Culture across the regions

Regional differences and diversity

When discussing accessibility in the cultural sector and recognition of culture, it is important to consider both regional distribution and urban culture. Attention for 'the Culture' – a collective term for diasporic and migrant cultures – is growing, but still requires broader institutional recognition (Bedaux 2023 and 2025). Cultural expressions such as music, fashion, film and design, which emerged from postcolonial migration and diasporic networks, are strongly concentrated in urban areas and migrant neighbourhoods. Research by Significant APE (2024) shows that 81 percent of cultural institutions consider it important to reflect the population in the city or region. However, the figures show that this is far from being achieved. In the large cities (G4), where relatively many people with a migration background live and work, the share of employees with a non-European migration background in subsidised cultural institutions is only 22 percent, while this is 37 percent in the total working population. Outside the G4 we see a slightly smaller, but still clear underrepresentation: 10 percent at subsidized institutions compared to 13 percent in the working population.

In regional cultural policy, the role of local communities is receiving increasing attention. environmental code emphasises the importance of citizen involvement by involving citizens and social organisations at an early stage in decision-making processes on projects that affect their living environment. At the request of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, Platform Ontwerp NL investigated what the culture of the living environment is (Boomen et al. 2024). According to the researchers, culture includes not only buildings, objects and spatial structures, but also customs, traditions, stories and local history, connected to people's fundamental values ​​and beliefs. This broad concept of culture ties in with a development that has been emerging since the beginning of this century and that is explicitly supported in the Faro Convention, among other things. Culture is not only seen as artistic expression, but also as a means to strengthen social cohesion and identity at a regional level.

Monitoring initiatives and regional data

The need for regional cultural data is growing. In addition to existing provincial cultural monitors in, among others, Noord-Brabant, Zeeland, Zuid-Holland, Gelderland, Overijssel, Drenthe and Flevoland, more and more cities are developing their own measuring instruments. See the bottom of this page for a list of monitors per province. And industry associations are also collecting more data about the region. The Museum Figures show clear regional differences in museum visits and funding (Museana 2024). The Regional Cultural Monitor of the Boekmanstichting (2022) previously showed how cultural practices vary per province, but policymakers are asking for even more detailed data at the municipal level.

In 2024, an important step was taken by the possibility of mapping municipal data within the Culture Monitor. The pilot Value of Culture served as an initial exploration, and in May 2025 the Culture and Heritage Monitor Gelderland will follow. These provinces will have their own 'copy' of the national Culture Monitor, including a database. In collaboration with these provinces and provincial support institutions (POIs), we will strengthen the local knowledge base and the national Culture Monitor, which is becoming increasingly richer with local data and insights.

The theme page Culture in the regions is an invitation to explore the Dashboard and discover striking patterns at the regional level.

Cultural offer

A diverse range of culture can be found scattered across the Netherlands. The Dashboard of the Culture Monitor maps how much on offer each province has and how this relates to the number of inhabitants.

The concentration of cultural offerings over the years and in absolute terms is highest in North and South Holland. In South Holland there are, among others most bookstore locations en library branches can be found, while most of them are in North Holland cinemas and film theatres, museums, art galleries and exhibition spaces en stages are located. Due to the high population and the presence of the three largest cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague), the high concentration of cultural offerings in these two provinces not surprising . If we look at the number of inhabitants, the ranking of provinces changes. North and South Holland do not always have the most cultural facilities per person. They are also not always at the top in terms of visits and cash flows. You can read more about this below.

The size of the cultural offering varies per province. For example, Friesland has almost as many protected city and village views as in South Holland (64 and 65 in 2024 respectively). In the northeast of the Netherlands there are also relatively many archaeological national monuments to be found. In Gelderland, there are even about half of the total number of archaeological national monuments in the Netherlands, namely 293 in 2024. The Heritage Atlas of the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE) shows that in Gelderland the high concentration of archaeological national monuments is mainly centered around the Veluwe. Gelderland is followed by Groningen (214) and Friesland (196 archaeological national monuments in 2024).  

