Table 1 provides the most recent numbers of selected types of cultural institutions. Immovable heritage sites and archaeological sites are a competence of the Flemish Region (thus excluding the territory of the Brussels-Capital Region) and fall under a different policy area than the other mentioned institutions. Museums, archives, and other organisations receiving multi-year (‘structural’) funding through the Cultural Heritage Decree (95 in total [1]), the arts organisations with structural subsidies through the Arts Decree (performing arts, music, visual arts, architecture and design, and transdisciplinary and multidisciplinary arts; 215 in total[2]), and the organisations structurally supported through the Decree Socio-Cultural Work... read more →
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If you are not happy with the results below please do another searchArtists and cultural organisations draw from a diverse range of sources of income, both public (funding from the Flemish, Federal, local, and/or international level) and private (such as ticketing, membership fees, patronage, sponsorship, etc.).[1] Series of figures on income structures exist for organisations receiving multi-year funding through the Arts Decree (for the period 2007-2016)[2] and organisations funded through the Decree Socio-Cultural Work for Adults (for the period 2007-2014)[3]. In both cases, the mean ratio between public and private income remains relatively stable throughout the years. Former Flemish minister of Culture Sven Gatz (2014-2019) ordered two studies (in 2015 and 2017)... read more →
The Arts Decree of 13 December 2013 is the main legislative framework for supporting the professional arts in the Flemish Community (see 1.3.2, 1.3.3, 3.5.5, 5.4, and 7.2.1). This includes project support, grants, residencies, and multi-year funding for performing arts, music, visual arts, (‘multiple screen’) audiovisual arts, design, architecture, and multi- and transdisciplinary arts. The funded architecture and design activities should be non-commercial (thus excluding commissions for designing buildings, for example) and artistically oriented or focussed on reflection. The Arts Decree is currently being reformed (see 2.9). Support for commercial activities is arranged by legislation in other policy fields than... read more →
In Belgium, Culture is foremost a competence of the Communities (see 1.2.3). We therefore focus in this section on legislation (decrees) on culture in the Flemish Community. Table 2a presents a selection of decrees that are currently in effect and that provide the framework for cultural policies and trends discussed throughout the other sections.[1] The table mentions the section(s) in which (the reform of) these decrees and related policy instruments are elaborated. Some of these decrees apply to specific sectors (arts, cultural heritage, circus, etc.) and are therefore referred to in the other subsections of 4.2. Other decrees have a... read more →
Social Security is a competence of the Federal State (see 1.2.2). At the beginning of the new millennium, older social security measures aimed at artists were reformed. This resulted in legislation (see chapter 11 of the “Programmawet” of 24 December 2002) that enabled artists that receive unemployment benefits to practise their art more freely. Some specific regulations to this legal framework were added in later years (especially 2014). This framework (also referred to as ‘social status of the artist’ or “sociaal statuut van de kunstenaar”) consists of a number of exceptions and adjustments to general regulations on social security that... read more →
The Culture Pact (“Cultuurpact”, which was codified in the law of 16 July 1973) is an important part of Federal legislation with regard to the allocation of public funding for culture. It was also set out in a Flemish decree (28 January 1974) and has served as a fundament for other decrees on the level of the Communities. Building on art. 11 of the Belgian Constitution (see 2.2 and 4.1.1), the Culture Pact was intended to protect “ideological and philosophical factions” (the official title of the Culture Pact Law is “Wet van 16 juli 1973 waarbij de bescherming van de... read more →
The Arts Decree is the main legislative framework in Flanders and Brussels for supporting the professional arts (see also section 3). It provides open and flexible support schemes for diverse artistic initiatives, which are granted funding on the basis of peer-assessed artistic quality. At the same time, primarily the individual qualities of funding applications are judged. There is no procedure for assessing a ‘right’ balance between qualified applications. This poses a problem in a context of pressure on public expenditure for the arts (see 7.1.3). If there is not enough funding for all artistic initiatives deemed deserving of subsidies, how... read more →
Digitisation has had a profound impact on the functioning of the cultural field in Flanders and Brussels. It has especially received attention in relation to sectors where new technologies have disrupted the traditional functioning of value chains, such as the music and the audiovisual sector (see resp. 3.5.3 and 3.5.4). When summarising the debate on digitisation and cultural sectors[1], we can roughly discern the following issues: An intensifying attention economy: the creation and dissemination of culture has been drastically democratized thanks to the possibilities of digital technologies. This ensures that many providers of culture are active in the digital domain,... read more →
Public debate in Flanders and Brussels about the role of arts and culture in society usually occurs at moments when public support for arts and culture is called into question. Examples are budget cuts in funding for culture (see 7.1.3), concerns about the role of arts and culture in the curriculum of schools (see 5.2), or the allocation of support measures in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Diverse arguments (economic, aesthetic, emancipatory, bildung-related, etc.) are used to make the case for support. A number of publicly funded surveys have looked into the different values and roles that arts and... read more →
In Belgium, Media is a competence of the Communities, with each having its own legal framework for media and its own media regulator. In the Flemish Community, Media is a separate policy field from Culture, of which Benjamin Dalle (2019-2024) is the sitting minister for Flanders (in the previous term, Sven Gatz was both minister of Culture and Media). The independent Flemish Regulator of the Media monitors media concentration, but does not have the authority to take regulatory action. The Flemish government subsidizes the Pascal Decroos Fund, which gives grants to projects in investigative journalism. The Vlaamse Vereniging voor Journalisten... read more →