Response
New Media & Art Institutions to Governmental Cuts
Source of
innovation is eliminated
http://www.v2.nl/news/response-to-governmental-cuts
Netherlands, June
15 2011
Dear Mr Zijlstra
Dear Members of the House of Representatives
One of the many
decisions in your arts policy paper “More than quality; a new
vision on arts policy”, is the liquidation of the total
infrastructure for new media
and art. The media arts & technology sector, which has
acquired a place in arts
policy in the past 8 years, has been abolished. The socalled
'development
institutions': STEIM, Waag Society, V2_, Submarine Channel,
WORM and
Mediamatic are losing their structural funding. In addition to
that the Netherlands
Media Art Institute, a visual arts institution which also
works in the media arts field,
loses its government funding. These structural institutional
resources will be
rerouted into a new Fund for the Creative Industry, which's
mission is to stimulate
the social and economic value of the creative industry as a
whole.
New media art
is an independent art discipline
The existance of
new media as an independent art discipline, including artistic
production, audiences, (inter)national networks, and events,
is completely denied
in this proposed new arts policy.
New media art is
a discipline which questions and researches the technological
developments and challenges of our times, and designs new
applications for
these issues. It has its own idiom and art practice. It is an
independent discipline
sustaining independent thematics, international networks of
media labs, festivals,
publications and presentations. The Dutch model of these
cooperating new media
labs with crossovers into other fields (social, educational,
economical) has been
an exemplary model since years. The above mentioned
'development institutions'
are internationally renowned, part of vast international
networks, and contribute
to the position of the Netherlands in the fields of new media
and art.
Paradox:
punished for success
Like no other
arts field, new media art makes connections to other fields.
Its R&D
functions are relevant towards the total field of culture, as
well as heritage and
media. Exchange with science is continually growing, it plays
a vital role in the
innovation of social domains, and has a large impact on the
current renewal of
education. The paradox now is that new media art is widely
acknowledged and
seen as very relevant, but its source: artistic research
including its audience
outreach, autonomous art prodcution and international network,
will now be
discontinued.
Project based
vs structural
The policy paper
indicates a choice for a project based way of working, and for
that reason a total cut in institutional funding for R&D.
This is a very remarkable
way of reasoning as R&D activities need long term
commitment in order to be
able to develop from experiment to result. It also requires
excellent networking
and a sustainable infrastructure, including complex
relationships to social fields,
business and science. The new media institutions like no other
have paved the
way for such cooperations, and have shown that arts, sciences,
business and
society in general can work together in meaningful coalitions.
International
cooperations that have been opened up to Dutch partners also
exist thanks to
long term policy. With the abolishment of structural support
of these new media art
institutions, the basis is washed away and it will be
impossible in the future to
enter into long term commitments. Like European funding for
and participation in
research and projects, and participation in national research
programs.
A project based way of working interferes with continuity.
Talent
development
The new Fund for
the Creative Industry is also supposed to work on talent
development in a project based manner. This is contrary to the
needs of the
educational field where there is a demand for structural
connections. The new
media and art institutions have acknowledged that and play an
important role in
development of talent and skills through the programs they
have set up
together with vocational institutions and universities. They
also offer internships
and work with PHD students. The very same sustainable long
term structures are
necessary here in order to be able to structurally work within
education.
The way the
Fund for the Creative Industry should work!
New media art can
only contribute to the mission of enlarging the social and
economic value of the creative industry, in case the Fund is
enabled to:
(1) issue longer
term institutional subsidies and
(2) means are
explicitely made available for artistic research,
artistic production
and audience based activities
We sincerely hope
that you will involve the new media and art institutions in
the
set up and creation of the new Fund, and that the above
arguments will lead to
the desired adjustments. We will be more than happy to share
our views with you,
as well as the knowledge that we have in the area of
international new media
arts policy.
Yours sincerely,
V2_
Waag Society
STEIM
Mediamatic
WORM
Submarine Channel
Netherlands Media Art Institute