Cultural offer per inhabitant
In 2023 there will be approximately eight in Zeeland, Groningen and Drenthe libraries per 100.000 inhabitants. In North and South Holland this is four and Flevoland three. In absolute terms, the most activities are organised per inhabitant in Utrecht. The number cinemas and film theatres per inhabitant is also greatest in Zeeland, North Holland and Groningen, while South Holland, Flevoland and Drenthe have relatively the fewest number of screening locations.

The Dashboard also contains more detailed figures about the cultural offering in the provinces, for example the number performing arts performances, activities in public libraries or the number film cloths en –chairs. The development of this over the years can be followed via bar charts and line graphs. For example, in 2023 we see that the number of performing arts performances in almost all provinces has shown an upward trend in the number of performances since 2019. Only in Zeeland and Limburg we see a decline in the number of performances from 2022 to 2023.

Featured: Province of Zeeland
Although this province has a relatively large number of performing arts organisations, the number of performing arts performances is remarkably low. This applies to various genres, such as theatre, dance, musical theatre and cabaret. There are also fewer theatre halls and the total hall capacity is smaller than average. This difference can possibly be explained by the geographical distribution and the accessibility of stages. The distance to a location for professional performing arts in Zeeland is almost twice as great as the Dutch average. This also varies greatly per municipality: while residents of Goes, Middelburg and Vlissingen can find a stage within 3 kilometres, that distance is over 20 kilometres in Hulst and Sluis. See Culture Monitor Zeeland.

Culture visits

In 2023, Dutch museums were visited approximately 31,6 million times, of which more than 19,1 million visits can be attributed to the 230 museums in North and South Holland. The two provinces together make up 37 percent of the total number of museums in the Netherlands, but are responsible for 60 percent of the total number of to visit a museum. We saw the same distribution previous years.

Cultural visits per inhabitant
Let's look at the cultural consumption of the inhabitants of a province, then we see that it share of library members among the population varied from 16 percent in Limburg to 31 percent in Flevoland in 2023. In Groningen, on the other hand, the library is by far the most visited per capita, but it is the only province where the number of members has been declining steadily since 2015. Library visits are lowest in Limburg, Zeeland and Noord-Brabant. This is particularly striking in Zeeland, given that the share of library members in this province is relatively high. HZ | Kenniscentrum Zeeuwse Samenleving concludes about the fact that Zeelanders generally have to travel further to reach facilities than residents of other provinces (HZ 2021). What is also unique in Zeeland is the large concentration of library bus stops, which are also part of it network of library facilities. More than half of all library bus stops in the Netherlands are for the Zeeland Library Buses.

The performing arts attendance per capita was highest in North Holland in 2023, followed by South Holland, Utrecht and Groningen. The number of film visits per capita is also highest in North Holland, followed by Utrecht and South Holland.

Money flows

The Dutch government must ensure good conditions for the Dutch population to participate in culture. The State, the provinces and the municipalities each provide separate funding to cultural institutions for this purpose, both structurally and incidentally. In 2023, the government spent a total of at least 3,9 billion euros on culture. Municipalities accounted for the largest share: together they spent 2,27 billion euros, approximately 60 percent of the total (CBS 2024).

Empire
The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science spent 2023 billion on culture in 1,29. Total expenditure on the BIS amounted to 518 million euros, 40 percent of the total cultural budget of OCW. Of this, 242 million (47 percent) was granted directly to institutions and 276 million (53 percent) was spent via the National Cultural Funds.

The budget of the museums within the Heritage Act came in 2023 to a total of 249,5 million euros. In addition, the Heritage Act also includes the care of monuments, for which 146,5 million euros were reserved. Together this amounts to 396 million.

Municipalities
According to research by Statistics Netherlands (2024), all Dutch municipalities together reported 2023 2,27 billion euros spent on culture. That is the largest part of government spending on culture: about 60 percent. Municipalities play an important role in paying for culture.

