Budget Memorandum 2023: Digitization Offers Opportunities

Digitization for New, Diverse Audiences

In the National Budget, we read on page 55: “In an increasingly complex world, creativity and independent information provision are indispensable. This cabinet invests in culture and media because these sectors are the foundation of a society in which everyone participates.” DEN, as a driver of digital transformation for the cultural sector, adds that digitization offers enormous opportunities for reaching new and diverse audiences.

Under priority 7 (page 40 in the National Budget), we find “Digitization offers many opportunities.” It states that the cabinet focuses on excellent digital skills, a strong European digital market, high-quality infrastructure, and ambitious collaboration in technological innovation. With this, the cabinet is working towards a safe, inclusive, and opportunity-rich digital society that protects public values and fundamental rights. DEN director Maaike Verberk adds on behalf of DEN that there are also many opportunities for digital transformation in the cultural sector: “The past period has shown that online cultural experiences contribute to inclusion. Precisely from the societal role of the cultural sector, digital is an exciting development. Physical and digital are worth existing alongside each other and strengthening one another.”

Innovation Makes the Sector Agile

In the Approval of the Budget Statements of the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (VIII) for the year 2023 (p. 20), it states: “… Corona demonstrated the innovative capacity of the cultural sector. The public appreciates the combination of physical and digital cultural experiences. We want to continue supporting this innovation because it makes the sector stronger and more flexible.” DEN has conducted several future explorations to visualize the expectations of the cultural audience of the future. This provides institutions with tools to position themselves flexibly. Read how future exploration helps you move forward. 

The Ministry of OCW stimulates the digital transformation of the cultural and creative sector and thereby the innovative capacity of these sectors. DEN supports the sector with knowledge and expertise. For example, the training offerings of the DEN Academy focus on developing a future-proof digital strategy for cultural organizations and innovative working. DEN has also developed a Focus Model that provides cultural organizations with insights into an integrated approach to digital challenges to increase their societal impact.

This message is derived from the Budget Memorandum 2023 and the National Budget for Education, Culture, and Science, which can be found on this page of Rijksoverheid.nl.