Emergency Plan for the Visual Arts and Creative Industries
The contemporary visual arts and creative industries sector (BKCI) in Amsterdam is under severe pressure. Whilst we recognise that BKCI institutions are integral to the city and are highly regarded internationally, they are facing increasingly difficult conditions. Recent research commissioned by the City of Amsterdam and MOKER reveals that there are significant financial problems and concerns behind the scenes. The conclusions of the recently published report on the role and impact of the BKCI sector, Drukpunt bereikt (2026), are alarming.
MOKER is a network of exhibition and development institutions in Amsterdam within the visual arts and the creative industries (including digital culture, design, and architecture). These are organisations that research, develop, and present, and are also active in the fields of education, talent development, and archiving
In the Emergency Plan for Visual Arts and Creative Industries (Noodplan Beeldende Kunst en Creatieve Industrie) MOKER calls for an additional structural investment of €4.4 million annually, and policy changes by the City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Arts Council and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts.
This essential addition to the budget will strengthen the sector, secure its place within the city’s arts landscape and offer prospects for development and growth. Read the Emergency Plan below or;
Download the report Drukpunt bereikt (2026) here.
Download Moker’s Emergency Plan here.
The Emergency Plan is supported by Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and Amsterdam Museum. Read their letter of support here.
Emergency Plan: Three steps to save the contemporary visual arts and creative industries sector in Amsterdam
Compared to other cities in the Netherlands, the arts, culture, and creative industries sector in Amsterdam is quite substantial. Amsterdam is home to the largest number of artists in the Netherlands; approximately 20% of all artists live in Amsterdam. Most art schools and galleries (34%) are based in the capital. The 40 to 50 exhibition and development institutions are spread throughout the city, often carrying out activities in various neighbourhoods and thus collectively forming a finely woven and deeply rooted network.
Nevertheless, the sector accounts for a relatively small proportion of municipal funding. For the BKCI category, only 11% (€5.8 million) of the total funds allocated by the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts (AFK) in Amsterdam is made available. Due to enforced closures, the overall size of the BKCI sector continues to shrink, whilst opportunities and possibilities for the future lie precisely in the visual arts, digital media and the creative industries. Amsterdam’s infrastructure of artists’ initiatives, workshops, new media organisations, academies, post-academic institutions, museums and international awards has been a major source of inspiration for the international art world for many years. In order to maintain and save this ecosystem, an emergency plan is more than necessary. For a long time now, the sector has been unable to consider development and growth because the conditions for this simply do not exist. Recent research commissioned by the City of Amsterdam and MOKER reveals that there are significant financial problems and concerns behind the scenes. Based on the Cultural Investment Account 2026, MOKER is therefore calling for an additional structural budget of €4.4 million specifically for the ‘Visual Arts and Creative Industries’ sector in Amsterdam (1), as well as three demands for policy changes.
The importance of MOKER
MOKER unites exhibition and development institutions in Amsterdam and advocates for the interests and long-term stability of this type of contemporary visual arts and creative institution in the city. Our organisations have a significant artisitic and social importance for a varied public, they are also referred to as the ‘humus layer of the visual arts and visual culture’ because of their crucial, nourishing and fertile role in the ecosystem.
From exhibitions, developing new work and research, to production, (international) exchange and public interaction, MOKER institutions form a vital link between art schools, museums and galleries. They help position the city of Amsterdam as a city of freedom, experimentation and innovation in art and culture.
Shrinking budgets despite positive assessments
The BKCI category is the only sector in which the number of organisations that could be funded in the 2025–2028 grant period has fallen compared to the previous period. This category has the highest number of organisations in Amsterdam that fell below the ‘cut-off line’: as many as 29% of applicants received a positive assessment but were nevertheless denied funding due to an insufficient budget. The conclusion of the recently published report on the function and impact of the BKCI sector, ‘Drukpunt bereikt’ (2026) (2), cause for alarm.
In summary
“If there is no change in the support provided to exhibition and development organisations and the downward trend continues, more of these organisations will disappear, and with them their activities, their artistic and social significance, and their premises in the various city districts. The size of the visual arts and creative industries sector will decline as exhibition and development institutions continue to weaken and disappear. The visual arts sector will begin to show more gaps, which will have a negative effect on the other links in the chain (artists and practitioners, the public, educational institutions, museums, galleries, etc.) and will consequently also have a negative impact on the positioning of the city of Amsterdam as a city of freedom, experimentation, innovation, and art & culture.”
MOKER is therefore calling for additional structural investment of €4.4 million per year and policy adjustments by the City of Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Arts Council and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts. This necessary increase in the budget will strengthen the sector, secure its position within the city’s arts ecosystem and offer prospects for development and growth. This is the financial translation of three demands which we explain below. The annual amount available for BKCI institutions will thus amount to at least €10.2 million.
Emergency Plan for the Visual Arts and Creative Industries: three demands
The recent study commissioned by the City of Amsterdam and MOKER provides grounds for drawing up an Emergency Plan for the Visual Arts and Creative Industries. In recent years, the Arts Council has repeatedly sounded the alarm: the budget for art and culture has not increased for years, despite inflation, fair practice and higher accommodation costs. An additional €47 million per year is needed to rectify this, according to the conclusion of the most recent Cultural Investment Account (3). MOKER is lobbying for €10.2 million (current amount + injection) specifically for visual arts and creative industries institutions.
