Below you can read the transcript of the ‘Artist Start’ episode of the Mondriaan Fund podcast.
Marc Nijhuis: We’re at Rotterdam Ahoy – and can already feel the buzz of anticipation. We’re at Prospects 2025; Mondriaan Fund’s annual exhibition at Art Rotterdam. Here, a new generation of artists supported by the fund shows their work to the public. In this episode of the Mondriaan Fund Podcast, we dive into the Artist Start grant, designed by the fund to help early career artists plant the hopeful first seeds for a flourishing future.
Lou-Lou van Staaveren: So I’m kind of attempting to create my ideal garden in photographs.
Marc: Seeds that sometimes even grow into work on the other side of the world.
Sam Salehi Samiee: On many practical levels it’s quite similar to being an artist anywhere else.
Marc: We explore how you as an artist can catch the eye of a curator.
Johan Gustavsson: That’s a difficult question.
Marc: And how to find a gallery that truly fits you.
Wouter van Herwaarden: It doesn’t make a lot of sense to approach the gallerist at an art fair or to send them an email with your portfolio.
Marc: But what exactly is the Artist Start grant?
Joyce: The Artist Start scheme is a grant scheme intended for starting artists.
Marc: Oh, and this is Joyce, one of the subsidy employees of the Mondriaan Fund. She knows everything there is to know about the grant.
Joyce: The grant scheme is intended to support their work and help them develop new work or allow them to take a new step within their practice that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to do.
Marc: Joyce, who is the grant actually intended for?
Joyce: Starting visual artists with a practice of one year up to four years. So that means that you either have graduated 12 months before from an art academy, or when you haven’t obtained a diploma from an art academy, your first professional presentation was 12 months ago. Also, your professional practice cannot be longer than four years.
Marc: And for a promising artist with plenty of room to grow, we head back to Rotterdam. I am standing right in the middle of Prospects 2025 surrounded by work of early career artists who received the Mondriaan Fund grant in 2023. And one of them is Lou-Lou van Staaveren, whose work is just a few steps from where I’m standing and I think I actually see her. Hello, Lou-Lou? Hello, I’m Marc.
Lou-Lou: Hi Marc. Nice to meet you.
Marc: Nice to meet you. Were you talking to a potential client selling your work?
Lou-Lou: No, no. I was chatting to a friend.
Marc: We’re looking at your work. I see very colorful photographs of flowers, of gardens and cards and frames. That look rather traditional, could you describe it a little bit?
Lou-Lou: We’re looking at four works. In a series that I call garden frames, they’re framed photographs and the shapes of the frames are inspired by the designs of formal gardens. One of the frames has the shape of the vegetable garden in Buitenplaats Kasteel Wijlre. The other one is a Rododendron out front of a French chateau in the Loire, Château de Chenonceau, and then there’s two ponds from German Palace Gardens.
Marc: And your work in a broader perspective. It’s been inspired by nature. Something I could state?
Lou-Lou: Gardening, I think, specifically. I graduated in 2021 at the KABK, with photography with a project that was a photographic portrait of a fictional garden. So I took pictures in many different gardens in many different places. And I presented them in a publication or in the presentation as if they were one place. So I’m kind of attempting to create my ideal garden in photographs. And this series is also part of that ongoing project.
Marc: Joyce, what is the purpose of this grant and as an artist, what exactly can you do with the money? What are you allowed to spend it on?
Joyce: You can use the Artist Start for basically anything as long as it supports your practice. So if you want to buy a kiln to support your ceramics practice, that’s possible. If you want to travel to support your research, that’s also fine. Name it. As long as it fits within the context of your artistic practice, then it’s fine.
Marc: And also not unimportant, what kind of amount are we actually talking about?
Joyce: If you get the Artist Start, the amount you receive is 22,000 euros for 12 months.
Marc: Lou-Lou, you applied for the Artist Start.
Lou-Lou: Yeah, it’s so nice. It’s really lovely. It really buys you time. Time to not have to worry about rent or other expenses and to spend more time on your practice. It’s really, really helpful. I was so happy to receive it.
Marc: For people who may think, well, should I apply for Artist Start? What would be your advice?
Lou-Lou: Get writing as soon as you can. As soon as it’s been a year since graduation, go and apply.
Marc: And Joyce, what does your application need to include? Do you already need to have a detailed plan of what you’re going to do with the funding?
Joyce: It’s an outline. It’s a sketch of what you want to do when you receive the grant. So if you want to travel, if you want to buy equipment, write that all down in your plan. It doesn’t have to be a to-do list. It doesn’t have to be a Q1 up to Q4 with like bullet points on what you want to do. It gives you the possibilities to do what you always wanted to do. So dream a little in the plan.
Marc: And how do you now feel being at Prospects?
Lou-Lou: It’s really nice. I’ve always wanted to be here. It’s very exciting to be here.
