What is the Culture Monitor?
The Cultuurmonitor brings together figures, analyses, and sources regarding the cultural sector in one place. In doing so, it is important to distinguish between the Dashboard and the domain and theme pages. The Dashboard is continuously updated with new figures as soon as they become available. The domain and theme pages provide interpretation, context, and coherence, and are updated periodically.
The Culture Monitor is not a comprehensive record of everything happening in the cultural sector. We work with data from existing, reliable, and traceable sources. Because definitions, measurement times, and geographical classifications can vary by source, not all figures or areas are directly comparable. Where possible, however, we bring together national, provincial, and municipal data in a coherent manner so that developments, differences, and similarities become more visible.
The regional culture monitors also build on this methodology. Value of Culture in North Brabant and the Culture and Heritage Monitor Gelderland use the same structure as the national Culture Monitor and a single shared database. In this way, national and regional monitoring reinforce each other, creating a better connected picture of the cultural landscape in the Netherlands.
Who is the Culture Monitor for?
The Cultuurmonitor is for policymakers, administrators, researchers, journalists, cultural professionals, and other interested parties who wish to follow, interpret, and compare developments in cultural life in the Netherlands.
How does the Culture Monitor work?
The Culture Monitor provides information about the Dutch cultural and creative sector. However, because culture is not a fixed concept, we deliberately opt for a broad and fluid concept of culture. We assume culture 'in the broad sense': subsidized and non-subsidized, outdoors and indoors, professional art and amateur art, individual and collective. If circumstances change, new domains or themes can be added to the Culture Monitor.
The Culture Monitor builds on and connects as much as possible to previous monitoring instruments such as Culture in pictures (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, until 2017), Cultural life (SCP, 2018) and the Culture Index and The State of Culture(Boekman Foundation, 2013-2019).
Domain pages
Domains within the Culture Monitor can be compared to cultural 'disciplines' or 'subsectors'. Currently, the Culture Monitor contains information on the domains Architecture, Audiovisual, Visual Arts, Design, Heritage, Games, Literature, Design, Music, and Theatre. We update the domain pages annually.
The domain pages contain information about each domain in a fixed order. The pages successively offer a selection of key figures about the domain, describe the most important developments and identify any gaps in knowledge. Topics covered include income, employment, visits and practice, regional distribution and accessibility.
Theme pages
The theme pages of the Culture Monitor deal with current and important topics that are not only relevant to one cultural domain but are important for the entire cultural sector. Theme pages place developments in context and make it possible to discover cross-connections between domains.
Currently, the Culture Monitor provides information on the following themes: Professional Practice, Digital Transformation, Diversity, Inclusion and Equality, Sustainability, Culture in the Region, Culture and Participation, and Culture and Funding Flows. Every year, these themes are updated and take on a freer format.
Dashboard
Behind the Culture Monitor is a database with many indicators that show different aspects of cultural life over several years. In the database we use a flexible approach to indicators. We do not impose any restrictions on the total set of indicators, but on individual indicatorsIn any event, these must be collected over several years and sustainably, be reliable and traceable, and provide relevant and overarching insight. This enables us to add indicators when there is a reason to do so. We have more than 230 indicators at the national level and more than 140 at the regional level.
Annual report
The domain and theme pages of the Cultuurmonitor are updated periodically. However, once a year we produce a summary overview of the cultural sector and bundle the most current texts into an annual report. The annual report serves as the archive of the Cultuurmonitor.
How do we produce the Culture Monitor?
As far as possible, we base our research for monitoring on existing sources, publications and datasets. Some of these sources cover the entire cultural sector, such as Creative Industry Monitor or the Culture & Media Satellite Account (CBS). In addition, the Culture Monitor brings together important data and insights from relevant thematic, sectoral and regional reports at an aggregated level in a central location. Examples of sources from which data are collected are leisure time research (Boekmanstichting in collaboration with Mulier Institute and CBS, Vrijetijdomnibus), the Monitor Amateur Art (LKCA), the Games Monitor (Dutch Game Garden and NEO Observatory), the Heritage monitor (RCE) and the various trade associations.
