European Capital of Culture 2018

Both the Netherlands as well as Malta are chosen to host the annual event European Capital of Culture in 2018. Since a lot of money is involved in organizing the cultural year, it is interesting to look at the various ways of funding that are used to cover the costs. Throughout the years, there has been a mixture of funding from the first, second and third sphere to finance European Capital of Culture, with money streams from the first sphere being the largest. The first sphere is the sphere in which the government provides financial resources in terms of subsidies towards arts and culture. This takes place on both international, national as well as regional governmental levels. The second sphere is the market sphere. This is the sphere in which sponsor deals take place. Its mechanism works according to the classical behavior of demand and supply. The third sphere is the space in which patrons, volunteers and other supporters provide their resources to art and culture. These resources are not always monetary, but may as well contain of time (volunteering) or specific knowledge/expertise. The logic by which this particular sphere operates can be explained as relationship-based. Currently, subsidies on art and culture are being cut in the Netherlands, which asks for a renewed approach in financing within the cultural sector. On top of that, the current economic climate does not work in favor when searching for additional funding in the second and third sphere. Since the candidates for European Capital of Culture 2018 in the Netherlands plan to work with quite large budgets, it is necessary to search for additional financial resources in terms of alternative funding. This leads to the research question: Which ways of alternative financing can be realistically used concerning European Capital of Culture candidate The Netherlands? 2018Eindhoven|Brabant and Maastricht & Euregio 2018 are two separate case studies that will help determine what ways of alternative financing may be most suitable and realistic when organizing the event in 2018. By interviewing five experts within the field of art and culture, the most important trends regarding alternative financing in the Netherlands can be discovered. Each expert works in a key position within the cultural sector. They come from both the fundraising as well as the fund providing sides within the second and third sphere. Concluding on the explorative research on realistic options of alternative financing concerning European Capital of Culture 2018 in the Netherlands, we can state that there are four concepts that are of main and most significant importance. One of them comes from the second sphere, namely inclusion of sponsors through partnerships with new forms of exchange. The three possibilities from the third sphere that are most feasible to use, are co-creation, applications to cultural funds and private donating strategies. When combining these four concepts of alternative financing with traditional governmental financing, it must be possible to create a substantial working budget to realize European Capital of Culture 2018. This research provides an exploratory insight into future trends in financing within the Dutch cultural sector. Additional research is needed to take a more into depth look in the possibilities that this research suggests.