Overview and key figures
The domain of Theatre is characterised by a great diversity of forms, genres and institutions (Groot Nibbelink 2023). In the cultural sector, this domain is also referred to as the 'scenic performing arts', which in addition to theatre also includes dance, opera, musical theatre and cabaret and small-scale art. Interdisciplinary work is also carried out within this domain: co-productions are carried out, sub-disciplines overlap (think, for example, of
Key figures
In order to map the number of organisations, employees, income, number of performances and visits to them and practice in figures, various sources must be used. There are two sources that are structurally (on an annual basis) and collected nationally: 1) Performing arts of the CBS and 2) the Theatre Analysis System (TAS) of the VSCDThe CBS figures are partly based on figures from the TAS – in which the VSCD collects data from its affiliated members on an annual basis. In addition, the CBS collects additional data in order to obtain a more complete picture of the sector. Also DIP offers more and more insight into ticket sales and audience data of their
Number of organizations: According to figures from Statistics Netherlands (2025c), there were 2023 theatre halls in the Netherlands in 584, with an audience capacity of 267 thousand places (seats or maximum permitted capacity). More than half of these halls belong to VSCD members: in 2023, 315 halls belong to VSCD members, with a total of 136 thousand seats in that year (Siebe Weide Advies 2024). Despite an overall growth in the number of halls and their capacity since 2017, fluctuations in the CBS figures are noticeable. For example, there was a decrease in the number of halls from 2019 to 2020. The audience capacity also fell in 2017, but then remained the same in the following years and increased again after 2020. While the number of halls has increased in recent years, the audience capacity has decreased.
Characteristic of the Dutch theatre landscape is that in addition to large city theatres, there are many smaller theatres that are also called 'flat floor' theatres (Groot Nibbelink 2023). This is also reflected in VSCD figures: in 2023, for example, there will be a large number of
Number of performances and productions: Since 2011, we have seen a gradual decline in the number of theatre performances (referring to the performances of artistic productions) in the Netherlands, with a sharp dip since the corona years (CBS 2025c). The decline since 2011 may be related to the financial crisis of 2008 and the cutbacks that impacted the entire cultural sector from 2012 (Groot Nibbelink 2023). For other scenic performing arts, the number of performances remained approximately the same until the corona years. In 2023, the number of theatre performances and the number of cabaret and small-scale art performances will not yet be at the 2019 level. The number of dance and movement and music theatre performances will have exceeded the 2023 level in 2019. In the scenic performing arts, there is a difference between the number of performances and the number of productions. In the Theatre collection of the University of Amsterdam (2025) contains data on the number of premieres of theatre performances in the Netherlands. For the 2024/2025 season it shows that 978 productions by Dutch and Flemish producers premiered.
The geographical distribution of performances is striking, as shown by the Theater Analysis System: they are mostly organized in the West of the country. In particular, genres that received relatively large government subsidies, including opera, ballet and modern dance, took place in the West, the four major cities and Amsterdam (Siebe Weide Advies 2024). Given the redistribution of cultural subsidies, whereby fewer Amsterdam institutions have been able to count on government subsidies from 2025 (Burghoorn 2024), it is questionable how this will develop in the coming years.
Attendance: CBS figures show developments in the number of visits to scenic performing arts between 2005 and 2023 (CBS 2025c). Music theatre performances (3,6 million visits) and cabaret and small-scale art performances (2,7 million visits) were the most popular in 2019. The gradual increase in the number of visits to these forms from 2013/2014 to 2019 is striking, while visits to theatre performances gradually declined over the same period. A sharp decline in visitor numbers occurred within all subdomains during the corona years. In 2023, visitor numbers in most domains will continue to lag behind those of 2019: only within dance and movement performances did the number of visits exceed the numbers of 2019. In the number of organised performances, we also saw that dance and movement performances were one of the only subdomains to exceed the numbers of 2023 in 2019. The Theater Analysis System shows that most visits take place in the West of the country – even more than the number of inhabitants can explain. This means that many people from other parts of the Netherlands probably visit theater in the Randstad (Siebe Weide Advies 2024).
