Rotterdam’s cultural policies and their impact

The city of Rotterdam started to invest in culture in the 1980s. Until then, Rotterdam was mainly a port city, where not so many interesting things were happening. There were only a few hotels and restaurants around. People would commute to Rotterdam for work and leave the city in the evenings to go home. The city authorities wanted to change this and began to invest into culture and cultural institutions. In 2001 Rotterdam was the European Capital of Culture. This gave a significant boost to the creative economy in the city. New organisations were established, young companies started up new festivals, produced films, etcetera. In 2005, the city government decided to create a programme to support the creative industries. The programme included financial investments into the western part of Rotterdam where big venues opened, such as the Schiecentrale. Creative Factory opened in 2008 after investment by the city authorities. The city helped develop new spaces and set up new projects in order to establish good conditions for the creative and cultural industries in Rotterdam. Investments into the cultural and creative industries in Rotterdam have proved to be a success. At the moment, the industries employ over 10,000 people and many cultural spaces, restaurants, and clubs have opened. The crisis has affected them of course but they are still doing well. Rotterdam can serve as an example to other cities that transformation from an ugly duckling into a completely different, modern city – where new industries grow faster than the old ones – is possible. If you look at Rotterdam’s horizon today, almost everything you see – all the skyscrapers – was built in the last two decades. The city has really acquired new wealth and a new pace.

CultureFighter

Rotterdam’s cultural policies and their impact

Leo van Loon

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