Friday, 6 December 2013 - 04:31
Tropenmuseum, Instituut Score 28 mil. Grant
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will make a one-time donations of 28 million euros to the Royal Institute for the Tropics (KIT). The Tropics Museum will receive 11 million.The Institute for the Tropics will receive the remaining 17 million euros to reform other departments, so these can become financially self-sufficient, independent from government subsidies. The money is meant, in part, as a contribution to a social plan.
The KIT has been struggling financially since the end of 2011, when Foreign Affairs decided to put an end to the annual contribution of 20 million, starting 2013.
Groups of people showed up at Central Station in Amsterdam to learn their train was cancelled (Photo: Zack Newmark)
Tropenmuseum
Ziko
Wikimedia commons After the Tropics Museum and the library, now the other departments of KIT also have clarity about their future. Their main purpose is research and giving advice in the area of development coöperation (economic development, health, and women's participation), and to provide training about working in other cultures. After months of negotiations about the transfer financing the Tropics Institute requested from Foreign Affairs, interim manager, Derk Vermeer, is pleased and grateful for the settlement. The funds will enable the institute to continue offering research and advisory services, and international training opportunities, which is where the focus lies. It was already announced in June that Foreign Affairs would give the Museum 5.5 million euros annually in 2014 and 2015, to enable the museum to merge with " Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde" in Leiden and the " Afrikamuseum" in Berg en Dal. In 2016 the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW), will donate 5.5 million euros. After that the merged museum will need to apply for subsidies from OCW, just like other cultural institutions. The library collection of the Tropics Museum has also been, for the better part, saved. In the meantime KIT is reorganizing. Ninety of the 260 jobs have been cut. 'The past two years have been rough, both for KIT and the staff, with much uncertainty and drastic reorganization. The loss of the theatre and the library were painful, and the separation with the Tropics Museum was saddening, but we trust the merged museum is headed for a glorious future,' according to Vermeer.
Ziko
Wikimedia commons After the Tropics Museum and the library, now the other departments of KIT also have clarity about their future. Their main purpose is research and giving advice in the area of development coöperation (economic development, health, and women's participation), and to provide training about working in other cultures. After months of negotiations about the transfer financing the Tropics Institute requested from Foreign Affairs, interim manager, Derk Vermeer, is pleased and grateful for the settlement. The funds will enable the institute to continue offering research and advisory services, and international training opportunities, which is where the focus lies. It was already announced in June that Foreign Affairs would give the Museum 5.5 million euros annually in 2014 and 2015, to enable the museum to merge with " Rijksmuseum Volkenkunde" in Leiden and the " Afrikamuseum" in Berg en Dal. In 2016 the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science (OCW), will donate 5.5 million euros. After that the merged museum will need to apply for subsidies from OCW, just like other cultural institutions. The library collection of the Tropics Museum has also been, for the better part, saved. In the meantime KIT is reorganizing. Ninety of the 260 jobs have been cut. 'The past two years have been rough, both for KIT and the staff, with much uncertainty and drastic reorganization. The loss of the theatre and the library were painful, and the separation with the Tropics Museum was saddening, but we trust the merged museum is headed for a glorious future,' according to Vermeer.
