The Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture


Giving policy advice to the municipality of Rotterdam on art and culture and uniting the cultural sector, the city and society with each other. That’s the role of the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture (Rotterdamse Raad voor Kunst en Cultuur RRKC).

Art and culture are important cornerstones for further developing the city of Rotterdam. Having a vibrant cultural climate with excellent facilities helps to make Rotterdam more attractive to residents, visitors, artists and companies. The city of Rotterdam boasts a booming cultural scene with many new initiatives and young creative talent as well as many well-established artists, architects and cultural entrepreneurs. Rotterdam is a highly culturally diverse city and this could be utilised even better.

Who we are

The Council consists of twelve members, including a chairman, and an advisor from the city of Antwerp, Belgium. The council is supported by a team of advisors and support staff. The members of the Council have a background in business, the cultural sector, the creative industry or urban planning.

Expert consultants

The Council works with a team of some seventy independent professionals who specialise in various art disciplines in an international context, culture in the city, strategy and policy-making. New experts are added to this team every year.

These professional experts are regularly asked by the Council to give advice about a certain topic. This advice is always independent and based on facts.

What we do

As the official advisory board on art and culture for the municipality of Rotterdam, the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture provides independent advice based on policy content and expertise, which is never political.

The Council identifies, investigates and analyses trends and developments in art and culture in the city of Rotterdam within a societal context. It focuses on the trends and dynamics of art itself. The Council follows national and international trends and developments in the arts and in cultural policy, but also in other fields in society including business, education and social housing. For example, cultural projects are used to improve social cohesion in neighbourhoods. The Council encourages close cooperation within the arts sector and between the cultural sector and other organisations in the city of Rotterdam.

Before the Rotterdam Council for Art and Council was founded, the Rotterdam Art Foundation (Rotterdamse Kunststichting RKS) helped to realise various cultural facilities in the city of Rotterdam including art galleries, the Witte de With arts centre, leading festivals such as Poetry International, Dunya Festival (formerly known as Poetry Park) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Advising

The Council is not only commissioned to give advice about cultural policy, about the cultural sector in Rotterdam and about trends and developments in art and culture in the city, but the Council also takes the initiative to give advice when and where it sees fit.

Every year, the Rotterdam Council for Art and Culture draws up an agenda, after consulting the municipality of Rotterdam. This agenda consists both of advice that will be given on request of the municipality of Rotterdam but also advice initiated by the Council itself.

Four-year Cultural Plan

Every four years, the Council provides integrated advice on the Cultural Plan about how the multi-year grants and subsidies for the arts and cultural sector will be allocated by the municipality of Rotterdam. When it comes to assessing stand-alone requests, the Council appoints temporary committees.

Informing

The Council proactively exchanges knowledge with international, national and regional advisory boards, knowledge centres, interest groups for art and culture and the Council then shares this knowledge with other organisations in the city of Rotterdam.

Mobilising

In order to create an even better climate for art and culture in the city of Rotterdam, the Council puts various parties in touch with each other so they can contribute to achieving this goal. The basis for this is in the dialogue of the Council with artists, decision-makers, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, researchers and civil servants. The Council brings these parties together in order to achieve one collective goal: a strong and vibrant climate for art and culture in the city of Rotterdam.