Figures from the Vrijetijdomnibus (VTO), shown in Table 1, show that 19 percent of Dutch people aged 6 and older had visited a theatre performance in 2022 (Swartjes et al. 2024). The various forms of performing arts are mainly visited by women, people with higher incomes or people with HBO or WO education. There are exceptions: for example, the share of men who visit cabaret performances is greater than the share of women. The popularity of performing arts also varies by age. It is striking that musicals and theatre performances are very popular among 6 to 11 year olds, while the share of visitors to cabaret performances and opera, operetta and classical music is higher among higher age categories. While the picture with regard to background characteristics is fairly similar for different forms of performing arts, this is different for origin. For example, while the share of visitors to musical performances and opera/operetta/classical music is highest among people born in Europe (excl. the Netherlands), for theatre performances it is highest among people born in an 'other' country. For various forms of dance, the shares within origin categories are often too small to show. However, it can be seen that the last broader category of dance, including folk dance, salsa, tango, ballroom dance, and street dance, generally seem to be more popular among people who were not born in the Netherlands or have parents who were not born in the Netherlands.
Workers: The CBS also maps the cultural labor market (CBS 2025b). For the performing arts (including Music) this includes figures for 1) the number of employed persons, 2) the number of jobs and 3) the number of self-employed persons. For the number of employed persons, no distinction can be made between different parts of the performing arts sector based on available CBS figures. This is possible for the number of jobs and the number of self-employed persons. That is why we show differences in the number of jobs and the number of self-employed persons between practitioners of performing arts, producers of performing arts and workers at venues.
According to figures from Statistics Netherlands (graph 2023), 32.800 people were employed in the professional performing arts sector in 1. By type of appointment, the number of volunteers and interns was the highest, followed by people working as employees and temporary staff. Over time, the number of people working as employees fell slightly, but increased again from 2022 onwards, while the share of volunteers and interns increased (CBS 2025b). The VSCD figures – these only concern people working at affiliated venues – show a similar distribution: the number of employees is the largest, followed by the number of volunteers and the number of self-employed persons (Siebe Weide Advies 2024).
A striking development is taking place in the number of jobs (graph 2): while the number of jobs in the practice and production of performing arts has fallen slightly over the years, we see a clear increase in the number of jobs in theatres, concert halls and concert halls compared to 2019. While there were 2019 jobs in 6.060, this will be 2024 in the third quartile of 7.740 – an increase of 28 percent (CBS 2025a).
The share of self-employed people has increased in particular in the practice of performing arts, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands up to and including the third quartile of 2024 (graph 3, CBS 2025a). This is all the more striking because these numbers are much lower in the production of performing arts and in theatres, concert halls and concert halls and have been decreasing since 2020. For producers of performing arts, this even amounts to a 56 percent decrease in the number of self-employed people in 2024 compared to 2019. This could be related to the shortages of technicians in the performing arts sector after corona (see for example Beeckmans 2022).
Income and subsidy flows: The Theater Analysis System provides insight into the income and subsidy flows for stages affiliated with the VSCD (Siebe Weide Advies 2024). The vast majority of money (56 percent) came in 2023 through own income, but also from subsidies (42 percent) and corona support (2 percent). Subsidies come, just like for the domain Music, especially from municipalities: 93 percent of all subsidies received come from municipalities. The extent to which the government subsidises varies greatly per subdomain. For example, in 2023, more than half of the opera offering was subsidised by the government (53 percent), while musicals (2 percent) and cabaret (0,1 percent) were barely subsidised (see Siebe Weide Advies 2024 for the full list). On the Cash flows page, we map out subsidy flows for the entire cultural sector.
