies are based on neoliberal and capitalist principles. Art and culture are expected to generate money and attract visitors, otherwise the city will cut its support. The view of art in Rotterdam is biassed. For the municipality, art and culture needs to be grand and glamorous; there is a wide-spread belief that true art manifests itself primarily through large institutions.
BIJ1 wants a system change. The Rotterdam art and culture policies must change radically. The criteria that are used to determine what art is and where funding goes to, must be drastically revised. The current criteria assume a Western understanding of art and a white idea of what art is. Creators of colour are running up against this. They are not recognized as artists unless they make art that was taught to them in art schools.
As long as the current system continues to work the same, more funding and better representation of marginalised people in commissions are not a solution. That is why BIJ1 wants a different system where art and culture policy is not separate from economic policy, fighting poverty, real estate regulations and climate policies.
- In the short term this means a radical reform of the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture (RRKC), the advisory body for the municipal arts funding system.
- We will also make funding and municipal real estate available for small initiatives.
- In the long term this means abandoning Rotterdam's multi-year "Culture Plan" as the central funding instrument and developing new, decentralised support and funding instruments for cultural initiatives in Rotterdam.
- We support the manifesto Cultuur Inclusief (Inclusive Culture). The manifesto clearly states that an inclusive art and culture system must also be outspoken anti-racist. Signed by only 30 of the 90 cultural institutions, we feel it is necessary to give this more attention. The times when such important issues were only discussed on the fringes of cultural debates are behind us.
- The municipality will commit itself to encouraging local museums to return stolen art and art earned with money from slavery and exploitation to the countries of origin. The municipality has to make sure that more attention will be given to the Dutch colonial history and the history of slavery.
- Many Rotterdammers feel uninvited and unwelcome in the cultural institutions currently subsidized by the municipality. BIJ1 makes other choices and sets other priorities. The only organizations that actually reach marginalized groups in the city are those that have people from these groups in all their ranks. The municipality will recognize and acknowledge the value of local makers and makers from marginalized groups.
- Finally, BIJ1 wants additional (financial) support for local makers and initiatives because of the Corona pandemic. The arts and culture field and small makers in particular have been hit hard by the pandemic. (financial) support for local makers and initiatives because of the Corona pandemicThey deserve extra support so they can continue to do their work. All the more so 10 because art and culture can offer the much-needed support and solace to Rotterdammers, especially in these times.