FAQ Art Platform Programmes 2025-2028

By art platforms, the fund means (small) professional contemporary art organisations aimed at the public presentation of innovative contemporary visual art, without primarily having a profit motive or a sales goal. The main purpose of these art platforms with legal status is the presentation of contemporary visual art in a physical space.

Within this grant, institutions that are predominantly focused on the management of a collection, such as museums and archives with a presentation function, cannot apply. Organisations such as workshops, art fairs, galleries, events, biennials/triennials, online platforms and festivals also cannot apply.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the National Cultural Funds and the largest municipalities have jointly decided to run the procedures for the multi-year grants parallel to each other, including the Art Platform Programmes grants, in order to make the process clearer for the applicant. By using longer subsidy periods and higher contributions, we offer awarded institutions more peace, continuity and space to meet the requirements in the areas of fair practice, diversity and inclusion and cultural governance.

No, if you are an art platform that is part of the Basic Infrastructure (BIS), you cannot receive a contribution to Art Platform Programmes from the Mondriaan Fund. The applicant can choose to submit an application for both the BIS and the Mondriaan Fund. In the event of a possible award for the BIS, the award from the Mondriaan Fund will lapse.

No, an art platform that receives a multi-year contribution through other National Cultural Funds cannot receive a contribution to Art Platform Programmes.

In the Art Platform Programmes grant, the Mondriaan Fund excludes an institution from receiving multi-year support for the same core activities from both the Mondriaan Fund and another national cultural fund for the period 2025-2028.

1. The grant is provided by the fund to which the highest amount has been awarded. The subsidy from the other fund is refused.
2. If the amount awarded is the same (which is quite likely), it is determined on the basis of the application history which fund provides the grant and which fund refuses the grant. It is determined which fund has provided the institution with the most support in the period 2021 to 2023. The total value of the grants given is taken into account. The subsidy is provided by the fund where the most grant was provided to this institution in the period 2017-2020 and 2021-2024.

The framework of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science serves as a starting point for setting up the new Art Platform Programme 2025-2028. In addition, discussions with De Zaak Nu, among others, provide input for the new grant so that it meets the needs in the field.

The deadline for submitting the application in 2024 is on Thursday, February 1, before 16:00 PM (CET) / 11:00 AM (AST).

There is a strict deadline because we work with a subsidy ceiling procedure (a procedure with fixed contributions). Additional requirements are imposed on this procedure to guarantee equal treatment of applicants, which includes a strict deadline.

An application can be submitted for the Start category in 2024 and 2026. Applications for the Basic and Broad categories are only possible in 2024. You can therefore no longer apply annually during this period.

Maximum number of awards per category:
Art Platform Start: 10 (for 2025 and 2026)
Art Platform Basis: 23 (for 2025-2028)
Art Platform Broad: 6 (for 2025-2028)
(provided that the budget legislator makes sufficient resources available)

There are 3 categories within this grant – Start (2 years), Basic (4 years) and Broad (4 years) – which, in combination, must ensure a representative and versatile range of contemporary visual art in the Netherlands. The grant offers tailor-made solutions for all types of art platforms, ranging from small start-up organisations to professional contemporary visual arts organisations with an extensive activity programme. Each category has its own criteria, with increasing budget, period and requirements:

Start – for start-up organisations (with legal status) that have had a frequent or infrequent programme of presentations and activities for no longer than 5 years.

• This concerns a grant of €50,000 per year, for 2 calendar years.
• At least 10% of the budget must be covered by financial contributions from third parties and/or own income for the organization’s structural costs.
• Applications for the Start category can be submitted in 2024 and 2026.
• A grant in the Start category can be awarded a maximum of 3 times (contributions from the previous Art Platform Programmes grant (2021-2024) are not included). Applications can then be submitted in the Basic and Broad categories.

Basic – for professional contemporary visual arts organisations that have conducted an annual programme of presentations and activities for at least 2 years.

• This concerns a grant of € 225,000 per year, for 4 calendar years.
• At least 20% of the budget must be covered by financial contributions from third parties and/or own income for the organisation’s structural costs.
• Applications for the Basic category are only possible in 2024.

Broad –for professional contemporary art organisations from local to (inter)national level that have carried out a regular annual programme of presentations for at least 2 years, supplemented with an extensive programme of activities for a diverse audience of professionals and interested parties.

• This concerns a grant of €450,000 per year, for 4 calendar years.
• At least 30% of the budget must be covered by financial contributions from third parties and/or own income for the organisation’s structural costs.
• Applications for the Broad category are only possible in 2024.

