The woman patron and the arts and culture sector in the Netherlands
The Netherlands is in the middle of a major shift of the financing of the arts and culture sector. Former State Secretary Halbe Zijlstra forced the sector to look for private supplementary financing because of a major cutback in subsidies of 200 million euros in 2012. Since then, the Dutch government is increasingly withdrawing as a financier of the sector. Consequently, patronage, the protection and financial favouring of the art and culture sector by private donors, has become an indispensable link in the financial chain of the art and culture sector. Generally, research shows that women are the most likely group of people to give to the arts and culture sector.