Breaking Barriers: How Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur Contributes to Affordability of Extracurricular Music Education in Utrecht

Abstract

This explorative study examines financial access barriers to extracurricular music education for children from low-income families in the municipality of Utrecht. Higher numbers of families living with financial restraints combined with increasingly expensive course fees have made music education less affordable, demonstrating the relevance of this topic. The thesis is focused on a case study, Jeugdfonds Sport & Cultuur, which is an organization that contributes to the course tuition of cultural education for low-income families. It thereby aims to remove financial access barriers to music education. Academic literature on participating in financial help programs has identified different bottlenecks individuals experience when considering applying to such a program, which may impede them from going through with it. These are information, costs, and stigma bottlenecks. In order to test the relevance of these bottlenecks to the case study, nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with JSC executives, intermediaries, and applicants. Additionally, a short survey was spread among music teachers in Utrecht. The results demonstrated that JSC contributes to alleviation of financial barriers to access, but that it does not nullify them for all. The findings indicated that motivation for music education is an important precondition for considering applying to the fund. During the application procedure, information and stigma barriers were reported to play a role. The fund’s use of an intermediary system is employed to prevent those barriers, and to foster motivation among the target group. However, the visibility of intermediaries among music teachers and the target group needs improvement to ensure eligible families are sufficiently informed about funding options. Furthermore, (un)affordability of music education remains a significant obstacle after a successful application, since the fund’s contribution limit does not suffice in covering the cost of music education. Despite JSC's efforts to lower access barriers, limitations in funds thus still prevent equal participation.