As heated debates flared up in The Netherlands after the conservative-liberal government announced a 22% cutback on the cultural sector budget, art academies are preparing their students for the future by teaching them to be less dependent on art subsidies.

The Utrecht School of the Arts (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten Utrecht (HKU)) launched a crowdfunding platform on which students and graduates can look for capital to fund their art projects. Investors can step in for as little as € 10 .

Game developer start-up Stolen Couch Games is one of the first to pitch a project on the site. They built an adventure game Kids vs.Goblins for the iPad. They need €4500 to pay for licenses and hardware. The game goes live September 2011 and will be sold for €1.59. In-game micro-transactions are expected to further increase turn-over. The game developers promise their investors 17% revenue.

Go here to start funding HKU art projects. [Dutch]

Stolen Couch Games Kids vs. Goblins Trailer [Dutch]