Following its annual applications round, the Mondriaan Fund is this year allocating almost 7 million euros to the programmes of 38 different art platforms, ranging from small artist initiatives to organizations with extensive activity programmes. The contributions are to support series of activities focused on presentation, experimentation, opinion and debate. These art venues, from Willemstad on Curaçao to Groningen, receive this support for inspiring programmes lasting from one to a maximum of four years. Mondriaan Fund contributions vary from 25,000 to 275,000 euros on an annual basis.
Art Platform Programming Grants are divided into four categories – Start, Basic, Pro and Broad. They offer the receiving institutions the opportunity for growth and development. Each category has its own specific criteria, with increasing budgets, time periods and requirements.
Below, for each separate category, are the art platforms that have been awarded Mondriaan Fund support:
Art Platform Start – for small art initiatives and collectives with programmes of experimental presentations and activities.
Grant: 25,000 euros for one calendar year
In view of the limited budget, the committee had to prioritize 27 positively assessed applications on the basis of the established criteria. The following 20 initiatives have been awarded Mondriaan Fund support:
Atelier WG (Amsterdam), Bureau Postjesweg (Amsterdam), Destination Unknown (Weert), distant.gallery (Amsterdam), Grafisch Atelier Den Bosch, Greylight Projects (Heerlen), Het Resort (Groningen), Ja Nee (Amsterdam), Make Eindhoven, Marwan (Amsterdam), Modca Beirut (Zutphen), Omstand (Arnhem), Radical Reversibility (Amsterdam), San Serriffe (Amsterdam), Shimmer (Rotterdam), Stichting Bartalk (The Hague), Stichting Sarmad (Rotterdam), Tankstation (Enschede), Video Power (Maastricht) and We Sell Reality (Rotterdam).
Art Platform Basic – for small professional organizations that have had at least two years of an annual programme of presentations and activities for contemporary visual arts.
Grant: 110,000 euros per year, for two calendar years
Twenty applications received a positive evaluation. After prioritization, the following twelve organizations have been awarded Mondriaan Fund support:
A Tale of a Tub (Rotterdam), Ateliers ’89 (Aruba), Fotodok (Utrecht), Hotel Maria Kapel (Hoorn), Kunstenlab (Deventer), Kunstvereniging Diepenheim, Lustwarande (Tilburg), Melkweg Expo (Amsterdam), Page Not Found (The Hague), Sign (Groningen), VHDG (Leeuwarden) and W139 (Amsterdam).
Art Platform Pro – for professional organizations at the local, national and/or international level.
Grant: 175,000 euros per year, for three calendar years
The following five organizations are being awarded Mondriaan Fund support:
The Oude Kerk (Amsterdam), Instituto Buena Bista (Willemstad), M.A.M.A. (Rotterdam), Stichting Sonsbeek (Arnhem) and West (The Hague).
Art Platform Broad – for fully-fledged professional organizations from the local to the international level.
Grant: 275,000 euros per year, for four calendar years
The following organization is being awarded Mondriaan Fund support:
De Appel (Amsterdam)
Indispensable for a healthy eco-system in the arts
This year, 110 art platforms applied for a total of 17,900,000 million euros. Because the available funds are limited, the advisory committee had to make a strict selection. It was only possible to award support to programmes that give form and content to relevant developments in the field of contemporary visual art in the most appealing way. The Mondriaan Fund supports a diverse array of art venues across the country, each with programmes that are uniquely distinguished from one another.
The Mondriaan Fund supports the programmes of art platforms because they are vital for development and visibility in the visual arts. Although sometimes limited in size, these are the locations where new trends emerge and are given space; where broadening and innovation develop. They are therefore at the very foundation of the visual arts and are indispensable for a healthy eco-system in the arts. Museums, artists and the public all reap the benefits.
One condition for cultural subsidies by the Dutch government is that recipients subscribe to the Fair Practice Code, as well as the Governance Code Cultuur and the Code Diversiteit & Inclusie. This applies to allocations for 2021 and beyond. This condition also applies to Art Platform Programming support.
The Mondriaan Fund has been supporting art platform programmes since 1994. As of this year, the former Werkbijdrage Kunstinitiatieven and the Meerjarenprogramma’s Presentatie-instellingen have been merged into the Art Platform Programming Grants. This new arrangement offers specific adaptation to all types of art venues.
In 2021, a number of multi-year grants for presentation institutions awarded in 2018 and 2019 will still be in effect. These continuing grants apply to: Casco Art Institute (Utrecht), Club Solo (Breda), Extrapool (Nijmegen), If I Can’t Dance, I Don’t Want To Be Part Of Your Revolution (Amsterdam and various national and international locations), Kunstfort (Vijfhuizen), Nest (The Hague), Noorderlicht (Groningen), Project Space 1646 (The Hague), P////AKT (Amsterdam), PrintRoom (Rotterdam) and Rib (Rotterdam). For the sake of completeness, there are also six visual arts institutions included as national basic infrastructure and are consequently directly financed by the Dutch national government.