The 3 categories have their own criteria, with budgets and requirements differing per category. Before you apply, carefully consider which category is most applicable to your art platform and plans. It is important that you clearly explain the position of your organisation. Know what you do, why you do it and who you do it for.

We do not recommend that. If you decide to change categories, you must start a new application and submit the information once again. We have put together a checklist to see what requirements a category has. This is an overview of all information and documents on which an application is assessed.

No, this is not possible.

Yes, that’s possible. The committee can take into account in its assessment whether the applicant considers itself to be in the correct category. Depending on that assessment, an application can be rejected or granted within a different category.

You keep the allocated resources and you do not submit a new application for the period 2025-2028. Please note, you can no longer apply annually. You may therefore have to bridge a period without a multi-year subsidy.

You must submit a new application for the period 2025-2028. If this is granted, you will switch to the new grant and any remaining funds from the current grant will expire. If this new application is rejected, you will retain the funds allocated under the current grant.

No, there is one committee for the grant for Art Platform Programmes. You can find the members on the Mondriaan Fund website.

We expect applicants to reflect on the Fair Practice Code, the Culture Governance Code and the Diversity & Inclusion Code for their organisation. Each category has its own requirements. At Start, applicants must provide an explanation of how the codes have played a role in the policy so far and what steps the organisation wants to take in this area over the next 2 years. At Basic and Broad you have an active and implemented policy on the codes. Applicants must reflect on the position of the organisation in relation to the codes, identify areas for improvement and formulate a step-by-step plan towards improvement.

The Artist’s Fee Directive was reassessed in 2023 and can be consulted at www.kunstenaarshonorarium.bknl.nl. The revised guideline will be applied from January 1, 2025. So use this new guideline when preparing budgets.

A programme plan must be realistic and convince the committee. Not all names of artists and curators need to be mentioned. Being clear is important; if artists have not confirmed this must be clear from the application. If artists have expressed their intention, this can also be indicated. With a multi-year programme, it is logical that the further into the future, the less detailed the programme will be. There may be room within the programme to respond to current events. But here too, a programme plan must provide a good picture of the activities, their content and their quality. To avoid any possible appearance of a conflict of interest, members of the advisory committee may not be included in the application. When making the request, please ensure that the maximum number of pages is not exceeded. The excess of pages will not be included in the assessment.

No, additional requirements are imposed on a subsidy ceiling procedure to guarantee equal treatment of applicants. The subsidy provider is therefore not allowed to communicate substantively with the applicant about the application. That could disadvantage another applicant.

No, there can only be one applicant, however you can merge into one organisation, and you can then request this. Within your plan you can include collaborations with other institutions.

Additional information can be provided up until the deadline. After the deadline has passed, this is no longer possible. In a subsidy ceiling procedure, substantive information provided after the submission date cannot be taken into account. Do not exceed the maximum number of pages.

After submitting the application, employees of the fund will check whether the application that has been submitted is complete. This is a formal check. We check whether any pieces are missing, have been uploaded incorrectly or have been uploaded twice. If this is the case, you will be given the opportunity to still submit these documents within a set time limit. Applications that have been submitted in full will be submitted to the advisory committee.

The sector has asked for this. As a fund, we want to be transparent and offer applicants the opportunity to learn from each other.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the national culture funds have decided to more closely coordinate the application procedures for the national multi-year grant. This also applies to the application forms.

A subsidiary is a company that is (partly) owned by a parent company, also called a company.
Other legal entities over which the institution may exercise dominant control or over which it has central management include:

• when a foundation owns all shares of a private limited company;
• or when, for example, foundation A establishes foundation B and stipulates in the articles of association that foundation B must submit all decisions to foundation A for approval. This means that foundation A has dominant control over foundation B.

In order to submit the application, you must indicate in the application form that you have completed the sustainability survey of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. This is not part of the assessment of the application.
NB The sustainability survey is available as of December 1 through the application form. Please wait until the sustainability survey has been completed before submitting your application.

• You can fill in the budget and coverage plan for each cost item in the application form. This part of the application form consists of one column, in which you enter an average of the income and expenditure over the years 2025-2026 for the Start category and 2025-2028 for the Basic and Broad categories.
• In the explanation of the budget, you indicate which part of the budget and which specific item the explanation relates to. In addition, we ask you to specify the year or years. The checklist for the relevant category describes exactly what you must supply. If you wish, you can submit your own itemised (annual) budgets in the annex ‘Explanation of the budget and quantitative activity overview’, not exceeding the maximum of 5 pages. The inclusion of own itemised budgets is not mandatory.
• IIn the quantitative activity overview, we ask you to explain the number of activities and the audience reach. Also indicate how (the intended) audience numbers are measured and determined.