Arts and culture in figures
Arts and culture have an impact and that is reflected in the research and the figures that are published across the various professional fields. Collect data which you can use to substantiate your story.
Discipline specific
What do you use data for?
Figures about the arts and culture sector provide insight into the size of the professional group or field. That says something about the importance thereof. You can also examine this per field: for example, how many shows take place each year, how many architects are there or how many visitors do museums attract?
Pay careful attention to the context when using statistical data. For example, look at the scale: are you talking about impact at the level of a neighbourhood, town or city, region, nationally or internationally?
You can use research to elucidate the impact of your own work or field. Place figures in perspective by making a comparison, for example, with an average figure and substantiate your own story in that way.
Data and current affairs
When comparing data, it is also important to place new developments in that period in a broad perspective. For example, the corona pandemic has had major consequences for the entire arts and cultural sector. In 2020 till 2022 you will see a sharp decrease in the number of visitors. Income and employment also declined, despite the financial arrangements to compensate for the lockdowns and restrictive measures. These figures cannot be compared with those of the years before without that context.
Where can you find statistical data?
You will find quantitative data and qualitative and thematic analyses about the Dutch cultural sector in the Cultuurmonitor (Cultural Monitor) of the Boekman Foundation. You can also turn to this for figures about the various professional fields In addition, the Dutch Chamber of Commerce provides figures about the number of employees, self-employed professionals and institutions in the various occupational groups, including the ‘culture and sport’ industry. Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and municipalities present statistical data.
Via representative bodies
In order to be able to properly support the interests of a specific field and their own members, representative bodies often conduct research themselves too, for example by questioning their own members or supporters about specific themes. This information is usually presented publicly too. There are various national professional organisations that make an important contribution in this way towards promoting the interests of their own professional group and towards arts advocacy in general. You can also take advantage of these figures in order to substantiate your own story.
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Figures for the professional field of visual arts
In 2022, there were approximately 16,000 visual artists active in the Netherlands. (Cultuurmonitor, 2024)
In 2022 469 museums were a member of the Dutch Museum Association (Museumvereniging). Together they organised 1,619 exhibitions and they had 23.5 million visitors, from which 23% came from abroad. Art museums received 9.2 million visitors. Before corona, in 2019, they got 8.5 million visitors. (Cultuurmonitor and Museumvereniging, 2024)
Source: Cultuurmonitor - Beeldende kunst (Cultural Monitor - Visual arts)
Source: Museumvereniging (Museum association)
Figures for the professional field of architecture
There are more then 14,000 registered architects in the Netherlands. Three quarters are architects, 13% are interior architects, 6% are urbanists and 5% are landscape or garden architects. (Architectenregister, 2024)
There are approximately 1,000 firms affiliated with the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects. (BNA, 2024)
In 2021 there were 6,590 companies in architecture and 5,095 companies with one employee. (Cultuurmonitor, 2024)
Source: Architects Registration Bureau (Architectenregister)
Source: Royal Institute of Dutch Architects (Branchevereniging Nederlandse Architecten (BNA))
Source: Culture monitor - Architecture (Cultuurmonitor - architectuur)
Figures for the professional field of heritage
In 2023, the Netherlands have 61,729 national monuments, including windmills, castles, churches and landscaped green areas, such as parks and gardens of country estates. By far the largest part of the national monuments consists of houses (31,543), followed by farms and windmills (9,898). (Cultuurmonitor, 2024)
In 2022, 469 museums are affiliated with the Museum Association. In this year there were 23.5 million museum visits. Pre-corona, in 2019, that was still 33 million. There were 5.6 million visits from abroad in 2021. There were 10 million in 2019. (Museumvereniging, 2024)
Museums made more than 1.2 billion euros in turnover in 2022, of which 43% own income, 5% corona support and 52% government subsidies. (Museumvereniging, 2024)
Source: Museumvereniging (Museum figures, Netherlands Museum Association)
Source: Erfgoedmonitor (Heritage Monitor)
Source: Cultuurmonitor - erfgoed (Cultural Monitor - heritage)
Figures for the professional field of film and TV
A total of 32 million visits were made to Dutch cinemas and film theatres in 2023. The average number of visits per person grew from 0.8 in 2021 to 1.8 in 2022. Compared to the pre-corona years (the average from 2017 to 2019), the number of visits was still 14% lower. The income from cinema tickets in 2023 was €338 million. (FDN, 2024)
Dutch film did well in 2023. Despite the fact that more foreign films were released again, Dutch films attracted a relatively large audience, representing a market share of 14%. (FDN, 2024)
Source: FDN
Source: Stichting Filmonderzoek (Film Research Netherlands)
Source: Cultuurmonitor - audiovisueel (Culture Monitor - audiovisual)
Figures for the professional field of arts education
In 2023, 64 percent of the Dutch population was practicing some form of culture. (Cultuurmonitor, 2024)
In 2024 161 institutions for arts education, such as arts centres and music schools, are affiliated with the Dutch sector organisation for cultural education, amateur arts and adult education. (Cultuurconnectie, 2024)
In 2021 there are 11,000 amateur arts associations, clubs and groups registered at the Chamber of Commerce. There are approximately 20,000 independent providers of arts education in spare time. (Associations Monitor 2021, expected; in October 2024)
Source: Cultuurmonitor - Cultuur en participatie (Cultural Monitor - Culture and participation)
Source: Cultuurconnectie (Association)
Source: LKCA - Verenigingsmonitor 2021 (Associations Monitor 2021)
Figures for the professional field of music
In 2023, the music venues organised 17,362 activities with an audience, during which 25,341 performances were given by artists. 2023 became a record year with 5,772,273 visits to the music venues, which is 11% more visits than the 5,197,689 visits in 2019. (VNPF, 2024)
In 2023, 8,372 people worked for music venues, including temporary workers, self-employed people, trainees and volunteers. This number is 7% higher than in 2019, mainly due to an increase in paid staff. (VNPF, 2024)
In 2023, global recorded music revenues grew by 10.2%. This was the ninth consecutive year of global growth. Digital revenues have increased steadily over the past few years and streaming continued to be the dominant format globally, accounting for 67.3% of global recorded music revenues after increasing by 10.4% in 2023. By the end of that year, there were 667 million users of paid subscription accounts globally. (IFPI, 2024)
Diversity
Despite the growth in the offer of live pop music on Dutch stages and festivals (+57%), the offer has hardly become more diverse between 2008 and 2019, in terms of gender and origin of the performing artists. Four out of five performing artists are male and more than four out of five performances are performed by artists from three countries: the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States. In the field of gender, there has been a slight difference since 2017; the share of female artists has gradually increased since then. (Poplive, 2022)
Source: IFPI
Source: VNPF (Association of Dutch Music Venues and Festivals)
Source: CBS
Source: Cultuurmonitor - Muziek (Cultural Monitor - Music)
Source: Poplive monitor
The figures from the CBS are based on figures from the VSCD, VNPF and their own survey. Festivals are not included in the CBS data.
Figures for the professional field of theatre and dance
In 2022 there were 585 theaters in the Netherlands. (CBS, 2024)
According to CBS, a total of 50,331 performances took place in the performing arts in 2022. In 2022 there were 8,904 theater performances, 20,138 music performances, 2,879 dance performances, 5,745 music theater performances, 7,425 cabaret performances and 5,220 other performances. (CBS, 2024)
In total there were almost 17 million visits to performances in 2022 compared to 19.38 million in 2019. (CBS, 2024)
Source: CBS Statline
Source: Cultuurmonitor - Theater (Culture Monitor - Theatre)
Festivals are not included in the CBS data.