Closure Boijmans Van Beuningen

The previous should also be considered in the broader perspective of the Museum Park and the intended closure of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. If the closure of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in 2019 proceeds according to plan, this will certainly have an impact on the city’s cultural life. However, with its broad range of exhibitions and activities, the Kunsthal will continue to cater to national and international visitors without this leading to ‘overflow’ visits. The institute will also take on the substantial challenge of livening up the Museum Park in order to prevent the Kunsthal and the Natural History Museum from disappearing behind the fences of the construction site. In order to boost this process, several parties have proposed a plan that involves the municipality setting up an artwork/programme in the Museum Park during the construction period that will become an attraction in itself. The Kunsthal would welcome this wholeheartedly.

Risk analysis

The Kunsthal has set up a risk matrix to describe the institute’s main risks. 
The most significant (financial), potentially high-impact risks in this matrix are:

• The lack of structural financial security concerning the amount of our most important operating subsidy. Every four years, the continuation of the institute is again a point of discussion;
• Sponsoring and fundraising are insecure factors. It is a highly competitive world and a yearly recurring process. It is difficult to engage parties for longer periods of time;
• The fact that the competition from museums and other parties with similar programming is growing, combined with an audience that is becoming increasingly demanding;
• The fact that our successful course has resulted in the side effect that ‘everyone’ thinks the Kunsthal is now capable of surviving on its own;
• The rising costs for production, programming and exploitation (partly as a consequence of not having a collection of our own);
• The arrival of the Depot Boijmans Van Beuning may have a crowding out effect with regard to content (competitive programming) and commerce (sponsoring, catering, visitors).

For the most part, the above mentioned risks concern external factors that the Kunsthal is unable to influence.