1. Introduction
In Europe the market and the arts are often unhappy bedfellows. Many music lovers believe that only
subsidised symphony orchestras and classical music ensembles perform good music. Commercial
symphony orchestras and musical ensembles may accompany musicals, operettas and the popular operas
of Verdi, Puccini, Rossini and Wagner or play classical music for the millions. However, they will not
accompany difficult or contemporary operas or stage difficult, more esoteric pieces of classical music for
fear of frightening away the public. If they do, they will loose money. Similarly, many argue that only
subsidised theatre will stage the more difficult and artistically valuable theatre repertoire. Commercial
theatre will concentrate on the lighter stuff such as comedy, cabaret or Christmas pantomimes.
Commercial theatre in the West End of London can survive due to millions of tourists that grasp the
English language, but this is unlikely elsewhere in Europe. The big London museums such as the Tate,
the Tate Modern and the British Museum can also survive with less subsidy than in other European
towns. Still, top museums in the European capitals thrive on one old master, for example the ‘superstars’
Velasquez in Madrid’s Prado, the Mona Lisa in the Louvre or Rembrandt’s Night Watch in the
Rijksmuseum of Amsterdam. Of course, a museum that strives to show and maintain a large and varied
collection and undertake research needs a larger subsidy. Exposition centres (e.g., the Kunsthal-concept)
may be able to thrive commercially or on little government subsidy.
Culture in the Low Countries moved from the Renaissance onwards to satisfy demands of ordinary
people. In contrast, Italy cherished following Vasari the judgement of independent taste critics. In a
similar vain John Stuart Mill said `the uncultivated cannot be competent judges of cultivation. Those who
most need to be made wiser and better, usually desire it least, and, if they desire it, would be incapable of
finding the way to by their own lights' - see Blokland (1997, p. 89). Today much of the cultural elite of
Europe finds commercial culture suspect and argues that subsidies for high culture are essential. Even
though national, regional and local governments of Europe hand out sizeable cultural subsidies, the belief
in the contradiction between market and quality looses strength. Some countries now require cultural
organisations to get a minimum amount of box office receipts and sponsor income.
Still, commercial culture offers many marvels throughout Europe. In the past this was true as well.
William Shakespeare wrote his best work for the people's theatre and managed to pull in the crowds in a
fierce competitive environment - witness Baz Luhrmann’s film on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and
Elizabethan times with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the lead roles. Contemporary Europe has
excellent museums that flourish without any subsidy at all. There are commercial theatre productions
whose quality of performances are at least as good from a high-culture point of view as those of
subsidised theatre groups. There are a growing number of cultural entrepreneurs who reject subsidies in
the same way as the market was condemned before. They cherish their autonomy and succeed without