Op
In 2024, the results of the multi-year subsidies of the Performing Arts Fund for the period 2025-2028 are known – results that caused shifts and commotion. For example, several leading companies will receive no or less subsidy from 2025, there are concerns about the role of dramaturges and the cutbacks in permanent dramaturgy departments, but the entire dance sector is also under pressure due to cutbacks (De Grefte et al 2024; Janssens 2024b; Maas et al 2024). Since the decisions were taken, the results of the subsidy rounds have remained an important
Participation The VTO figures for 2022 – the latest edition of this biennial questionnaire distributed among the Dutch population – showed that 40 percent of the Dutch population aged 6 and older practiced at least one performing arts activity annually (Swartjes and de Hoog 2024). Some forms of performing arts are more popular than others. Playing an instrument (21 percent) and singing (29 percent) were done most often. A smaller share of the Dutch population does acting (6 percent), folk dance, world dance or ballroom dance (6 percent) or classical ballet/modern dance (3 percent). Only 1 percent of the Dutch did cabaret or stand-up comedy in 2022. The analysis showed that performing arts were mainly done by women, young people and HBO and WO graduates. There are no differences between income levels in the share of performing arts practitioners (Culture and participation).
De Monitor Amateur Art from the LKCA from 2023 also has data on performing arts practice and whether people do this in groups or take lessons. This showed that dance in particular is done in groups (31 percent), but also theater (12 percent) and musical, music theater and opera/operetta (10 percent) are practiced in groups. For acting, almost half of the practitioners take lessons (45 percent), for people who dance this is 34 percent of the practitioners and for music theater 27 percent.
Trends and developments
Education and talent development
In 2024, the Theatre Yearbook focused on education, following the start of the first drama school, 2024 years ago in the autumn of 150. There are 11 colleges that
In addition to an overview of the educational landscape for theatre, it discusses Theatre yearbook 2023/2024 questions about the organization of education at universities of applied sciences and important developments in this. Changes in society also influence educational practice and the skills that are (needed to be) learned within it in order to be able to start in the field. For example, Lieke van Hoogenhuijze (2024) shares important characteristics of training profiles for the performing arts. In a training profile, compiled by representatives from the field, it is summarized what the relevant profession entails and which skills and competencies are required in the field. For the bachelors and masters in dance and theater, these are, for example: creative ability, craft ability, research and reflective ability, ability to develop, entrepreneurial ability, communication ability and ability to collaborate. She also points out the importance of learning transferable skills on: skills that students can also use outside the performing arts. A frequently heard point of criticism in research by Platform ACCT, SFPK and Omscholing Dansers Nederland in 2020 (SFPK et al. 2020) was that vocational training courses would offer too few tools to make careers more sustainable – a point that seems to have been increasingly addressed in these training profiles.
Research is also being conducted into the transition from education to the labor market. In 2024, for example, Cuenen, Meinders, and Geboers conducted research into alumni of MBO artist training programs, including musicians, dancers, actors, and musical performers. It is striking that almost half of the 541 respondents have gone on to further education, of which 86 percent are doing so at HBO level. This is particularly true for dancers and actors: 59 percent of these groups are doing further education. Reasons given for further study are related to wanting to specialize and develop further, achieving a higher level of education, and job security.
In addition to official educational institutions, there are more organizations and institutions that play an important role in talent development, such as Theaterhuis Likeminds and various theater festivals. There are concerns about these institutions: in 2024, several institutions had to end talent development programs due to economic uncertainty - including Boslab and Atelier Oerol (Hellwig 2024). Although Hellwig (2024) provides important insights into existing talent development programs and what the challenges are - which partly arise from a lack of shared vision on talent development - many questions remain. From a research perspective, for example, overview questions still arise: what forms of talent development are there in the theater sector, where do they take place and how are they supported?
Digital transformation
Digital transformation is not new in the theatre sector. For example, DEN has been committed to supporting the cultural sector in digitalization since 1996, and has the publication Digital Theater: A Casebook (Wiley et al. 2018) see that even before corona, research was already being done into the extent to which a digital strategy can strengthen theatres in their position in society. On the one hand, this involves digitising the supply, in which
In previous editions, we saw that the corona crisis had given an impetus to the development of digital and online strategies. For example, various performances were offered online via various platforms, from individual theatres and companies or from streaming services. In 2022, a number of these initiatives already stopped, partly due to insufficient income and the importance of the live experience (Beeckmans 2022). While figures from the Theatre Analysis System still showed a number of 167 online performances in 2022, this was no longer measured for the following year (Siebe Weide Advies 2024).
