Diversity in the cultural sector of Rotterdam - The dynamic relationship between cultural policy and cultural institutions

The aim of this thesis is to investigate to what extent the objectives of the cultural policy framework of Rotterdam’s municipality match the objectives and practices of the city’s cultural institutions. This research specifically focuses on diversity in cultural institutions’ programming and audience. The impetus for researching this topic is the debates in the Netherlands that have been centering around diversity in the cultural sector and policy making since the second half of the twentieth century. The data set of this thesis consists, first, of the cultural policy framework of 2017 – 2020 of Rotterdam’s municipality. In addition, the annual reports of 2016 and 2018 of 18 cultural institutions in the city are analyzed. Two cultural institutions per discipline, as determined by the Rotterdam Council of Art and Culture, were selected based on the highest amount of subsidy received. The nine different disciplines are architecture, design and e-culture, visual arts and photography, cultural education and social cohesion, dance, film, municipal collection and heritage, literature and debate, music, and theater. The research is conducted by means of qualitative content analysis. The main findings of this thesis show that the focus of the municipality’s cultural policy framework is on the diversification of the audiences and audience research. However, it seems that the municipality’s recommendations are non-binding. The focus in most of the annual reports of the cultural institutions is on programming rather than audience composition. But even in the discussion of programming, it remains unclear how diverse the programming is. In most cases the discussion of programming is limited to a description of the storyline without specifying which audience segments the cultural institutions are trying to reach. With regard to audiences, cultural institutions provide limited information on their audience reach and audience composition. If information is provided, this is limited to visitor numbers in most cases. Another remarkable finding is that some cultural institutions implicitly discuss diversity. They often remain vague and speculative. As a result, is it not clear what exactly is meant by certain statements. Moreover, the majority of cultural institutions has not started to conduct audience research at all. Therefore, the overall picture of how a broad and diverse audience is going to be reached and attracted by the cultural sector as a whole – a wish expressed by Rotterdam’s municipality – is missing.