In an attempt to create an additional emergency fund, the Eindhoven Municipal Executive has sent a proposal to the city council. This is to create a broad social support fund. Eindhoven Municipality wants to make the money available to cultural, sports and social organisations that are struggling.
The support applies from 15 March to 1 July 2020. If organisations still need money after July, additional measures will be taken. Cultural, welfare and sports organisations can make use of this fund when other (national) facilities are unavailable or insufficient. The amount involved is 6.75 million euros. This was informed by the city councillors Monique List (Mobility, Culture and Design, City Centre and City Marketing), Yasin Torunoglu (Living, District work, and Environmental planning) and Stijn Steenbakker (Sport and Economy) via a digital press conference on Wednesday evening.
Support for cultural sector
Of the 6.75 million, 3.15 million euros will be reserved for the culture sector. Corona crisis has badly hit the cultural sector. Parktheater Eindhoven, Muziekgebouw Eindhoven, Stichting Effenaar, Stichting Plaza Futura, Stichting Eindhoven Museum and Centrum voor de Kunsten Eindhoven shall receive support from this fund. The first four institutions shall also receive the same amount from the state, if the money is well spent. The culture sector is, of course, much broader than only these institutions. There’s a plan to prepare a separate proposal for the smaller cultural institutions.
Sports
Not only the culture sector, but the sports sector is also entitled to the support fund. The municipality has reserved some 2.3 million euros from the support fund for sport. Social institutions such as community centres and voluntary organisations can expect a sum of 1.5 million euros. The compensation for the sports clubs and social organizations will largely come from rent compensation from the municipality. Sports organisations that can support themselves should also do so. City councillor, Stijn Steenbakker, emphasizes that the sports clubs have to do it together. City councillor, Yasin Torunoglu says that the sports clubs that can sustain themselves, can’t lay claim to the support fund: “Somewhere, as a municipality, we have to set a limit”.
Action plan Inner city
In order to ensure a hospitable and safe (inner) city now and in the near future, the College has approved the action plan for the ‘new’ inner city. There’s a plan to open an extra counter for special ‘corona initiatives’. This would, for example, help planning for events which can take place in accordance with the 1.5 rule proposed by the government. city councillor, Monique List, informed that crowd management will be in place. It will help to properly regulate visitor flows in the city centre.
Probably no big events the whole year
In an answer to the question put by Eindhoven News about the continuation of the larger Eindhoven events like Glow, DDW and Marathon, after September 1, city councillors informed that feasibility of all larger events is doubtful till the end of the year.
International Students
Eindhoven News has also raised the manifold problems, including wellbeing, financial and housing, the international students are facing in our city. We’ve stressed on the impact that the crisis is having on these students and have requested the municipality to look into this. We’ll inform our readers as soon as we hear from them.
The city council hopes to obtain the council’s agreement to the measures on 1 June. Organisations that are eligible for support can find more information about the fund via eindhoven.nl/ondernemersloket.
Source: www.studio040.nl Persbericht
Translation: Chaitali Sengupta
