Tibisay Sankatsing Nava: Not everybody is aware that the Mondriaan Fonds’ calls are available for applicants from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, and we find it very important to emphasize this.
Marc Nijhuis: In this episode of the Mondriaan Fund podcast, we take a closer look at what it means to apply in the Caribbean. From artist Velvet Zoé Ramos, we learn more about the grant that makes it possible to present your work abroad.
Velvet Zoé Ramos: There are so many possibilities. So don’t be afraid to be creative.
Marc: And the Curaçaosch Museum shared their experience on applying for a grant.
Judaline Cyntje: They give you the feeling that they want you to succeed.
Marc: But first, who exactly are the Mondriaan fund calls open to?
Tibisay: The calls at the Mondriaan Fund are open for both artists and organizations based in the Caribbean.
Marc: Oh, and this is Tibisay, team leader Heritage at the Mondriaan Fund. So, let’s head to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, not by plane, but by phone. We’re calling Gyonne Zafira. As a consultant working in policy, culture, and funding, Gyonne has been involved in projects both in the Netherlands and across the Caribbean in recent years, and she knows exactly where to start.
Gyonne Zafira: Hi Marc. How are you today?
Marc: Hey Gyonne. I’m good. Thank you. How are you?
Gyonne: I’m doing good. Here in the sun, in the heat.
Marc: Yeah, you’re on Bonaire?
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: Lovely. Um, you’ve been on a couple of different field trips recently, one to an organization that actually received a grant from the Mondriaan Fund.
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: And another to speak with an artist who received a different kind of support.
Gyonne: Yes. So I went to the Curaçaosch Museum on Curaçao as the name, uh, already tells you. And on Aruba I spoke to, uh, Velvet Zoé Ramos who is an individual maker/ artist, who also, uh, got funded by Mondriaan Fonds.
Marc: Later in this episode, we’ll hear from artist Velvet Zoé Ramos.
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: But first: you went to the Curaçaosch Museum, right?
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: Can you tell me something about the museum, or who did you speak to?
Gyonne: Yes, so I went to the Curaçaosch Museum and spoke to Judaline Cyntje, who is the manager of the museum. She told me about the different works they have and the place, and she told me the following things.
Judaline: We are situated at the building in front of us, in a former military hospital built in 1853 by Dutch militaries who were here on the island to, let’s say, keep the peace.
Fast forward to 1948, that’s when the museum was founded with the intention of preserving our cultural heritage here on the island.
Gyonne: But what do we need to think about? What type of artists from Curaçao, for example, the Caribbean, Europe? Can you tell us a bit more?
Judaline: We have a very broad and eclectic collection with the focus on art in all its forms. We have, and still organize, a lot of exhibitions. With both established artists, we have what we call our top collection, Dutch Masters: Carel Willink, Jan Sluijters, for example, and also emerging artists, international artists, Caribbean artists. And local artists, because that’s one of our priorities, and also a responsibility. We are the preservers of our cultural heritage, and for the people of Curaçao, it’s their identity. The collection, it’s very vast and eclectic, but it does tell a story.
Marc: Oh, and Tibisay, if I’m a cultural organization based in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, like the Curaçao Museum, what kind of grants can I actually apply for at the Mondriaan Fund?
Tibisay: The Mondriaan Fund has, uh, different grant opportunities for both artists and organizations based in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. For institutions such as museums or archives, there are different, uh, subsidy opportunities. I think there are too many to name. There are different ways in which you can find this. So, we have application fund guide, that you can click through and we always recommend you get in touch with me or one of my colleagues, and we will help you navigate through the many different possibilities. For example, the Curaçaosch Museum received a subsidy for an exhibition that they had a couple of years ago.
Marc: So Gyonne, they received the Art Heritage Presentation Grant for their 75th anniversary, right?
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: But what exactly did they do with it? What kind of project did they receive the grant for?
Gyonne: They indeed applied for the subsidy scheme. They got it and they had their 75th anniversary to celebrate the works that they had in the museum to see how they could connect more with their younger target group and to make the older paintings more relevant to specifically also the youth on Curaçao, especially works that are considered as what they would call it, the Dutch Masters that they have in their depot.
Marc: Okay. And how did they make these old paintings more relevant for the youth? How exactly do you make that connection between say, an old Dutch portrait and the experience of a young person growing up on Curaçao?
