Amsterdam is a world city for culture, but a lot of stories in our city are still untold, unrecognized or undervalued. Access to culture is not always assured for everyone. The city of Amsterdam wants to broaden and diversify arts and culture in the city.
With the delivery of the Plan of the Arts 2021-2024 (cultural strategy of Amsterdam), the City of Amsterdam committed to making inclusion a key part of its cultural policy. All cultural institutions funded by the city must create their own action plans on inclusion, to be delivered and executed over the four years of the plan. Many cultural institutions are already working to reach new audiences and make their content more inclusive. The city is also investing in new cultural centers in peripheral neighborhoods of Nieuw-West, Noord and Zuidoost.
Making culture in Amsterdam accessible to everyone, and everyone part of culture in the city. Two strongly connected ambitions which however come with their own set of methods and underlying challenges. How will Amsterdam know if its ambition to make culture more inclusive has been successful? What changes will need to take place within its cultural and creative sectors, in its funding, in the city culture department to ensure that culture is more inclusive both now and sustainably for the future?
Since 2019, City of Amsterdam has been a leading partner in a network of European capital cities – the ACCESS network – addressing this challenge together. Amsterdam participation in ACCESS is being used as an accelerator to achieve the city’s goals for cultural inclusion and to ensure a sustainable approach to this agenda.
This plan is the result of this ambition, delivered with a network of partners within the city and across Europe. It will have diversity and inclusion at its core, both in what we want to achieve and in the ways in which we will work.
This document is a publication by the City of Amsterdam. With special thanks to URBACT, ACCESS network and all the Amsterdam actors who played an important role in drawing up this plan.
Written by: Corynne Oude Avenhuis (Program manager ACCESS), Cigdem Ozcelik (Project leader ACCESS), Jacobien Sierts