Abstract
This chapter discusses a threefold chase: a vicious cycle of chasing funding, chasing programmers, and chasing papers. Project-based subsidies engender a precarious position because one is dependent on financial support that is temporary and conditional. There is a manifold sense of uncertainty when applying for funding. The search for funding, and thus work opportunities, is accompanied by maintaining a network of professional contacts. A career in contemporary dance develops between institutions, which demand certain competences in order to sustain itself. The persistent chase after programmers requires networking skills and self-promotion abilities. The social dynamics at play prove to be fundamental in advancing contemporary dance artists’ careers. The third kind of chase deals with the bureaucracy that comes hand in hand with autonomous work.
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- 1.
The overview of Koruga’s work in relation to the artistic production process is recapitulated in an article published in the European Journal of Theatre and Performance available online: https://journal.eastap.com (Van Assche 2020).
- 2.
The observations here are based on a performance in Weld, Stockholm, in December 2013.
- 3.
Yet it should be kept in mind that even though grants are generally tax-free, they often do not count for calculating one’s pension.
- 4.
However, it should be noted that this difference in income is also related to the fact that due to the strict requirements to obstain the status, artists benefiting from it are generally older and their salaries have grown according to the seniority wage scales.
- 5.
However, it merits mention that upon publishing this book, a change seems to be happening in Flanders: in November 2019, cultural policymakers recommended to curtail project-based subsidies in the arts sector with 60% for 2020, whereas the longer-term subsidies would be reduced for merely 6%.
- 6.
Own translation from Dutch.
- 7.
It is not mandatory to follow these in French Community of Belgium.
- 8.
The fee has been reconsidered in 2017 to respectively 2300 and 2660 euros per month.
- 9.
I will elaborate on the legality of how some artists handle their tax returns further in this chapter.
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Van Assche, A. (2020). The Fast. In: Labor and Aesthetics in European Contemporary Dance . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40693-6_6
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