Cultural grants

The National Centre of Expertise for Cultural Education and Amateur Arts [Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst] (LKCA) is dedicated to increasing people's awareness of cultural education, cultural participation and cultural accessibility. Since March 2020 LKCA has been actively collaborating with organisations on the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands. A cultural education training course marked the starting point. LKCA account holders serve the Dutch provinces and regions by facilitating support for cultural institutions, teachers and policymakers in order to promote cultural education and participation. The LKCA account holder for the Caribbean area also maintains contact with the countries of Aruba, Curaçao and St. Maarten. The Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) subsidises LKCA in order to:

• professionalise the educational function in the cultural sector;
• provide a national information and network function for both amateur arts and cultural education;
• perform research and monitoring for both amateur arts and cultural education.

In doing so LKCA operates on the basis of a cross-discipline approach and helps to implement government programmes in the field of cultural education and participation. For example, LKCA is the knowledge partner within the OCW Cultural education with Quality programme and responsible for contributing, acquiring and sharing knowledge about cultural education both within the programme and elsewhere.

Account holder for the Caribbean region

Ms Eeke Wervers, Cultural education specialist: EekeWervers@lkca.nl
Telephone number: +31 30 711 51 37

The Performing Arts Fund [Fonds Podiumkunsten]

The Performing Arts Fund is the leading cultural fund for music, music theatre, dance, theatre and festivals in the Netherlands. The Fund provides support on behalf of the central government to all forms of professional performing arts and is also accessible to the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands. The Performing Arts Fund hereby focusses on quality in the widest sense of the word. In addition to quality, performance is also playing an increasingly important role. The Fund's aim is to create a performing arts sector which appeals to as many different people as possible and is at the heart of society. In addition to this, the Performing Arts Fund wants to stand out by being diligent and transparent in its assessments and decisions. The fund has a budget available of 62 million euros.

Besides the multi-year subsidies the Performing Arts Fund also offers various programming, production and individual grants. Particular attention is paid to internationalisation and diversity among ensembles, venues and audiences. The Fund also focuses particularly on cultural diversity in the widest possible sense and has the special task of encouraging innovation in the chain of creation, production, distribution and uptake.

The Performing Arts Fund works with a large pool of advisers who advise on grant applications in committees of varying composition. Their expertise is also used in connection with visits to performances and policy development.

Contact persons for the Caribbean region

Kaajal Bachoe: k.bachoe@fondspodiumkunsten.nl
Jenny Mijnhijmer: j.mijnhijmer@fondspodiumkunsten.nl

Cultural Participation Fund

As a government cultural fund the Cultural Participation Fund has been given the task of making culture accessible to everyone. Accessibility is important for society, and is also the key to revitalising the cultural landscape. The Cultural Participation Fund focuses on cultural participation, intangible heritage, heritage volunteers and cultural education and on promoting culture which is inviting and easily accessible.

The Cultural Participation Fund encourages people to participate in culture. In the field of education the Fund uses cultural education to create a basis for each child. In addition, everyone who wants to must have the possibility to work on their personal development in their leisure time. This includes people for whom that is not a matter of course. We encourage them to do so in a way that suits them, locally and with an emphasis on quality. In this way the Fund hopes to contribute to an open society in which everyone can develop their creativity.

Account holder for the Caribbean region

Femie Willems: F.willems@cultuurparticipatie.nl

Gino van Zolingen: g.vanzolingen@cultuurparticipatie.nl

The Creative Industries Fund [Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie]

The Creative Industries Fund in Rotterdam is a cultural fund for design, architecture, digital culture and all conceivable crossovers from the Netherlands at home and abroad. The Fund wants to make a real contribution to the quality of professional design practice within and above all between the disciplines of design, architecture and digital culture. Part of this objective is the interdisciplinary exchange between the cultural, social and economic domain. The Fund supports exceptional and innovative projects and activities by designers, makers and cultural institutions in the creative industry.

All contributions are intended to enrich the creative sector and, through collaboration, help to work towards a culture and knowledge-driven creative economy. At the same time the Fund contributes, via grants and programmes, to the formulation of broadly supported design solutions for issues in society.

Contact person for the Caribbean region

Joris van Ballegooijen: j.vanballegooijen@stimuleringsfonds.nl
Telephone number: +31 10 436 16 00

Mondriaan Fund

The Mondriaan Fund encourages the visual arts and heritage sector on behalf of the Ministry of OCW. The fund focuses on all kinds of visual art and heritage and their audiences. The fund wants to retain items of value and provide space for new aspects of art and heritage, new stories and new values.

The Mondriaan Fund offers various ways for individuals and organisations to contribute. Examples include a contribution to an artist who is developing new work, or a collaboration between a museum and an artist, a gallery exhibiting art from the Netherlands at a foreign exhibition, or a curator who is conducting research for an exhibition or publication. The fund also contributes to talent development and practice enrichment for new and/or experienced artists, curators and critics. As far as museums and other art and heritage institutions are concerned, contributions can be made to assignments, innovative programming, purchases and collections.

When assessing applications, the advice of independent advisers is crucial. These advisers are experts such as artists, curators, critics, art historians, museum employees, heritage professionals and others who are able to estimate the value of visual arts and cultural heritage developments. They are selected on the basis of expertise and they work in committees.

The Mondriaan Fund is also responsible for the Dutch submission to the Venice Biennale, for organising the Prix de Rome for visual artists and architects and for financing various heritage talent prizes. With a view to promoting international exchanges even more, the fund organises a fact-finding trip for curators, critics and artists every year. Conversely, foreign professionals can also participate in the international visitor programme during which they will be introduced to art in the Netherlands.

Contact person for the Caribbean

Rapti Miedema: r.miedema@mondriaanfonds.nl

Talitha van Ooyen: t.vanooyen@mondriaanfonds.nl

Telephone number: T +31 (0)20 523 15 13 (direct)

The Netherlands Film Fund

The mission of the Film Fund is to encourage a diverse and high-quality film offering and to promote a (production) climate in the kingdom which is receptive to film art. The Film Fund focuses on the professional, independent film sector and provides financial contributions for:

• the development, realisation and distribution of film productions;
• film activities by means of training outside the production process.

Since 1 January 2021 the fund's structure has been simplified with the creation of a single Selective Funding department. This new department concentrates on selecting applications for the development and realisation of Dutch film projects, in all genres, for experienced and new film-makers alike.

Account holder for the Caribbean region

Monique Ruinen: M.Ruinen@filmfonds.nl

Dutch Foundation for Literature [Nederlands Letterenfonds]

The Dutch Foundation for Literature invests in the production of literature in all genres – literary novels, stories, poetry collections, spoken word, drama texts, literary non-fiction, children's and youth literature – which have been written in the Dutch or Frisian languages, in both digital or paper form. The foundation also supports the distribution of our literature in the Netherlands and abroad.

Writers, poets and translators can apply for grants to support their work on new texts or books. The Foundation for Literature awards grants to literary festivals, (international) publishers and literary journals. The fund also offers various residencies for writers and translators as well as a number of talent programmes and promotes Dutch and Frisian literature around the world.

The Foundation for Literature has a large national and international network and focuses on literature in all shapes and sizes. Its aim is to create a literary climate which is as rich and varied as possible, with an eye for (new) talent, unique publications, literary storytelling, the promotion of reading and innovative developments in both literature and literary publishing.

Contact person for the Caribbean region

Suzanne Meeuwissen: s.meeuwissen@letterenfonds.nl

Telephone number: +31 (0)20 5207300 / +31 (6) 1111 8384