Artist Start (2021-2024)

• You have been working as a professional visual artist for at least 1, but less than 4 years.
• You are artistically active in the visual arts and in that capacity embedded in the professional visual arts practice in the Netherlands and/or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
• Artist Start grants cannot be used to finance study. You may not make use of an Artist Start grant while attending courses, including bachelor, master, graduate or postgraduate programmes.
• At the time of your application, you may not be receiving any other financial support from the Mondriaan Fund that covers the same costs.
• Applications may be submitted by artists who have completed at least 3 years of a Bachelor’s degree programme or 21 months of a Master’s degree programme (Master HBO) with a visual arts curriculum and have been working as visual artists for at least 1 year afterwards.
• Applications can be submitted up to 4 years after completing your studies. The date of the diploma or degree, or the date you ended your studies if you did not graduate, is taken into account. Artists who have been practicing professionally for 4 or more years can apply for an Artist Basic grant.
• Visual artists who have completed a master’s degree programme may apply up to 4 years after the date of their degree or, if no degree was obtained, the date of leaving that programme, provided that they followed it consecutively after receiving a bachelor’s degree. This is counted from the date stated on the diploma (or declaration) of the first higher education programme. If there is a period of time between obtaining the bachelor’s degree and starting the master’s programme, this interim period will be deducted from the four-year limit. The interim period is considered part of the professional art practice.
• Participation in a post-academic or post-graduate programme, such as the Rijksakademie, de Ateliers, the Jan van Eyck Academy, BAK or EKWC, is considered part of the professional art practice.
• Periods during which the applicant is studying do not count towards the duration of the professional practice. An exception to this is participation in post-academic or post-graduate programmes: these periods are considered as professional practice.
• Visual artists who have followed a master in visual arts programme without a bachelor in visual arts beforehand can apply up to 2 years after leaving the master’s programme. The date of the degree or diploma will be taken into consideration.

• The applicant must then have a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 4 years of professional practice as a visual artist. The moment when the artist first presents their work within the professional visual arts circuit is considered the start of the professional practice. A recent (less than 3 months old) registration extract from the Kamer van Koophandel (KvK, Chamber of Commerce) or comparable foreign organization must be included to confirm that you are registered as a visual artist.

• Only one Artist Start grant is awarded to any artists.
• An artist who has previously been rejected on the grounds of artistic performance may not apply for an Artist Start grant within 12 months after the first application date.
• An Artist Start grant may not be applied for during the term of any other financial support from the Mondriaan Fund if the board believes that the contribution could cover the same costs.

• The taxable income of an Artist Start applicant must not exceed € 55,000 in the period for which the grant would apply.
• The level of the combined income is checked beforehand on the basis of the income tax return for the preceding calendar year. For applications submitted between 1 January and 1 October, the aggregate income from the year before that can be substituted. If the applicant did not file an income tax return in either of the years mentioned, we will ask for a statement of your income, a statement of the reason why you did not file a tax return and/or proof from the tax authorities that you did not have to file a tax return.

• Your visual documentation material.
• Your explanation of your work and professional practice.
• Your curriculum vitae.
• Your working plan.

• The quality and development of your work to date*

  • Do you have a distinctive artistic vision and is this convincingly conveyed in previous work, or does the committee recognise sufficient initiative in this regard?
  • What is the quality of your work to date? Consider e.g. the significance of the work, the inherent imaginative strength, the command of the selected mediums and/or techniques and the work’s power of expression.
  • Does your work to date show visible development?

• The quality of your cultural entrepreneurship*

  • Are you actively focused on developing your practice, entering into collaborations, entering into the public eye and finding an audience for your work?

*The background and context of the professional practice will be taken into consideration during the assessment, e.g. schooling, cultural context, the duration of the professional practice and the type of work produced.

In the case that the advisory committee views the above criteria favourably, the committee will also assess:

• The quality of the plan and your approach to finding an audience for your work

  • Is the work plan for the year ahead in line with your previous work?
  • Does your plan make it sufficiently apparent that the work and/or work process is being presented to relevant people and/or a relevant audience? E.g. curators, gallery owners, visitors to an exhibition, open studio or workshop, or visitors to a website or blog.

Diploma, degree, school deregistration or Kamer van Koophandel (KvK, Chamber of Commerce) registration

Artist Start grants are awarded to artists who have been working as professional artists for at least 1 and no more than 4 years. To determine if this is the case, we need a copy of your diploma with a visual arts curriculum, or a statement from the art academy you attended if your study was terminated prematurely. If you do not have an art education, you can enclose a recent extract (less than 3 months old) from the Dutch Kamer van Koophandel or foreign Chamber of Commerce as an indication that you are registered as a visual artist.

