Clara van Meyel, Managing Director of Holland Baroque: “The FPK once again fails to recognize the quality and significance of Holland Baroque. The court ruled that the FPK should have taken into account the importance attributed to Holland Baroque by the Council for Culture. This has not been done. Several ensembles have not received funding despite positive evaluations and court rulings. This raises questions about the structure and transparency of the system. This is also an alarming situation for those ensembles that have been granted funding. Naturally, Holland Baroque had hoped that, following the court’s ruling, the FPK would arrive at a positive decision. The fact that this has not happened is a severe blow to an ensemble that has fully proven its right to exist. Holland Baroque will carefully study the FPK’s new assessment and does not rule out asking the court to review the decision once again.”
Tineke and Judith Steenbrink: “Unfortunately, this is not the message we had hoped for. The court has ruled in our favor, but the FPK maintains its original decision: no funding for Holland Baroque. This does not mean that we are now in the same situation as in July 2024. Since then, we have worked hard on our future, and we will continue along that path. With such a small team and limited financial resources, this is a major challenge. Together with our Friends and the municipality of Utrecht, we continuously seek new forms of support to ensure that Holland Baroque can continue to open the doors to Baroque music.”
From the ruling of the District Court of Midden-Nederland, 30 January 2026:
“In this ruling, the court concludes that Holland Baroque’s appeal is well-founded. The advice of the advisory committee on which the Fund based its rejection is, on several points, not sufficiently careful, transparent, and/or comprehensible. This applies to aspects assessed under the criterion of significance for Dutch performing arts practice. In addition, the Fund has insufficiently clarified how the criterion of geographical distribution would be assessed.”