Wilders leads fight to cut Art Subsidies in Netherlands

Spending Cuts "never seen on this scale"

From Eric Dondero:

Geert Wilders and Mark Rutte, coaltion partners in the new Dutch Government, are leading an effort of fiscal austerity.

From the Financial Times of London:

When the anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders joined forces with two mainstream parties to create a new Dutch government in October, it was expected that the Netherlands’ large migrant community would be among the first to feel the effects of his electoral success... [instead] those looking for the real target of Mr Wilders’ political power point to the bleak outlook for the cultural and performing arts, which are facing nearly €300m ($396m) of subsidy cuts, equivalent to a third of their annual state income.

“So there’s a feeling in the Netherlands that cutting spending there is a form of revenge by the ordinary man on the cultural elite.” [says] Dick Houtman, professor of cultural sociology at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

Another arts community leader was highly critical of the cuts. Continuing:

Those in the arts world are shocked at the magnitude of the cuts.

“In my entire career, I have never seen anything on this scale,” says Jacques Giesen, general manager of the Theater aan het Vrijthof, a 900-seat venue in Maastricht, who at 68 is only months away from retirement