Interdisciplinary collaboration and funds
There is increasing cooperation within the sector in terms of content and organisation – this was discussed in previous analyses of this page and in discussions with the theatre sector that were held for this purpose. Many co-productions are realised, sub-disciplines overlap, or new disciplines are created.
However, a lot has been set in motion in recent years. For example, it was indicated that co-productions and interdisciplinary collaboration were made more difficult because within the subsidy system of the national cultural funds, a subsidy must be applied for within a certain discipline (Brom et al. 2019). This would have led to a desire for private funds (Haeren 2019, Brom et al. 2019). The advice Access to Culture (Raad voor Cultuur 2024) responded with the advice to break down the barriers between national cultural funds from 2029 onwards. In 2024, the Council advised to merge the six national cultural funds, each focusing on one discipline, into one national national fund, with departments for the provinces and the Caribbean Netherlands. A number of critical voices were heard from the performing arts sector on the advice of the council (Daamen 2024; Pama et al 2024), in which the skewed distribution of subsidies across the country was criticised in particular. The problem would then mainly be about keeping culture accessible in places where there are few makers who tell local stories from the region (Pama et al 2024). There are also concerns about the movement towards a focus on variety in the cultural system instead of a broader perspective on artistic quality – a concept that Pieter Bots puts on the agenda in his dissertation – and the current political climate (de Wijs 2024).
In the meantime, there is a little more clarity about decisions that are taken in response to the advice: a complete reform does not seem to be in the cards yet. However, there will be more attention for cultural institutions outside the Randstad, the cycle would be extended from four to six years and it is being investigated whether the application procedure can be made easier (Hosman 2025).
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Diversity, equity and inclusion formed a common thread for the cultural sector. Still present problems such as institutional racism and a lack of representation in positions of power were addressed by the sector
Various supporting initiatives were already created in 2019, such as the incentive prize for diversity and inclusion The Next, and the now completed incentive program Theater Inclusief (Beeckmans 2019; Theater Inclusief 2019). The foundation was established there in 2020 The Need For Legacy at, a platform and community for a more diverse and inclusive theatre world (Beeckmans 2020). The Theatre yearbook 2022-2023 was co-edited by The Need For Legacy. They emphasized at the time that the field is in motion, which was also confirmed in the review of the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 theater seasons of NRC. While the two trends in 2022/2023 still focused on the growing presence of 'the female voice' and 'polyphony' (also emphasized by Embrechts et al. 2024), the 2023/2024 season was about 'motherhood, fatherhood, desire for children' (from a feminist/queer perspective) and 'transgressive behavior'. In 2023, the VSCD also made awards for actors 'gender-inclusive': from now on, there will be
An important focus within the performing arts is on physical diversity. In the Theatre yearbook This will also be up for discussion in 2023/2024 – in the context of education but also in a broader sense. In particular, education programs that place a great emphasis on the physical, such as mime or dance, will have to deal with this. For example, within education programs, both teachers and students will question how ideas of a 'good' body for mime artists were shaped historically – and how that perspective can be broadened (van der Jagt 2024). In the lectorate Embodied Knowledge in Theatre and Dance research is being conducted into the role of embodied knowledge, including in education.
Fair practice
In 2017, the Fair Practice Code was launched. This Code focuses on a number of core values: solidarity, diversity, trust, sustainability and transparency. Fair Pay is also part of this. On the page Professional practice show that the position of self-employed persons on the labor market is uncertain (Vinken et al. 2023). The report also shows that Unequally affected, unequally supported: effects of the corona crisis in the cultural sector, it turned out that self-employed people in particular were the victims of the corona crisis. This is particularly problematic for the theatre sector because many people work here as self-employed people. Among practitioners and producers of performing arts, there are 24 thousand self-employed entrepreneurs in 2023 - which is the largest number of self-employed people in the Arts and Cultural Heritage subsector after Creative Arts.