On average, municipalities spent 127 euros per inhabitant on culture in 2023, compared to 2017 euros in 108. However, the 18 percent increase is lower than inflation in the same period (28 percent). The share of culture in the total expenditure of municipalities also fell, from 3,6 percent in 2017 to 3,2 percent in 2023. Municipalities have therefore spent less money on culture in proportion.

However, this varies per municipality. Most was spent in the provinces of South Holland, North Holland and North Brabant (respectively 550 million euros, 444 million euros and 306 million euros). That is more than in previous years. Per capita, the municipalities in the provinces of North Holland (150 euros per capita), Groningen (149 euros per capita) and South Holland (145 euros per capita) spend the most on culture.

Municipalities such as Amsterdam (237 million euros), Rotterdam (177 million euros) and The Hague (137 million euros) spend the most money on culture. If you look at expenditure per inhabitant, Assen is at the top with 319 euros, followed by Heerlen (293 euros), Rotterdam (266 euros) and Amsterdam (258 euros).

Half of municipal cultural expenditure is made by municipalities with 150.000 inhabitants or more, while only three out of ten Dutch people live there. Due to their central function, these large municipalities have a higher number of cultural facilities with often a larger capacity and a catchment area that is larger than their own municipality. The average of municipal cultural costs in a province is therefore driven by the relatively high cultural costs of the large municipalities.

To obtain a complete picture of the distribution of government resources, it is therefore necessary to look not only at the level of each province but also at the level of each individual municipality.

Province or State
In addition to municipalities and the central government, provinces also bear cultural costs. Within provinces, we generally see a strong interaction between municipal and provincial cultural costs: where the average cultural costs of municipalities within a province are higher than average, we generally see a lower item for culture on the province's balance sheet. And vice versa. For example, the provinces of North and South Holland will contribute the least to culture per inhabitant in 2023. The provinces of Friesland, Zeeland and Limburg will contribute the most. The way in which the burden is divided (between central government, province and municipalities) can therefore differ per province.

If you add up the expenditure of municipalities and provinces, the province of Groningen is consistently at the top when it comes to expenditure per inhabitant. In 2023, Groningen, together with the municipalities, spent an average of 203 euros per inhabitant on culture. In Gelderland, this was the lowest at 118 euros per inhabitant.

Drenthe

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Cultural Monitor Emmen, cultural survey among its residents with insights into cultural participation, cultural offering, and satisfaction with cultural facilities. Culture Monitor Emmen 2024 | Tableau Public
• Cultural Monitor Drenthe 2017-2020 Edition 4. Publication November 2021
• Cultural Monitor Drenthe 2017-2020 Edition 3. Publication January 2021

Flevoland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Culture Monitor Flevoland 2017-2018: first half of the policy period 2017-2020. Publication 2019

Friesland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Nulmjitting Kultuermonitor Fryslân. Publication 2023
• Fries Sociaal Planningbureau has some figures about cultural participation in 2019. See here the publication from January 2020.

Gelderland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Culture and heritage monitor Gelderland. Publication May 15, 2025
• Cultural Monitor Gelderland. Publication 2022
• Culture in Gelderland: a brief benchmark
• Gelderland Heritage Monitor. Publication 2020

Groningen

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Basic monitor of the Municipality of Groningen contains some data about culture. See for example Cultural participation. Publication update April 2024

Limburg

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor

North-Brabant

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Value of Culture Brabant 2024. In coordination with the Culture Monitor. Publication 2024.
• Value of Culture Brabant 2022. Publication 2022
• Value of Culture Brabant 2020. Publication 2020

North-Holland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Culture Monitor Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA). Publication 2021

Overijssel

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Cultural Overijssel on the map. Publication March 2024

Utrecht

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Utrecht Monitor for the city, including insights into cultural participation, cultural offering, and satisfaction of cultural facilities. Figures for 2022

Zeeland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Culture Monitor Zeeland: Baseline measurement. Publication 2022
• Culture monitor Zeeland. Publication 2024

South-Holland

• Analysis Regional Culture Monitor
• Cultural South Holland in Map
• South Holland heritage volunteers in the picture. Publication 2022