The cultural policy changes (2013-2016) proposed by the Dutch government in 2011 focus on the economic values of creativity and culture. This new policy shift not only means severe cuts in financial support and structural cultural subsidies, but also strategic refocusing of goals, working practices and responsibilities within cultural organizations. Painful adjustments for many small-scale actors within the cultural sector in the country.

This new policy appropriately entitled 'More than Quality, a New Vision on Cultural Policy' is based on an economic approach to developing the Dutch creative industries, which in other words means industrializing culture as well as its production process. This policy proposes a paradigm change within cultural organizations from exclusive public-funded agencies to entrepreneurial undertakings; that is to say, from subsidy dependent institutions to economy driven cultural players within the country. This industrialization aims at bringing the cultural and creative sectors closer to the markets and therefore focuses on creativity and culture as a generator of income and growth in the country's economy. 

As economically practical as the new policy proposals are, they do pose a series of problems for the cultural and creative sectors in the country. For example, most cultural organizations do not speak the right business language to divert from subsidy support to developing sound business models for survival. Moreover, there is an obvious lack of experience and human resources within institutions to make this paradigm shift and become more entrepreneurial and dynamic (i.e. industrial).

Evidently, this new policy has been put in place to reform the cultural sector and bring it up to speed within a competitive global arts and culture market. However, are these policy guidelines sufficient in order to develop a sustainable strategy which will create a successful contextually based creative industry in the Netherlands? 

Upon closely studying the practical changes proposed within the policy, it seems that there is a general tendency to create big mega-organizations. It is foreseen that a series of institutions merge together. These institutions would then become the leading authorities within different cultural merged disciplines. For example, the Dutch government have proposed that three organizations merge in order to create a super-organizations which will be delegated the task to develop and support the Dutch creative industries. The Dutch Architecture Institute (Nederlands Architectuurinstituut), the Premsela (The Dutch foundation for Design and Fashion and the organization where I am currently working, the Virtueel Platform (the sector institute for new media and e-culture) will merge into one and become this new big organization. The logic is that this new institution made up of experiences related to architecture, design, fashion and new media will essentially become the institution which will represent, speak out and guard the interests of the Dutch creative industries. 

Surely, a bold and daring initiative; perhaps not all that illogical in ideology. However, the question is: how does this merger and the creation of this new institution for the creative industries in fact shape and support a Dutch understanding and definition for the creative industries on a practical and contextual level? 

Obviously, this new policy will consequently define and narrow down the Dutch understanding of the contextual creative industries. Moreover by proposing that architecture, design, fashion and new media sectors represent the creative industries also poses the question: have we not left other cultural and creative disciplines out of the creative equation? (think of entertainment, advertising, film, etc). 

It will be a test of time to see how the new created institutions will incorporate other disciplines within their work and outputs. One thing is certainly true of the creative industries: industrialization of creativity and this new policy suggest that we no longer can work along the lines of separate cultural and creative disciplines; but only with an open mind and cross-sector (cross-overs). 

Another challenge will of course be to translate all national creative industry policies into one over-arching European policy related to the new European funding program appropriately named 'Creative Europe'.

Locally, it will be up to the Dutch institutions to ensure such cross-overs and a healthy integration of creative disciplines so as to truly generate and strengthen the concept of the Dutch creative industries.