Employment

Voter-mandated budget cuts loom here in the Netherlands, and of course arts organizations are screaming bloody murder.   In the course of decades, orchestras here have "managed to survive" on 85% of their operating costs supplied via government subsidies, both local and national.   This level of subsidy has allowed them to program music that nobody wanted to hear, as ticket sales were never a concern.    As a result, arts management has become an entitled elite, answering to no-one . . . 'til now.    Of course, those who would cut these budgets are referred to as "barbarians" and "philistines";   the idea that the public should decide what they're willing to pay for is an odious concept for those in the ivory tower.  It's the most entertaining kind of class-warfare.   

Fiscal ideology aside, I have a personal interest in this as well.    Should the band go bankrupt, I'd get a handsome payout, allowing me the freedom to move away from this God-forsaken country.    And from a very petty standpoint, I wouldn't mind seeing an employer that's treated me badly since day one be shuttered.