Investing in the future requires trust, because the path to a dot on the horizon is uncertain. So, when assessing and guiding projects, place more emphasis on the process or method and less on the end product. When funding, shift the focus from a concrete or specific outcome to the impact you want to achieve. In the Innovationlabs programme, projects were given experimental space to work on a task in the sector with a significant amount of money. Projects were assessed during the selection procedure on the innovation process and intended impact, rather than a guaranteed outcome.

By building on insights from different social domains, new knowledge for innovation is generated. Designers are adept at doing this step by step: the design approach. This involves methods for engaging different perspectives, harnessing the power of imagination and testing innovations in practice. Innovationlabs was an intersection of knowledge and perspectives as different domains came together: art, culture and the creative industries, but also science and education. For instance, five lector-led research groups conducted joint research into the projects’ innovation processes. This cross-domain format encouraged participants to continually question their projects and comprehend issues from different points of view.

The current subsidy system encourages individual positioning, so makers, institutions and creative agencies are competitors rather than partners. That is a pity, because new resilience in the sector actually requires collaboration and the pooling of knowledge, experience and insights, including across national borders. By sharing more knowledge, the sector can respond better to current and future challenges. The Innovationlabs programme explored an approach to funding and support, with knowledge sharing at its core. This meant that activities were organised and financed that not only promoted knowledge sharing, but also contributed to a wider application of the results of the 33 innovation projects.

A new generation of makers moves freely between networks and disciplines, alternately using various media, forms and styles. More and more cultural institutions are also operating outside traditional frameworks. Museums and theatres, for example, are experimenting with new ways of producing and presenting art and culture, aimed at a broader audience reach. This reveals new perspectives and generates surprising connections that stimulate innovation. A subsidy system that holds on to narrow definitions of disciplines hampers this development. It is time to design funding and policy so that the focus is not on the discipline, but on the innovative power of the sector.

In the creative and cultural sector, it is common to work from project to project or term to term. A future-proof sector requires a more strategic approach, focusing instead on the longer term and continued development. By better equipping makers and culture professionals with skills for the long term, including recognising and setting up opportunities for value creation, impact and funding, the sector can better anticipate future developments. Strategic development programmes, such as Innovationlabs’ knowledge & community programme, contribute to the learning capacity of the sector and help to focus more on agility and resilience.

Innovationlabs has strengthened the learning and innovative capacity of the cultural and creative sector. The programme placed an emphasis on knowledge sharing, allowing makers, cultural institutions and creative agencies to benefit from each other’s insights and solutions. However, actual implementation showed that sharing knowledge and working for the long term is complex. In the daily practice of makers, cultural institutions and creative agencies, the focus is usually on the short term. This is facilitated by the subsidy system that is geared towards relatively short-term projects and terms. To break through this situation, strategic programmes are needed. The Creative Industries Fund NL and CLICKNL are therefore calling for an exploration of the possibility to create space within the basic cultural infrastructure for longer-term interdisciplinary collaboration (six years). By starting from longer programme lines, with and in addition to the development institutions that now have a place in the basic cultural infrastructure, the focus shifts from the short term to the opportunities and possibilities that can fundamentally strengthen the sector. In this way, subsidy becomes a strategic tool to make the sector more agile and resilient.

See below for downloads containing all recommendations, insights from the knowledge & community programme, and the ten overarching themes that were investigated by five lecturers from various knowledge institutions.

Video: Robbie van Zoggel
Images: Fillip Studios & Clara Gus