The Dutch Fund for Cultural Participation has decided not to subsidize the National Youth Orchestras of the Netherlands (NJON) from 2025, their association says. The Fund for Cultural Participation’s decision is even more painful because, in addition to National Youth Orchestras Netherlands, all other organizations dedicated to the development of musical talent such as the Dutch Violin Competitions, the Princess Christina Competition, the Ricciotti Ensemble, Vocal Talent Netherlands and Britten for Young Musical Talent have been denied subsidies.
The news release says: « The development opportunities of hundreds of talented young musicians each year are thus wiped out in the stroke of a pen.(…) Not for nothing have the Dutch symphony orchestras called the NJON of ‘indispensable value’ to the Dutch orchestral landscape, just as the Dutch conservatories attribute essential significance to the development of young instrumentalists. »
Many of these orchestras and choirs are now threatened to disappear.
