Tussen tellen en wegen: over de ontwikkeling van de instellingsbeoordeling door de commissies Theater, Jeugdtheater, Dans en Productiehuizen van de Raad voor Cultuur

This document reports on the outcomes of a study on the evaluation of subsidy applications by the Dutch Council for Culture. Undeniably, the assessment has become more systematic over the years. Scores are being given to the various aspects that need to be evaluated. Evaluations of subsidy application, therefore, have shifted from weighing to counting: partial scores substantiate the overall assessment of institutions. This enhances transparency of the evaluations as required by New Public Management, a movement in public administration that favours measuring the (implied) impacts of public policies. Given the fact that currently we have abandoned modernity's faith in the engineerability of society and a government as 'steering' societal developments it is surprising that requirements of transparency, measurability and (scientific) proof for the efficacy of envisioned policies has taken firm root. It leads to an over-reliance on industrial logic (Boltanski en Thévenot, 2006). As a result demands for transparency and increasing demands for accountability are schizophrenic (see also Van den Hoogen 2010). the Dutch Council for Culture also struggles with this.