Sunday Times 2
Prince Claus Fund – Next Generation Programme makes its debut in Asia
On his 70th birthday in 1996, the Dutch Parliament honoured Prince Claus of the Netherlands by funding the creation of a foundation in his name, a Fund for Culture and Development.
Prince Claus, husband of Queen Beatrix and father of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, believed culture and development were not separate from one another. The Fund is committed to supporting cultural endeavours and young artists across the world.
This year, the Fund makes its debut in Asia with an open call for proposals through the “The Prince Claus Fund Next Generation Programme” seeking original projects by young people, for young people.
The Programme is currently accepting applications from young artists, aged 15-30 years, who are interested in furthering development through culture. The Programme encourages artistic youth and organizations to promote learning and explore alternative narratives while providing these individuals and organizations with support.
Here Prince Claus Fund Researcher, Laura Alexander, elaborates further on the Next Generation Programme.
n Tell us in brief what
the Prince Claus Fund -
Next Generation Programme is about and what its objectives are.
The Prince Claus Fund Next Generation Programme is a three-year programme of the Prince Claus Fund, designed to support the work of young artists and cultural practitioners around the world. It is financed by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Next Generation includes longer term partnerships with cultural organisations around the world, a dedicated award for an exceptional young artist, and annual open calls for proposals for projects by young artists. The Next Generation programme is just one of the many ways we carry out the Prince Claus Fund core mission is to support culture under pressure.
n How long has the programme been functioning and in which regions has it been implemented so far?
We are now in the third and final year of the Next Generation Programme. In the past two years, our Next Generation Open Calls have funded projects in Africa and the Middle East (in 2018) and Latin America and the Caribbean (in 2019).
n How can interested people apply for the programme?
Young artists and cultural practitioners can submit proposals by filling in the application form available on our website (princeclausfund.org) until the 9th of March 2020.
n How has the programme benefited young
artists so far?
Through our previous two calls for proposals, we have funded projects, which have allowed young artists and cultural practitioners to expand their practices and work on a larger scale than before. For many of our grantees, this grant represents the first time they have worked with international funding, and we have done our best to support them throughout the process.
n Why has the programme targeted Asian regions
for the latest call?
The Next Generation programme is a global programme. Each of the Next Generation Open Calls, 3 in total, has targeted a particular region of the world, and we are very excited to see high quality work coming from young artists in Asia and Eastern Europe in 2020.
n Why does the programme place special emphasis on projects which address issues of a political/religious/economic nature or address issues surrounding identity?
In line with our strong belief that ideas must come from artists and cultural practitioners, we have kept the thematic content of the Next Generation Open Calls as open as possible. Questions of identity, including but not limited to political, religious and economic challenges, are vital in many different ways to young artists developing their work. We hope that this call will be able to provide them with opportunities to question and express these ideas in creative ways.
n How does the programme
use art and culture as a mechanism to allow the youth to discuss issues, which concern them?
The Prince Claus Fund has always believed that culture is a basic need, in large part because it can create space for people all over the world to discuss issues that are important to them. The programme aims to help people express their thoughts and questions around important issues and explore different ways of seeing the world through art and culture.