Explanation of your work (max. 3 pages)

Describe the artistic vision/guiding principles of your work, how you express them in your work, and the selected mediums and/or techniques. How has your work developed, and what have you done to achieve this development? Also state what you do to further your entrepreneurship, such as entering into collaborations, entering into the public eye and finding an audience for your work. In the case of collaborations, please outline your role.

Curriculum Vitae (max. 3 pages)

Upload the most important data about your professional practice, focusing on the past 1 to 4 years, depending on when you began. Think of exhibitions (indicate solo or group), events, commissions, prizes or awards, publications, possible sales, mentioning the year in which they occurred. Also mention any associated activities, such as lectureships, advisory and supervisory positions.

Plan (max. 3 pages)

What are your plans for the coming year? Which direction do you want to go with your work? Will you be working in collaboration with others, and if so, what is your part in that? Describe how you want to present your work and/or your working process. Think, for example, of one or more exhibitions, a website, blog, open studio or workshop. Also describe the audience you have in mind and why that is a suitable audience for your work.

Copy of income tax return or provisional assessment

This confirms that your taxable income is not too high to receive a Mondriaan Fund grant.

Please note: copies of your inkomensafhankelijke bijdrage Zorgverzekeringswet ((income-related health care insurance contribution) or your aangifte Omzetbelasting (sales or value added tax return) are not sufficient here because they do not indicate your aggregate income.

• Include a copy of your income tax return, or a tax assessment for the previous year’s national insurance contributions.
  Or
• If you submit your application before 1 October and do not yet have a declaration or assessment from the previous year, send your declaration or assessment from 2 years ago.
  Or
• If you have not filed an income tax return in the previous 2 years, we will need proof of your income, a statement with the reason why you did not file a tax return and/or proof from the tax authorities that you did not have to file a tax return.

(Visual) documentation

Create a PDF document with up to 20 images of your most important works from the past 1 to 4 years. Begin with the most recent work. It can also help to include some images of the work in the context of presentations, such as an exhibition. You can also upload sound or video/film fragments of up to 15 minutes. This is possible, for example, if you make films, performances or installations. If a publication is the carrier of the work (the publication is the medium used by the artist to show the work) you can upload a pdf of the publication or a short video in which the publication can be viewed. Publications sent to us by post will not be included in the assessment. The total size and duration of the presentation (images and separate video or audio fragments) should not secede 300 MB and 15 minutes duration. Click here for the technical specifications for your uploaded documentation.

Please note: The (visual) documentation material is a mandatory part of your application. If you don’t upload any documentation material, your application cannot be processed.

Documentation list (max. 2 pages)

Include a numbered documentation list (in pdf) that corresponds with your visual documentation material, with descriptions or captions for the relevant image, sound or video/film clip. (For example: 01, Title, 2020, loop 2 min.)

Please note: do not use hyperlinks in the PDF with (visual) documentation material and in the documentation list. We cannot accept hyperlinks (to web pages for example)because the supplied image material may not be adjusted during the processing of the application.

If applicable:

Personal Records Database (BRP) extract (where applicable):

If you do not have Dutch nationality, include a recent extract (no more than one year old) from the Basisregistratie Personen (BRP) population register where you live, confirming your residency in the Netherlands.

Bank details

We need your bank account number to transfer funds if your application is granted. If you have not previously submitted an application to the Mondriaan Fund or if the account number has changed since the previous application, please upload a recent bank statement clearly stating the name of the account holder and IBAN/bank account number of the applicant. Applicants established in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom can provide a bank statement or other document from the bank stating the name of the account holder and bank account number.

If you have a business bank account for your one-person business, include a recent (less than 3 months old) copy of your registration with the Kamer van Koophandel (KvK, Chamber of Commerce), showing that you are the sole proprietor of the account.

Within 24 months of being awarded an Artist Start grant, you can sign up for the Mentoring programme. In this trajectory you will be guided for a year by an experienced artist or curator/observer. Click here to read about the Mentoring programme.

If you have been awarded a grant from the Mondriaan Fund in the past twelve months, you may also qualify for a pre-approved, interest-free loan from Fonds Kwadraat (Dutch only). This could, for example, cover the purchase of equipment.

The Mondriaan Fund organizes the annual Prospects exhibition during the international art fair Art Rotterdam in the Van Nellefabriek. All artists who received an Artist Start 2 years before the exhibition will be invited to join (subject to change).