Platform ACCT is committed to improving the position of workers in the cultural and creative sector. In 2020, they investigated how sustainable the careers of performing artists are (see: Platform ACCT). This showed that dancers, circus artists, singers and musicians often have such a demanding job that they cannot continue working until retirement age. This has to do with both physical and mental strain. For actors, this also has to do with circumstances, in which actors become more expensive as they get older, there are few permanent jobs at theatre companies and actors are constantly looking for work. Performing artists, like other artistic professions, are strongly intrinsically motivated (see page Professional practice) – but sustainable working conditions sometimes seem to be the last resort (SFPK et al. 2020). The report also makes suggestions to improve working conditions – which also require financial support – but it is unclear whether and how these results have been taken up. In other domains, chain tables have also been developed in recent years by Platform ACCT, including for various subsectors within Music, but not yet for other (sub)sectors within the performing arts.
Even before the corona crisis, the sector showed little concern for independent theatre makers. Creative Coalition has been committed to decent revenue sharing for makers since 2019, see herehave an updated
Sustainability
Within the sector, increasing attention is being paid to issues surrounding Sustainability. Compared to other domains, the theatre world is said to have started relatively late with issues around sustainability and ecology (Van Baarle 2023). Van Baarle (2023) shows that ecology and climate were not central themes in European or North American theatre until the beginning of this century. Sustainability and climate change are now frequently addressed in theatre performances (Janssens 2025). Several new forms of theatre have also developed in this, such as 'ecodramaturgy', which focuses on ecological reciprocity and community as themes (Van Baarle 2023).
In addition to being a theme within theatre performances, there is also attention for adjustments in production processes and work practices. On the one hand, this concerns smaller adjustments, such as using plants instead of flowers at premieres or less use of copied material. On the other hand, it also concerns dealing with the entire programming chain in a more sustainable way, and for example keeping performances within the repertoire for longer. Theatre Green Book plays an important role in this. What started as a collective for theatre makers in the United Kingdom developed into an international network. From the Netherlands, the NAPK is affiliated, but it is Theatre Green Book also used as a guideline within individual organizations such as the Zuidelijk Toneel (Lubberding 2024).
What else do we want to know about the Theatre domain?
Better mapping of the theatre landscape
As was already apparent from the above 'Overview & Key Figures', there is not always enough data available about the theatre sector, especially if we want to split it up into subdomains. This often makes it difficult to provide large-scale insight into challenges and developments in the sector. For example, we saw that there has been a fluctuation in the number of theatre halls and their audience capacity in recent years: where does this fluctuation come from? Is this stronger in some regions than in others? Furthermore, there is a strong focus on halls, while the entire theatre landscape is much more comprehensive. For example, what about the numbers
Working in the theatre sector
Although there are figures on workers in the performing arts sector as a whole, it would be good to have more insight into workers and makers within subdomains. Especially since there are relatively many self-employed people in the performing arts and research from 2020 has shown that the position of makers is precarious. How many makers are there per subdomain? What career phases do these makers go through? And what about their sources of income? It is possible that microdata from Statistics Netherlands can provide more insight into this. For example, Been and Keune (2022) previously mapped out developments in the labor market of subsectors in the creative industry (see also the page Professional practice for a more extensive discussion of this research). Within the theme of work, important questions also arise regarding talent development organizations – especially given the effects of recent budget cuts. Which talent development organizations are there, what is their role and what are the challenges?
Audience research
There are still many questions about audiences in the theatre sector, especially with a view to reaching a diverse and inclusive audience from your own region. That is why it is necessary to bring together more audience research and figures from different stages, makers and companies. Data must also be compatible and comparable. To this end, the sector has set up the Digital Information Platform for the Performing Arts (DIP). Together with Cineville, CJP, Kunsten '92, Platform Acct and Rotterdam Festivals, DIP forms the Public Data Partnership Task Force. Until the end of December 2024, research was conducted under the leadership of DEN Knowledge Institute for Culture & Digital Information into how knowledge and expertise about audience data in the cultural sector can be increased. Some of these activities will be continued in 2025, such as the focus on target group models.
There is also in the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 theater seasons Audience research conducted by the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on the initiative of George and Eran productions on the effects of inclusive policies of companies on the composition and experiences of audiences. First results will be published in the course of 2025.
