In Defense of Art Research: A Call to Support ACPA, PhDArts, and docARTES

Leiden University’s announcement that it will “phase out” the funding for its Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) is not just a bureaucratic decision; it is a profound and short-sighted blow to the intellectual, cultural, and artistic fabric of the Netherlands. 

A vital part of a vibrant ecosystem of artistic research in the Netherlands, which includes many different initiatives and programs, ACPA is the only Dutch institute that hosts full PhD programs for research in visual art/design and music, PhDArts and docARTES. Combining regular colloquiums with in-depth supervision, these doctoral study programs are an essential part of the infrastructure of artistic research in the Netherlands and Europe. Through docARTES and PhDArts, ACPA offers composers, performers, visual artists, and designers an academic community through which to engage with their fields in ways that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Here, art becomes research, performance becomes scholarship, and creativity generates new, critical knowledge. 

As a collaborative effort between Leiden University and the University of the Arts (HdK) in the Hague, ACPA has played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) and the development of the Research Catalogue, a central repository for artistic research. No other institution in the Netherlands offers doctoral study programs for artists/designers, composers, and musicians within the structure of a research university. To dismantle ACPA is to sever this unique thread in the nation's academic and cultural tapestry and to prevent those artists for whom pursuing a PhD is the logical next step to engage in public contexts and contribute to the development of practice and theory through their teaching activities, exhibitions, talks, curatorial and organismal practices, publications and much more.

ACPA has shown time and again that it provides artist-researchers with a generative framework, through PhD supervision and beyond. The breadth of its public engagement cannot be overlooked, for example, through popular talent programmes and lecture series for Leiden students as well as public lectures and symposia (at West Den Haag, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, The Textile Museum in Tilburg, amongst others). Through its manifold collaborations, the institute brings research into society, starting from its immediate surroundings in Leiden and The Hague. The relevance of its work ripples outward, stimulating discourse, challenging perceptions, and enriching our collective cultural life.

Closure is the likely outcome of what has been announced now. To defund ACPA would be to betray the very values the Netherlands claims to uphold: innovation, interdisciplinarity, and a vibrant, open society. As members of the wider national and international research community, we do not say this in a state of denial about the extreme austerity imposed by the Dutch far-right government through draconian budget cuts. We do say this in defiance: in defiance against a decision taken in haste that can only be read as panicked symboolpolitiek, to “show that we’re doing something,” and against the specious arguments used to cut funding rather than work with staff and partner institutions to explore alternatives. 

This is not just about budgets. This is about vision, about the kind of country the Netherlands wants to be, and the kind of world Leiden University wants to contribute to. We urge all those who care about the role of the arts in society and about critical research in the arts to make their concern and support for ACPA heard.

Please, sign the petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/in-defense-of-art-research-a-call-to-support-acpa-phdarts-and-docartes-2410ba2f-785e-4095-a96b-f2f407b1de07?source_location=search