Solutions

What do we want to achieve? What do we need? What will it cost?

Weightless Bricks Act II: Collaboration
Paula Strunden & Johan Cruwys

What do we want to achieve?

The Digital Culture Moonshot is a dot on the horizon, a point we want to arrive at as a sector. What we want to achieve is that digital culture can be recognised and acknowledged as a sector with a clear identity and infrastructure. It will then be able to flourish and grow both at national and international level. It will contribute to creativity and technological progress in the Netherlands, the well-being of everyone in the sector, and the beauty of digital culture in itself, and will offer a healthy field of work for a new generation.

This Moonshot is a first step to establish a sector-wide initiative for the field of digital culture. We also aim to give policymakers in the Netherlands a good picture of the issues at play in the sector, and thus provide input and a firm basis for the 2024-2028 policy period.

What do we need?

Over the past decade, there has been a lack of serious and coherent government policy regarding digital culture. We therefore endorse the recent recommendation by the Council for Culture to the government ministries (Education, Culture and Science; Economic Affairs and Climate; Interior and Kingdom Relations) and cultural funds to draw up a multi-year, strategic digitisation agenda in close collaboration with the cultural and creative sector, with policy implications and funding to make policy feasible, and in parallel to design funding schemes that are better geared to digital practice.

There are a number of things that the sector itself can achieve, such as putting opportunities and challenges on the political agenda – this Moonshot is an example of such action. By bringing stakeholders within the sector together on a regular basis and talking about topical issues in the field, we can support each other and stimulate partnerships. At the same time, there are a number of matters requiring extra attention. A professional organisation comparable to the BNO, the Dutch professional association for designers, could play a role in relieving some of these bottlenecks.

A clear structure is needed for discussions to take place on a regular basis between policymakers and stakeholders in the sector. The specific challenges and opportunities in this dynamic field are constantly developing and can be most easily identified and defined within the field. First-hand input can contribute to the development of meaningful decisions and long-term strategies in which political reality matches the needs and opportunities of the workplace.

In addition, a centralised research agenda is needed to map the various areas of knowledge and share results. In this regard, organisations such as the the Boekman Foundation, the European TRANSMIXR consortium, the Netherlands Audiovisual Producers Alliance (NAPA), the Rathenau Instituut, University of Amsterdam and Utrecht University can play an important role.

There is still a lack of resources within the sector to coordinate such research, and to put complex, sector-wide topics such as sustainability, archiving, distribution, diversity and inclusion, and fair practice on the agenda. This relates not only to developing knowledge and providing information to policy makers, but also to increasing awareness of the sector among a wider public through publications, newsletters and event overviews.

Het Nieuwe Instituut could play a role in the field of archiving. The institute currently has a coordinating role in the archiving of digital culture in the network of the Network Archives for Design and Digital Culture (NADD), which is a partnership of heritage organisations, research and education institutions, and individual archive holders focusing on Dutch design heritage (design and digital culture).

However, as well as the areas in which the sector is able to make progress through its existing organisations and partners, there are also areas in which there is a structural lack of funding. For example, the sector needs more permanently funded venues devoting attention to digital culture throughout the year in the form of exhibitions, debates and educational programmes, training courses, and publications. This will also increase the sector’s accessibility and raise its profile.

For the development and innovation needed in the sector, an important element is the time and opportunity to generate and share new knowledge in multidisciplinary teams. A budget for creative spaces, digital playgrounds and labs where makers can meet and develop new projects is crucial to the sector’s resilience. Research is needed to determine the extent to which such labs as physical places can be coupled with training and talent development programmes; coordination and overview of all existing labs is needed, also establishing who will undertake what research; and a survey of the field is needed, establishing what is lacking and what research domains are not being addressed.

To stimulate both training programmes and students, and increase awareness of the sector, student awards could be established to motivate students from a variety of disciplines.

The sector must be able to grow, more projects need to be developed as a best practice in which innovative research results in trend-setting projects that are distributed both nationally and internationally. To this end, mid-career makers should be given opportunities to develop, consolidate and expand their practice and teams, and continue to carry out structural R&D.

In all these areas, not only is additional funding needed, but also more effective earmarking of funds. Creators and festivals currently spend an inordinate amount of time securing the budget for every step they take, which diminishes the energy and attention they are able to devote to content. This is unsustainable.

For the various players in the field of digital culture (from makers, producers and festivals to knowledge centres, archives, training courses and labs), project grants and multi-year funding schemes should be created to facilitate research and to realise and distribute projects. This will create room for long-term planning, more national and international partnerships, and greater stability, which will in turn make it possible to devote attention to important issues such as fair practice, diversity and inclusion, sustainability and shared agendas in the field of research and development. Funding should also be made available for a central platform to enable bottom-up communication and knowledge sharing for the entire field of digital culture, and increased awareness of the field in social discourse, also with regard to cultural journalism, and media coverage of the issues at play.

What will it cost?

For the coming policy period, we propose an annual funding programme in addition to the existing schemes, which will increase in phases.

The first year will focus on research, capacity building and development, for which a budget of €7 million is required. The second year will build on these investments and the field will work towards wider distribution and more venues, with additional funding of €9 million. In the third and fourth years, growth and international distribution can increase, with €11.5 million available.

Guidelines for the distribution of funds in the third and fourth years should be as follows:

  • Grants for 30 innovative research projects ranging from web-based to transmedia, games, VR and installations can be applied for by broadcasting companies, news media, innovative media producers, artists, arts institutions and social organisations, each of between €100,000 and €250,000. These projects may be developed in partnership with a variety of institutions and labs within a structure to be developed.
    Cost: €3 million per year

  • The realisation of 15 projects aimed at public presentation and a meeting place for professionals at €100,000 each
    Cost: €1.5 million per year

  • Funding for a number of tasks aimed at promoting the interests of the sector, which may be embedded in existing organisations and/or partnerships. Research topics will be suggested, coordinated and collected, ongoing discussions with policy makers initiated, and the visibility of the sector increased through publications. Fair practice, diversity and inclusion will be supported and encouraged, and there should be a source of information for business and legal aspects, and other areas of knowledge specific to the sector. Additional funding should be made available to the connection between market and maker, the various educational fields and the various related sectors.
    Cost: €1.5 million

  • Support for 10 projects for national and international distribution of €50,000 each.
    Cost: €500,000

  • 20 projects from talent development programmes for alumni of courses such as Sandberg Institute, HKU, BUas, Design Academy Eindhoven, St. Joost School of Art & Design and the Netherlands Film Academy at €50,000 each.
    Cost: €1 million

  • Grants for 20 presentation venues per year, providing stages for new talent, and high-profile, best-practice projects, at €150,000 per venue.
    Cost: €3 million

  • Archiving and collection management, research and development of methods, and archive accessibility.
    Costs: € 1 million

Repitition at My Distance, Gabey Tjon a Tham

We hope that this Moonshot will provide insight into the importance of this sector and the available opportunities. We are committed to promoting policy that will enable the digital culture sector to take root and continue to grow, not only at national level, but also expressly at international level. We would like to discuss and share ideas about how we can realise our shot for the moon.

— The field of digital culture

More Moiré, Philip Vermeulen