Evaluation of the Flemish decree on ‘Integration of Art in public buildings’

In 1986 the Flemish Parliament introduced the decree on the ‘Integration of Art in public buildings’. Since then a fixed percentage of the total building costs of public or publicly funded buildings should be spent to art work.
Since the introduction of the decree 30 years ago both the art practice and the cultural, regional and policy context have changed considerably. A critical reflection on how to adapt the decree to this new context is needed.

In this study IDEA Consult makes an independent environmental analysis of the changing meaning and importance of art in the public space, the role of the decree in funding it and the limitations of the current decree in the changing cultural, regional and policy context. Based on this analysis we develop and test different scenarios to revise both the decree and the broader policy framework to fund art in the public space.

The outcome of the study is based on numerous interviews with experts, a roundtable with Flemish representatives of different policy domains, a roundtable with European experts and two consultation rounds with a broad range of stakeholders.