After four years at SKAR I can say that I am optimistic about the cooperation with the municipality, but that I have concerns about the developments in the market.
First that optimism. Since I started here in 2016, as director of SKAR, I have noticed that there is a great involvement of the municipality with artists and their housing. I emphasize that, because now and then a different image threatens to emerge. A lot has been achieved in the cooperation between SKAR and the municipality. There was already a smart rental policy (the collective rental agreement) and since 2017 there has been another pillar under the cooperation with the Atelier and Incubators Policy (pdf). This is an ambitious policy that not only offers the prospect of more studios (a tripling of what SKAR can rent), but also looks closely at the quality and locations of the workplaces. Together with the municipality, we have established a affordability standard (the SKAR standard) that you don't have to look for in the cities around us. And we have been able to maintain that standard, while all around us rents are being raised. We can now conclude that the extra workspace that was promised can be achieved within four years - we're almost there.
In the meantime, we have also been able to agree with the municipality that the rental period will be extended. This means that we can now rent many of the properties for at least 15 years - that's a considerable extension and gives a lot of peace and quiet.
So why the concerns?
When in 2017 the studio and incubator policy was written, the market just started to warm up. A large number of buildings were managed by anti-squatting organizations and though there was reason to assume that this number would decrease, the extent and speed at which this happened surprised many, including us, given the developments in Rotterdam in the decades before. Many artists, who were able to work quietly in anti squat based studios, suddenly found themselves in the harsh wind of market developments. Buildings were bought and redeveloped at a very fast pace, and it is simply the case that whoever enters into a contract with the squatters renounces certainty. We don't know - and we can't know - how many artists have that problem. What we do know is that in recent years we have noticed that for every one hundred studios we realise, two hundred candidates have been added. In our plan for the next four years, Monasteries and Clusters(pdf), we have explained these figures. It is clear that there is a problem. Artists recently sounded the alarm bell, as we could read in the AD.
How are we gonna fix this?
The municipality will be looked into quickly to solve this problem. That's the easiest way. It's not entirely justified, especially given the efforts it has already made. However, I do think it is a common problem: we want this city to remain welcome for artists, and that they are able to continue to have an affordable place here. The city benefits from that. But I think that others, who are not the government, should also contribute to this. "Good growth' is the adage of the city, and that includes maintaining sufficient affordable workplaces for the creative sector - and also for other social initiatives. This is only possible if these places are shielded from speculation. But these places do not have to be in the hands of a few. Why not look for ways in which several parties, for example artists together with SKAR, can jointly own them? I would certainly be open to that. Especially if we can agree that the goal is that there are good workplaces, where everyone can do their work, and that the goal is not to become rich from a pile of stones.
We can do that very well together, I think, the artists, SKAR and others. Let that initiative come from us. But in order to be able to carry it out, we need the municipality. We need space and time to be able to develop it and let it come to fruition, without constantly running behind the facts - it can help us with that. Or in preventing speculation. And so there are more points.
The municipality is not going to solve the studio shortage on its own. Neither are we. But together it could work out just like that.