Want to know more about the Theatre domain?
View more data about the Theatre domain in the Dashboard of the Culture Monitor.
More literature about the Theatre domain can be found in the Knowledge base of the Boekman Foundation.
Previous editions of the text on this domain page can be found here:
2021
2022
2023
Sources
Characters
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Association of Universities of Applied Sciences (2025) Association of Universities of Applied Sciences. On: www.vereniginghogescholen.nl, February 11.
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Justification text and image
Editorial note: An earlier version of this page was written by Maxime van Haeren. The current version of the page was read by Simon van den Berg (Theaterkrant) and Maxime van Haeren (Cultuurmonitor).
Graphics and design: Depiction The Magic Mountain by ITA / Photography: Dim Balsem (courtesy of ITA).
Social safety
In recent years, there have been various reports in the cultural sector aboutunacceptable behavior emerged, particularly in art education and the performing arts (Leden 2021; Pama 2024). Recent examples include the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam (ITA), where extensive research was conducted into the work culture after reports of inappropriate behavior (Olfers et al. 2024), and Theaterhuis Likeminds, where several theater makers left due to the director's inappropriate behavior (Borg 2023). In theater productions, inappropriate behavior was also frequently in the spotlight – which was also mentioned as one of the important developments in the offering by the NRC in its review of the 2023/2024 season (Rijghard 2024).
Both Theaterhuis Likeminds and ITA conducted further research into transgressive behavior. Although the results of this research at Likeminds were not made public, it was concluded that it was plausible that there was transgressive behavior and that this was also related to the position of the general manager (Beeckmans 2024). In 2024, the results of cultural research at ITA were also published (Olfers et al. 2024). Although this concerns only one organization in the theater world, it does provide insight into organizational cultures and social safety in parts of the sector. A total of 285 (former) employees of ITA completed a questionnaire - 43 percent of the total number of employees in 2021. Based on the research findings, transgressive behavior was linked to two factors that are characteristic of the performing arts in the broader sense: 1) performance and work pressure and 2) hierarchical structure with a (in)formal character. In the summer of 2024, it was announced that ITA would end its collaboration with Ivo van Hove – who had been the company's artistic director until then – and that the supervisory board would resign (Ter Borg et al. 2024).
In the advice Across the border: towards a shared culture. from June 2022 the map Raad voor Cultuur a lack of structures aimed at social security. Also from a research from 2023 on social safety in higher art and fashion education of the Education Inspectorate showed that the relevant boards of universities of applied sciences do have a sense of urgency and take responsibility for the social safety of students by taking various measures, but that in general they are not far with plan development, monitoring, evaluation and adjustment of the goals and measures for social safety (Education Inspectorate 2023). Many new steps are now being taken in the sector. For example, Sheralynn Adriaansz has been the new director of Theaterhuis Likeminds since the beginning of 2025, where she wants to focus on a safe working atmosphere, collaboration and talent development (Janssens 2025). Also in the Theatre yearbook 2023/2024 will reflect on social safety in higher arts education. Theatre courses will address the broader issues through, among other things, participation councils and evaluation moments in which students participate (also called 'quality assurance') and a code of conduct that all teachers must adhere to (Heerikhuizen 2021).
Social safety is also being worked on outside of education. For example, in the autumn of 2021, the NAPK published the policy framework 'Safe on the floor' to prevent unwanted behaviour in the performing arts sector (NAPK 2021a). The policy framework offers tools to institutions and performing arts producers to prevent unwanted behaviour and to formulate their own policy on this (NAPK 2021b). Following this, the Social Safety Performing Arts Foundation established by the NAPK in the spring of 2022. This foundation supports NAPK members in developing and implementing policies in the field of social security (NAPK 2022). The dance world also saw the report Shadow dancing: an investigation into transgressive behavior in dancing, on transgressive behavior in the dance sector, the alliance DansVeilig was founded (Lubberding 2025). Mores.online, the independent reporting center for undesirable behavior in the cultural and creative sector, was founded in 2018 to handle the growing number of reports (RCGOG 2023, Mores.online 2023).