Gyonne: Judaline was talking about the following things.
Judaline: The assignments we gave the curator, were how do we reach the younger generation and how do we reintroduce these works of arts from Dutch Masters, if you will. How do we make it more appealing? And how do we communicate with them in a way that they would understand? And she came up with this wonderful idea to have local rappers choose out an artwork and have them interpret the artwork in a rap or a poem. Without having any background information on the artist or the story or an explanation. So, they were Tabula rasa.
[rap music starts playing in the background]
Judaline: And we had renowned local rappers who had a very big young following. And on the day of the opening, we had the rappers perform in front of the work of art. It was filmed and that film we played on a loop. In the exhibition as well. Thats how we reached the local community who did have a bond with these rappers, uh, but not with the works of art. But they were confronted with the works of art, and they were not forced, but because of their idol, they looked at the artwork as well and they got to know it.
[rap music stops]
Marc: It sounds like a very powerful idea, using performance to bring the past into dialogue with the present.
Gyonne: I think it’s a very refreshing method.
Marc: Mm-hmm.
Gyonne: My own opinion, but also what I was hearing from her story, is that oftentimes different artists here on the A-B-C-S-S-S islands don’t, per se, always connect with the artworks from the European Netherlands, especially not from back then, so even from 50 or 60 years ago. But in some details, maybe they do see connections with the more local contexts, uh, be it in the type of people, uh, the diversity of people that are, uh, put on a painting or the theme of a painting, et cetera, et cetera. So that’s kind of where these different hooks were trying to be found to connect it to more of the contemporary times. And I think that definitely these different artists found it interesting, at least, to try to make that bridge because I think that is in the end what you need to try to do as an artist. If it’s not your own context, how can you make it your own context?
Marc: And if we’re talking about the application process…
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: Did she have any tips or tricks for us or maybe something she found particularly easy? Or actually quite challenging about the application process?
Gyonne: Yes. So these were the questions that I asked Judaline.
Judaline: What was easy about it, is the help you get from the consultants of Mondriaan Fonds. They were very helpful, and when they had a remark on the project plan, it would always end with, uh, you can call us, please send us an email. I have always experienced my contact with them as very helpful. They give you the feeling that they want you to succeed, you know, of course not without being critical.
Marc: Uh, Tibisay, is there any difference in the application process for artists or organizations from the Caribbean part of the Kingdom?
Tibisay: Applicants from the Caribbean, be it individuals or organizations don’t necessarily need anything different than, um, applicants from the European part of the Kingdom.
Marc: Mm-hmm.
Tibisay: What you need depends on the call that you want to apply for. Each call has its specific requirements, specific documents that you should upload, so I always recommend interested parties to check the information on the specific call.
Marc: And where can I find this information?
Tibisay: The information for all our grant opportunities is available on our website, Mondriaanfonds.nl.
Marc: And Gyonne, you can apply as an organization, but also as an individual artist.
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: Speaking of that, if we look at individual artists from the Caribbean who have received a grant from the Mondriaan Fonds, you actually traveled to Aruba to meet one of them? Uh, visual artist Velvet Zoé Ramos?
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: Where did you meet her?
Gyonne: We met at a marina in Aruba. Where I thought it was going to be not noisy, but that was the contrary.
Marc: Because of the carnival on Aruba?
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: So how would you describe her work?
Gyonne: Very intimate, uh, confronting. So, this is what Velvet had to say about it.
Velvet Zoé: My work spans from printmaking, drawing, performance, video works, and it’s very adaptable to site specific, uh, projects, um, community projects, and also open to any themes of research. For example, one of the works that have been spanning since I graduated is called the Feast, and that is a food-based, uh, performance-based artwork project that has many themes. For example, the commemoration of slavery here in Aruba, so research on our foods that came from the Middle Passage, research in the most poetic sense. What is food from origin? Foods from survival, foods that came from the Middle Passage, but using that as a tool for communication rather than a culinary practice. Although cooking is also part of, like, the artist as a host, the artist as um, a person that experiments and engages. Food is also poetry, and food is also a means for communicating and connecting to create a powerful way of empathy. A wonderful tool in order to share in cultural practices. Not to say that anyone has one identity, it’s more about disentanglement. So, food is a wonderful way of using that.
