At the national level, the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science is responsible for arts and cultural education in formal education through legislation, funding, sharing of knowledge and communication. Arts education in primary and secondary schools is laid down in national legislation, defined through attainment targets.
Typical of the Dutch education system is the considerable freedom schools have in designing and delivering their education. In the Netherlands, there is no government-mandated curriculum. Schools must adhere to legal attainment targets for various subject areas, but they have the freedom to determine how to achieve these targets. Targets for the arts are few, formulated broadly, and monitored to a limited extent, leading to large differences between schools. Therefore, in addition to the legislation above, the Department of Culture of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science has since the 1980s been developing non-statutory policies, consisting of incentive programmes and subsidy schemes to encourage and help schools to invest more in cultural education.
Since two decades the emphasis lays on arts education in schools, with the most prominent program being ‘Cultural Education with Quality’ (in Dutch, ‘Cultuureducatie met Kwaliteit’), in which more than half of all primary schools participated in 2023. The programme started in primary school, and has been expanded to include also secondary education, special education, and upper secondary vocational education. Cultural Education with Quality is by far the largest stimulus programme for in-school arts education, with an annual subsidy ceiling of approximately EUR 15 million in the period 2025–2028. The program focuses on cooperation between schools and cultural institutions, teacher quality, and continuous learning pathways. There are also programs for specific disciplines: for film (Film Hubs), for dance (DAMU scheme) and for linking in- and out-of-school education (School & Omgeving). Within these policy programmes, the Ministry works closely with municipal and provincial authorities. The total spending on all these additional national policies for cultural education increased from EUR 44.6 million in 2013 to EUR 57.7 million in 2022.
Another policy instrument used by the Ministry is the agreement ‘Administrative Arrangements for Cultural Practice (2025–2028)’ (Bestuurlijke Afspraken Cultuurbeoefening), which succeeds the ‘Administrative Framework for Culture and Education (2023)’ signed by the Ministry, the Association of Provincial Authorities (IPO), and the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG). The core idea of these administrative arrangements for cultural practice is that municipalities, provinces and the national government jointly commit to cultural engagement (including arts education) for everyone in the Netherlands.
Non-formal, extracurricular arts and cultural education is partly, to a diminishing extent, funded by local authorities and partly privately funded (by consumers). Extracurricular lessons are provided by private professionals, associations, and local arts centres. Recent policies focus on making extracurricular arts education more accessible and supporting the amateur arts sector.
The Fund for Cultural Participation is responsible for the distribution of national funding for arts education and cultural participation. The National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts (LKCA) collects, develops, and disseminates knowledge about arts and cultural education and amateur arts. In addition, there is a national discipline-specific support infrastructure comprising amateur arts umbrella organisations and associations, as well as provincial support institutions.
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