Our three demands
Demand 1: Breakdown of the sector by discipline
We recommend repairing the Visual Arts and Creative Industries sector by diversifying it across various disciplines. One could view the Visual Arts and Creative Industries sector as the counterpart to the Performing Arts.
As our research shows, the Visual Arts and Creative Industries sector comprises various disciplines: these include Visual Arts, (Graphic) Workshops and Creative Industries, etc. This is comparable to a division into Theatre, Musical Theatre and Dance Theatre within the performing arts. We therefore demand that the council split the sector into specific disciplines, each with its own funding scheme. Only in this way can these fields truly develop independently, and opportunities for growth arise for institutions that are currently getting bogged down in the current, overly broad scheme.
Demand 2: Separate funding for production and presentation
We argue that separate funding should be available for both the production and presentation of BKCI. At present, institutions must finance both production and presentation functions within BKCI’s limited budget, which puts further pressure on the available resources.
We propose a system similar to that of the performing arts sector, where theatres and companies are funded separately, both on a multi-year basis. Applied to the BKCI sector, this would mean that, in addition to institutional support, funding could be applied for by artists’ collectives wishing to develop multi-year research and their own productions, or by curators (or curatorial collectives) wishing to build a structural programme – with the freedom to decide for themselves which institutions they offer this to for presentation. This would give artists and curators greater control, whilst also strengthening the BKCI venues in the city (financially) and recognising the diverse functions we perform.
Demand 3: Access to the ‘Podia’ scheme under the Arts Plan and to direct municipal responsibility
We advocate for the BKCI sector to be included in the Arts Plan’s ‘Podia’ scheme and for direct municipal responsibility (currently covering seven institutions, none of which are from the BKCI sector). We therefore call for an expansion of the municipal scheme (formerly ABIS), with funding allocated specifically for the BKCI sector, thereby demonstrating the city’s visible support for the sector.
We have observed that there is insufficient scope for growth and development within the sector: in effect, the sector is at a standstill. Additional funds are regularly invested in new theatre buildings, but the visual arts and creative industries are excluded from these urban development plans. This is a cause for concern: it overlooks the public interest in new media and visual culture – particularly among young audiences and within education. We see ample opportunities for the sector to engage with society and enter into partnerships, which cannot be fully explored in the current context. We are calling for venues in the city that also organise around the visual arts and creative industries. None of our institutions fall directly under the city council (formerly ABIS). Within the AFK multi-year scheme, many institutions apply for less than €200,000, around seven for between €200,000 and €600,000, and only one for more than €600,000 (4). Growth is stagnating within this scheme and, in our view, the AFK should offer more opportunities for ambition and growth to facilitate a vibrant ecosystem of institutions of varying sizes.
From words to action
The three demands we are presenting here are not long-term aspirations, but an urgent contingency plan that we must begin implementing tomorrow to save the visual arts and creative industries sector in Amsterdam. It is time for the City Council, the Amsterdam Arts Council and the Amsterdam Fund for the Arts to roll up their sleeves and make fundamental changes to their policies. We therefore call on the City Council and the parties forming the new administration to translate these demands into policy immediately.
On behalf of the board of MOKER (Annet Zondervan, Josien Pieterse, Annette Wolfsberger, Sofia Patat & Lucas van der Velden),
And members of MOKER:
African Arts and Theory, AGA LAB, BAU, Beautiful Distress, CBK Zuidoost, De Appel, De Ateliers, FIBER, Framer Framed, If I Can’t Dance I Don’t Want To Be Part of Your Revolution, Imagine IC, ISO, Kunstfort Vijfhuizen, LIMA, Loods 6, Looiersgracht 60, Manifold Books, M4gastatelier, Mediamatic, Melkweg Expo, Moving Arts Project, NDSM-werf, No Limits! Art Castle, oude kerk, P////AKT, Playbill, Project Space On The Inside, Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, ROZENSTRAAT – a rose is a rose is a rose, san serriffe, Sonic Acts, Soundtrackcity, Thami Mnyele Foundation, The Beach, Treehouse NDSM, Vlaams Cultuurhuis de Brakke Grond, W139, Waag Futurelab, WOW Amsterdam, Zone2Source.
Footnotes
1. This figure has been calculated on the basis of 6 institutions with a broad remit, 5 medium-sized institutions, 10 small institutions and 15 initiatives; plus the inclusion of all positively assessed institutions that have fallen below the cut-off point in the current funding period. The necessary catch-up in fair pay has not yet been taken into account. The exact calculation can be requested from MOKER.
2. See: https://moker.amsterdam/noodplan
3. “The cultural sector in Amsterdam has not kept pace with the city’s growth. Failing to invest in a structural and sustainable manner means losing what we have, losing what makes Amsterdam Amsterdam. The cultural sector must move beyond mere survival. The Arts Council calls for investment in a sustainable and accessible cultural sector: investment in facilities, the arts plan and property. It is about rectifying a backlog, preserving what we have built up, continuing existing policies and building an appropriate infrastructure for the future.”
See: https://www.kunstraad.nl/advies/culturele-investeringsrekening-2026/
4. By way of comparison: the AFK’s Podium Scheme includes 12 organisations that receive more than €600,000, whereas in the BKCI category there is only one organisation that receives more than €600,000. Under the Podium Scheme, 8 organisations receive more than €1 million. There is not a single organisation within the BK and CI that receives more than €1 million.
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