Former Mauritshuis director criticises government policy on museums

BankGiro Lottery gives more than 53 million euros to culture

Frits Duparc, former director of the Mauritshuis museum, has spoken out strongly against the government’s plan to have a hand in the way the proceeds of the BankGiro Lottery are allocated. Speaking at a meeting at which the BankGiro Lottery divided a sum of more than 53 million euros between 45 cultural institutions, Duparc called it ‘an audacity’.

The Mauritshuis museum used to have a purchasing budget of € 150,000, which according to Duparc was “not enough to make a dent in a pack of butter.” But there has been a substantial increase in the purchasing budget since the BankGiro Lottery started providing assistance. Contributions from the lottery and other organisations made it possible for the museum to purchase a seascape by the 17th-century master Jan van de Cappelle earlier this year.
In a bill for a new Betting and Gaming Act, currently being discussed in The Hague, the government has declared its intention to have a say in the way lotteries that donate money to good causes distribute the sums they raise. Boudewijn Poelmann, director of the BankGiro Lottery, is of the opinion that this is none of the government’s business. And Duparc feels the same way.

53 million euros for culture
Earlier today at the Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam the BankGiro Lottery distributed more than 53 million euros spent on lottery tickets to dozens of cultural institutions. This is the half of the total sum of more than 106 million euros spent on BankGiro Lottery tickets. Eleven new long-term beneficiaries were welcomed into the fold. Like the 34 existing beneficiaries, they will receive a structural contribution for a period of five years. The eleven newcomers include institutions such as the FOAM Photography Museum in Amsterdam, the Zuiderzeemuseum in Enkhuizen and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. The BankGiro Lottery also made a one-off donation to five other organisations. Among other things these donations will be used to renovate the main auditorium at the De Doelen Congress Centre in Rotterdam, restore the Our Lord in the Attic Chapel in Amsterdam and improve of the Ecomare seal sanctuary on the island of Texel.

The BankGiro Lottery supports organisations that work to preserve and enhance the Netherlands’ cultural heritage. In this respect it is the culture lottery in the Netherlands. In 2007 BankGiro Lottery players raised a sum of more than 106 million euros. Half of the money spent on lottery tickets (more than 53 million euros - two million more than in 2006) is freely disposable and is used to provide financial support for cultural institutions as the BankGiro Lottery sees fit.

Mobile heritage
The beneficiaries include several institutions that work to preserve the Netherlands’ mobile heritage. The Railway Museum in Utrecht, the Steam Tram Museum in Hoorn-Medemblik and the Aviodrome all receive an annual contribution of 200,000 euros for their work. These donations are a measure of the importance that BankGiro Lottery attributes to mobile heritage within national cultural heritage as a whole.
The BankGiro Lottery hopes that besides creating immediate possibilities with its financial contributions, it will also generate a so-called ‘flywheel effect’ by inspiring other organisations and authorities to support institutions involved in preserving mobile heritage. This was what happened in response to the BankGiro Lottery Restauratie television programme. Fourteen buildings competed for the main prize of a sum of 1 million euros to be spent on restoration. Thanks to the awareness raised by the television programme, the buildings that did not win the prize subsequently received the funds they needed from other sources.

BankGiro Lottery and its lottery players
More than 850,000 people played the BankGiro Lottery in 2007. Between them they bought a total of 1.25 million lottery tickets and won cash prizes of 1 million euros and 500,000 euros as well as prizes in kind, such as culture trips and overnight stays in hotels. (On average, one in every five players wins something). Thanks to its lottery players the BankGiro Lottery is able to distribute many millions of euros to its beneficiaries every year. Among other things this makes it possible for cultural institutions in the Netherlands to buy important works of art that are a special addition to their collection. In 2007 the Rijksmuseum acquired ‘Rue Notre Dame’ by Jongkind and the Mauritshuis museum acquired a seascape by Jan van de Capelle. Back...