Marc: And Tibisay, also, for individual artists and the kind of grants that they can apply for. I can imagine there are just too many possibilities to mention here in this podcast.
Tibisay: For artists who are based in the Caribbean, there are several different grant opportunities. If you have questions or you’re not sure for which grant you would like to apply, it’s important to know that at the bottom of our website you will find contact details of employees, my colleagues. You can always call or email if you want advice about which scheme suits you best, but also if you want, uh, more information about the call that you want to apply for. For example, Velvet Zoé Ramos received a subsidy for the international art presentation. Um, this grant is meant for artists who present their work abroad, and I believe Zoé went to Bangladesh.
Marc: Gyonne, so, Zoé went to Bangladesh.
Gyonne: Yes.
Marc: But what did she do over there? She, she made an installation?
Gyonne: The installation she made was about bread. There was a boat of bread.
Marc: So, Velvet Zoé Ramos created a boat, made entirely of bread. And it might sound poetic, and it is, but if you want to actually see it, uh, there’s a picture of the work on our website. But why did she make this boat? What does it mean?
Gyonne: And that’s an interesting question. This is what Velvet had to say about it.
Velvet Zoé: On the same boat is a project, site specific, whereby, to say it in the gist, it is a bread boat. I made an installation of bread in the shape of a personal boat, bread being a common denominator in many cultures. And in Bangladesh it is non puri, the bread of every day. The idea was to explain, uh, the globalized complexities and interconnectedness with our realities from different cultures. So, from the Caribbean to an Asian public to an international public, globalized, but also the projected poetic realities, uh, we live in.
So, what does it mean for an artist to react when home for many becomes a distant memory? Or a constant reminder of trauma to be lived over and over again, was one of those questions that I reacted to in this proposal or invitation. Um, so On the Same Boat was very adequate for this project. Bread being a common denominator in many cultures, and talking about trying to find, not similarities, but trying to find a place of empathy and a place of understanding. And using site specific installations as just a part of gathering people to not only observe, but to engage.
Marc: So, Velvet received support through the Mondriaan fund. Did she have any advice for artists, uh, in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom who are thinking of applying to any scheme?
Gyonne: It was, in what I understood from her, a very interesting experience.
Velvet Zoé: Yes, it’s, it is a difficult thing, um, trying to figure out exactly what’s going to happen, specifically when you’re going abroad. So, in the application, I had a hard time budgeting and seeing, okay, so how much would this cost over there? I don’t live there. I don’t know anyone there. So, it would be good to be better informed about, you know, the politics, the culture, the customs, but not let it limit you either. It’s just being informed so you can feel safe, and you can find your way. But I’ve had very good help. So, when you don’t find something, for example, to make your artwork, look around, ask for markets, you know, ask the people around you. I mean, it doesn’t hurt to ask. There are so many possibilities within the funding that you can, you can always find your way to be creative. Uh, so don’t be afraid, um, to be creative.
Marc: Tibisay, loads of possibilities. But what if I’m listening now and I want to apply either as an artist or an organization, uh, where to start?
Tibisay: If you want to start an application at the Mondriaan Fund, independent of for what call you want to apply, the first thing you need is an account and you can apply for an account on our website.
Marc: And what was the website again?
Tibisay: Mondriaanfonds.nl, and next to the Mondriaan Fonds website, uh, we also have a platform together with all the Rijkscultuurfondsen, the national cultural funds, and that website is Rijkscultuurfondsen.org. And this website is meant for cultural professionals on the A-B-C-S-S-S islands to be able to navigate the different grant schemes of all the cultural funds. So, it’s not just for the Mondriaan Fonds, it’s for the six cultural funds of the kingdom. And there you can also find opportunities if you are a theater maker, if you’re a writer or if you’re a designer, it brings it all together in one place. And Rijkscultuurfondsen.org is not only available in Dutch and English, but also in Papiamento and Papiamentu. Check our website, and call us, email us if you have any questions.
Marc: That was it for this episode of The Mondriaan Fund Podcast, a journey through bread, painting, poetry, all across the ocean. Many thanks to you, Gyonne, for sharing your stories and insights in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom.
Gyonne: Yes. Thank you to everyone who helped out and thank you to everyone who’s listening.
Marc: And to our listeners, don’t forget to follow us on the different social platforms for updates, stories, and of course future episodes. Until next time!