On Thursday, 16 June, the Raad voor Cultuur (Arts Council) brought out its recommendations to the State Secretary for Culture, Medy van der Laan, concerning subsidy for supporting institutions in 2006-08. The recommendation for CODART was highly positive.

The Council wrote:
"CODART plays an important role in the relatively small area of Dutch and Flemish art. Through its activities, CODART pays a definite contribution to research into Flemish and Dutch art, publicizing collections and bringing the keepers of collections together. In its note on arts subsidies for 2005-08 the Council was positive about the balanced way in which CODART has operated over the past years in achieving its aims. The institution offers a contribution all its own to international cultural policy, one aim of which is to stimulate collection mobility." The Council ended its recommendation by advising CODART, in the course of those three years, to explore forms of cooperation with "other institutions in the field of cultural heritage and universities in order to establish a more solid organizational basis for its activities."

The reason for a new advice concerning the years 2006-08, after the Council had already brought out recommendations for 2005-08, was a change in policy of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Welfare. Early this year the decision was made to establish separate terms for a category of grant applicants called "supporting" as opposed to "producing" institutions. CODART was put into the former category and was awarded a provisional grant for one year, until the end of 2005; in April it submitted an application for 2006-08. The recommendations of the Council, which advised positively on more applications than can be covered by available funding, will now be considered by the State Secretary. If she decides to depart from the recommendation concerning CODART, she will let this be known in the course of July.