The Culture Monitor is not a comprehensive record of everything happening in the cultural sector. The Culture Monitor brings cultural data, research, and interpretation together in one place. Together with partners, stakeholders, and experts, the Boekman Foundation continuously collects new data and insights into the cultural sector. New figures are added to the Dashboard as soon as they become available; in the domain and theme analyses, we provide context and depth.
Regional cultural monitoring as a building block for the national picture
Local and regional authorities play an important role in Dutch cultural policy. They are responsible for many cultural facilities and funding, and therefore need good regional cultural data.
To contribute to this, the Boekman Foundation collaborates with provinces and other partners on regional culture monitors. These monitors provide in-depth insight into the cultural landscape per province and enable comparison between regions. Value of Culture in North Brabant and the Culture and Heritage Monitor Gelderland In doing so, they use the same structure as the national Cultuurmonitor website, including the dashboard, and build upon a single shared database. This allows data at the national, provincial, and municipal levels to be consulted in a coherent manner.
In recent years, we have also worked on regional monitors for, among others, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Region, Friesland en Culture monitor Zeeland
Not all national data can be easily broken down by region, and not all local data is directly usable for national analyses. This is precisely why coordination is important. The knowledge and expertise from regional monitors feed the national Culture Monitor, while national analyses help to better interpret regional developments. This creates a more complete and coherent picture of the cultural landscape in the Netherlands.
Who creates the Culture Monitor?
Maartje Goedhart
Research coordinator
Maartje is responsible for the coordination and implementation of the various research programs and projects within the Boekmanstichting. She manages the research team and ensures the continuity of the Culture Monitor.
Maxime van Haeren
Researcher
Domains: Design, Visual arts
Themes: Diversity, equality and inclusion
Thomas de Hoog
Researcher
Domains: Architecture
Themes: Sustainability, Culture and participation, Culture and money flows
He is also responsible for the database.
Jan Jaap Knol
Director
Jan Jaap critically reviewed all the texts and is a co-author of the summary overview of the cultural sector in the annual report.
Rosa Schiavone
Researcher
Domains: Letters
Themes: Diversity, equality and inclusion
Sita Struijke
Researcher
Domain: Games
Topics: Digital Transformation and Culture and Money Flows
Britt Swartjes
Researcher
Domains: Music and Theater
Themes: Professional practice, Culture and participation
Jonathan Verwey
Researcher
Domains: Heritage and Audiovisual
Themes: Culture and financial flows, Culture in the region
Guidance committee
- Koen van Eijck (Professor of cultural sociology, Erasmus University (chairman)
- Ellen Loots (Assistant Professor in Cultural Economics and Entrepreneurship, Erasmus University)
- Remco Hoekman (Director, Mulier Institute)
- Dennis Stam (member MT, Heritage and Arts Directorate, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science)
- Astrid Weij (director, Arts '92)
- Pieter Bots (Policy Advisor, Raad voor Cultuur)
- Fenna van Hout (Policy Officer Culture and Society, VNG)
- Peter Drenth (Member of the Provincial Executive of Gelderland)
- On behalf of the funds in varying composition: Nina Pigaht (Fund for Cultural Participation), Iris Daalder (Fund for Cultural Participation) and Marianne van de Velde (Performing Arts Fund).
Many thanks to
- Wendy Lubberding for her analysis of the Trends and developments at the Theater domain.
- Nadine Ridder for her contribution to the theme of Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.
- Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Subsidy)
- Van Ons (Realization of website, dashboard and CMS)
- All our conversation partners and readers
- All colleagues of the Boekman Foundation and former employees of the Cultuurmonitor
Want to stay informed?
Through which channels you reach those people, classic and out of the box. the newsletter of the Boekman Foundation you stay informed of the latest developments surrounding the Culture Monitor.
Accessibility
As Boekmanstichting, we believe it is important that the Culture Monitor is accessible and usable for everyone. In 2022, we therefore had this website reviewed for accessibility for people with a visual impairment. Van Ons then implemented various adjustments that increase accessibility for users with a screen reader.
Are you encountering an accessibility problem on this website, or do you have a question or comment? Then we would like to hear from you! You can contact us via the contact form or by calling 020-6243736.
Image credits: Lisa Maatjens (photography).