Samenvatting

The contents of the thesis are summarised in the bullet points below:

o Problem statement: Low attendance of the Cultural activities.
o Hypothesis of the situation: Changes in Management (centralization) and failure to promote the cultural activities efficiently.
o An in-depth analysis of the Cervantes was carried out internally and externally, in order to discover how the Institution functions and which factors it is affected by. This insight into the organization concluded with a SWOT analysis.
o A survey was carried out amongst people who were, in some way or another, familiar with the Cervantes. Various findings reinforced some of the hypotheses (Cervantes is not promoting sufficiently) while others contradicted them(the audience does not seem to be aware/affected by centralisation)
o Two other cultural Institutions were analysed (British Council and Maison Descartes), in order to find out how they function and what results they obtain in comparison to the Cervantes. A comparative table of the three Cultural Institutions (Cervantes Institute, British Council and Maison Descartes) was made and the Cervantes was given some recommendations regarding aspects where the other organizations are achieving better results.
o After concluding from the analysis and survey that the Cervantes is not promoting the cultural activities sufficiently, some specific objectives and strategies have been offered to promote and differentiate it from other cultural organizations and language courses, so that it can take its rightful place as the most important Spanish Cultural Institution of the Netherlands.
o In the final chapter conclusions were drawn and both parts of the central question were answered. Additionally, a table with a control system was supplied suggesting how some of the strategies recommended could be put into practice. This table also provided a time schedule permitting the evaluation of the outcome of the activity.