Rotterdam's Cultural Icons

The report at hand evolved around the idea that there is a need for reinventing the rules which determine relationships between the cultural organizations and their financiers. We argue that this is possible by mobilizing some of the most important cultural actors of a city to join forces in order to develop a strong “cultural brand”. We reason that iconic cultural organizations in Rotterdam with an already clear and strong brand can collaborate and create a “cultural brand” for the entire city of Rotterdam. In an era of fierce global competition among cities, this “cultural brand” can become one of the most important assets of Rotterdam to stand out. The explorative study has been carried out by CREARE – Centre for REseach in ARts and Economics in collaboration with the Erasmus School of History Culture and Communication (ESHCC) – Erasmus University Rotterdam on the invitation of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). We have worked on this report from May 2013 to March 2014. It has been a challenging and sometimes demanding research project. Nevertheless, we have worked on it with great pleasure and enthusiasm. The research team thanks Janneke Staarink and Peter Schuiten for all the inspiring conversations and support, Ieva Rozentale and Prijateya Kotipalli for their contributions to the initial phase of the project, and last but not least the persons and organizations that responded to our questions and requests for information: Raad for Kunst en Kultuur Rotterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Kunsthal Rotterdam and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra. It would not have been possible to complete the study in time without their quick response, professional comments and advice.