Digital policy
The letter Uitgangspunten cultuursubsidie 2025-2028 (Principles for Cultural Subsidies 2025-2028 June 2023) includes the most recent policy on digital transformation:
- Cultural institutions are asked to outline their digital strategy for the next four years in their activity plans.
- DEN will receive a structural increase in its budget, partly to promote better collaboration and a more proactive attitude within the cultural sector.
- DEN will receive an additional budget (€0.5 million) for the collection and use of audience data in the cultural sector.
Since 2017, DEN has been part of the BIS as the national knowledge institute for digitalisation in the cultural sector, focusing on artistic creation processes, education, public outreach and heritage.
Digital culture is supported through several national subsidy schemes. Since 2023, the Immerse\Interact scheme, a collaboration between the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Netherlands Film Fund, was created to stimulate the development of Extended Reality (XR), among which Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). Additionaly, the Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC) program was launched in 2025 to support the knowledge, application and valorization of these immersive technologies. Between 2025 and 2030, a total of €275 million will be made available from the National Growth Fund for this programme to put the immersive field in the Netherlands on the map as a frontrunner.
An example of a public-private partnership is DigitAL Culture Desk. This is a counter for cultural institutions that want to strengthen their public offer or contact with the public through the use of digital technology. This is done through the provision of donations, but also through knowledge sharing.
Digital consumption
Digitisation predominantly impacts the way culture is consumed in the Netherlands. In the cases of music, audiovisual content, and games, over 80% of annual revenue is generated through digital distribution, by means of steaming and downloading (see NVPI, Filmfonds and Newzoo). The book market shows a more hybrid consumption pattern, with 44% of book being sold online and 43% of the population occasionally reading e-books (see KVB Boekwerk). The national population survey on cultural participation (VTO) shows a slight increase in the share of Dutch people of 6 years and older that visit performances, exhibitions and visual arts online between 2020 and 2022, probably as result of the Covid pandemic. (see chapter 6.2, or Cultuurmonitor – Participatie). VTO shows that gaming is a popular form of leisure activity – in 2022, 52 percent of Dutch people aged 6 and over said they played video games sometimes (see Cultuurmonitor – Games).
Digital archiving
In 2014 the Digital Heritage Network was launched, with the aim to strengthen the cooperation between different heritage sectors regarding the digitisation of collections and archives. Key supporting partners are large, national institutions (the National Library, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision, the Netherlands Cultural Heritage Agency, the Humanities Cluster of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Archive) that strive to professionally preserve and manage digital data. Heritage organisations and portals were encouraged to take part in the network. In March 2015, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science presented the first edition of National Digital Heritage Strategy together with the Digital Heritage Network. The current edition is the strategy for 2025-2028. The Network is funded by the Ministry.
The Netherlands engages in international cooperation, including through Europeana, a platform that provides enthusiasts and professionals with access to material on European cultural heritage and is funded by the European Union. Europeana is headquartered in the Netherlands. In 2019, extra subsidy (12,4 million euros) was invested to intensify digital heritage activities. Some conclusions from the evaluation report Stand van het Nederlands Digitaal erfgoed 2021 (State of the Dutch Digital Heritage 2021) give an idea of the state of digital heritage in The Netherlands. 90% of all interested Dutch citizens is digitally reached with heritage content. The “participatory use” among young adults is 26%, in the general public this is 12%.[1]
The new Libraries Act (Wet stelsel openbare bibliotheken, Wsob) that was implemented in January 2015 introduced the creation of a national digital library to make knowledge and information more accessible (see chapter 4.2.5).
For more information, see: Culture monitor Boekman Foundation : Digital Transformation.
[1] The researchers make the remark that it is not entirely clear what is meant by active and/or participatory use.
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