Lobbying for Culture: How to Gain Local Influence

To many cultural professionals, lobbying sounds like a big deal or something daunting. Yet in practice, it’s often less complicated than it seems. Lobbying is mainly about understanding how the municipality works, building relationships, articulating your message clearly, and sharing it with the right person at the right time. It is precisely at the local level that opportunities exist to influence cultural policy, grants, and framework conditions.

In this article, we explain how lobbying works in a municipal context. We also share insights from a conversation with Mattijs Loor, a city council member for the municipality of Arnhem, who has inside knowledge of both the political arena and the cultural sector.

What is lobbying (and what isn't)?

Lobbying is the structured and transparent sharing of information with politicians and policymakers, with the aim of influencing long-term decisions, priorities, and policies. It involves building relationships, fostering mutual understanding, and demonstrating why your issue or organization is socially relevant.

Lobbying is not a one-time effort, and it certainly isn’t a trick to “get something done.” It is an ongoing process in which you share information, maintain relationships, and demonstrate why your issue matters. Mattijs emphasizes that “isolated issues” aren’t particularly interesting to council members. It’s the big picture that matters. What does this mean for the sector as a whole?

How does the municipality actually work?

Every municipality has a municipal council, which is elected by residents during municipal elections. The council sets the broad outlines of policy and oversees the day-to-day administration: the mayor and aldermen. Anyone who wants to influence cultural policy therefore often has to deal with multiple roles within the municipality.

• The city council sets the guidelines. Council members decide on policy, the budget, and priorities, and make political decisions on behalf of the residents.
• The Municipal Executive implements this policy. Aldermen are responsible for specific portfolios, such as culture or the economy, and submit proposals to the city council.
• Civil servants draft policies and ensure their implementation. They know what is possible within existing regulations and funding streams.

Matthijs emphasizes that council members and party supporters (people who support a political party but are not elected council members) are therefore important links in the political process. They can put items on the agenda, ask questions, and address the municipal executive, but they are not responsible for implementation. “For example, council members do not decide on individual grants. It does, however, make sense to discuss guiding principles and policy.”

💡 Tip: In this knowledge base article, you can learn about the structure of the city council, the different roles within it, and how decision-making works in practice.

Contacting the Council

You can submit topics or speak before the council through the council clerk’s office or by contacting council members and party representatives. You can also send an email to all council members at once or to all party representatives. To do so, address your email to raadsleden@arnhem.nl or gemeenteraad@nijmegen.nl.

📨 Would you like to know which council member you can contact regarding your specific issue? You can find the list of council members and their portfolios in Arnhem here, and the list of council members and their portfolios in Nijmegen here.

Lobbying in Connection with Municipal Elections

Lobbying works best when you align yourself with the political agenda. Not every moment is equally suitable, and the timing varies depending on the phase of the administrative term. These are key moments in the political cycle:

Spring (March–June)

• After the elections and before summer, the political machine will kick into gear
• A good time to get to know (new) council members
• Space for discussions without the immediate pressure of making decisions

Spring Policy Statement (usually in April)

• The financial guidelines for the coming year will be discussed
• A crucial moment to set priorities
• In election years, this is often linked to coalition agreements

Coalition negotiations (after elections)

• The parties set a joint course and define their shared goals
• An opportunity to position culture as part of broader societal challenges
• Input must be well prepared in advance, preferably collectively by the sector

Fall (budget)

• Major decisions regarding budgets and policy
• Less room for new themes
• Here, the lobby focuses primarily on making adjustments and maintaining the status quo

💡 Tip: Start building relationships well in advance of elections and collaborate with other organizations or platforms to make a joint contribution. Also, be selective about who you approach and why. “You need to already know each other when something comes up,” says Mattijs.

What makes a good lobbying pitch?

A good lobbying pitch goes beyond your own organization. Council members look at the broader interest. “It helps if you don’t just talk about what you’re doing, but also know what’s happening in the rest of the sector. That way, you’re presenting a general issue, not an individual interest,” says Mattijs. “Lobbying is nothing more than sharing information. To do that, you need to know who’s concerned about which issue.”

So do you have to come up with a lot of numbers? No, says Mattijs. “Numbers and impact stories complement each other. Numbers show who and how many people are involved, while stories provide meaning and context. Reach and social impact play a major role in this.”

A concrete example from Arnhem is the establishment of the Arnhem Amateur Arts Platform(PAA). The PAA lobbies for structural support and raises awareness of the importance of amateur arts in Arnhem, partly driven by the need to mitigate fluctuations in political support. Collaboration, timing, and a clear structure made all the difference here. “There was momentum, something was happening, and the sector managed to unite. This made it clear where the urgency lay and who the point of contact was.”

What often goes wrong?

According to Mattijs, there are a number of recurring pitfalls in lobbying requests. For example, the message may be incoherent or constantly changing, making it unclear exactly what is being asked for. Frequently changing points of contact is also counterproductive, because relationships take time to build. In addition, there is sometimes a lack of a clear goal or narrative that goes beyond one’s own interests. Finally, Mattijs still regularly sees invitations (guest tickets to theater performances or exhibitions) or forms of VIP treatment or gifts, even though this is no longer permitted in many municipalities and tends to backfire rather than help.

Practical First Steps

Want to get started with lobbying? These first steps will help you begin in a focused and realistic way:

• Learn more about how your municipality is organized and who holds which role
• Identify which council members and party supporters are relevant to your topic
• Seek partnerships with other organizations, platforms, or networks
• Craft a narrative that goes beyond your own organization or interests
• Start early, build relationships, and stay visible in the city

💡 Tip: As a final takeaway, Mattijs adds that you really need to understand the playing field before you start lobbying. “Know what the policies are, what funding sources are available, and what’s going on in your sector. Then you’ll really have something to offer.”