Marc: A dream come true.
Lou-Lou: I guess to some extent, yes.
Marc: And now the public gets to see you work. How is the interaction?
Lou-Lou: Very nice. People don’t come up to you to tell you they think it’s shit.
Marc: So you talk to a lot of people?
Lou-Lou: Yeah. So Thursday we had professional people coming by. A special day in that sense. A bit nervous maybe also, and it’s quite mysterious, because sometimes you don’t really know who’s in front of you.
Marc: Have you already found a gallery?
Lou-Lou: No, not yet. I’ve talked to a few. I’m not sure if they’re interested. But I’m curious to see what comes out of it. I’m very open to it.
Marc: As an early career artist, you’re not just making work. You’re also slowly stepping into the professional art world, and that rises questions. How do you get your work seen? And how do you find the right people to work with?
Wouter: I think a gallery in general is very important for starting artists.
Marc: To find out more, we speak with the gallery owner, Wouter van Herwaarden from Gallery Fleur en Wouter, also present here at Art Rotterdam.
Wouter: It’s helps them to make a name in the scene and to get a big audience, for example, by being shown at a fair like Art Rotterdam.
Marc: Wouter, how would you describe your gallery? Could you explain a little bit what we see in this booth?
Wouter: You actually, you’re sitting in the living room of artist Tom Volkaert. He’s a Belgian artist from Antwerp and a certain cult figure in the scene there. He makes artworks that remind you a bit of the aesthetics of B movies or sci-fi movies. Think of the special effects, the very dirty tentacle, slimy, special effects. So that’s the idea, sort of aesthetic that inspires him. And for this presentation at Art Rotterdam, he wanted to make a living room that feels as if you’re stepping into a movie scene. So they are artworks as well as functional objects. So, a table, I’m sitting in a very comfortable chair, a lamp, a medicine cabinet.
Marc: How do you know what is the right gallery for you as an artist?
Wouter: Most artists know each other, so also by talking to each other, you sort of get to know how it is to work with that gallery? I think that’s maybe a first step to see if you get approached by a gallery, if that gallery suits you. You have to see if your style fits the gallery by looking at the artists that are represented by that gallery. Do you think that the sort of artwork suits your own style?
Marc: And then how you get in touch with them?
Wouter: Well, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to approach the gallerist at an art fair or to send them an email with your portfolio. I think the best way is to just build your career. Make sure that your presentation at the end of your studies is very good, that you are part of maybe several group exhibitions. And then you can invite a gallerist to come to one of those shows. And then when the gallerist is there, you can talk to him and talk about your own work. Because often at art fairs or exhibition openings, the gallerist is more occupied with trying to sell the artwork that is on show there. So that’s not the right moment.
Marc: In a way it’s a bit of a stupid question, of course: should it sell well? Or should you follow your own creative path? Of course, you have to follow your own creative path, but in a way you also need at the end to sell your work.
Marc: Of course. Sales are one thing, but also you can also apply for subsidies or you can get commissions by museums or project spaces. If you participate in exhibitions, you get paid. A good gallery doesn’t only focus on sales, but also on trying to get you into museum shows and trying to get commissions for you. In helping you write applications for subsidies. To get residencies abroad. A gallery does more than only sales. Al least, that’s what we are doing.
March: Joyce, are there any other funding options for young artists? And if so, which ones?
Joyce: Next to the Artist Start we offer four other grant schemes. We offer the Artist Project grant. We offer the Residency programs within the Netherlands and abroad, and we offer several voucher grant schemes, such as the voucher Artist with Child, the Voucher Development, the Voucher International, and the Voucher Artisan.
Marc: And then the final question, how does it work with the finances? How’s it the revenue divided? What is a normal artist fee?
Wouter: Well, the artist and the gallery both get 50%. That’s quite standard. And if you work with a good gallery, then it’s worth it. If you are not working with a good gallery, then it’s not worth it. Because a gallery doesn’t only do sales. It’s a lot more. It’s representation. It’s visibility. It’s management. It’s helping with funding. It’s a lot of things. It’s not only the moment that a sale is being done,
Marc: Joyce, not every artist immediately has a gallery behind them. How much does that actually matter when applying?
Joyce: Visibility of an artist through gallery representation or through presentation within exhibitions plays a role in your application. That’s all part of your cultural entrepreneurship and plays a part in judging your cv. So it shows that you have activities within the field. It shows that you’re active. And that other people are picking up your practice and showing your work.
Marc: So visibility doesn’t stop at gallery walls, and that’s where curators come in. They’re the ones who create the platforms where work is seen, noticed, and remembered. Like here at Prospects, where over a hundred artists are brought together in one show. So who better to ask about the first public moment than the curator of this year’s exhibition? Johan Gustavsson. And there he is. Hello, Johan.
Johan: Hello.
Marc: It’s really busy.
Johan: It’s crazy busy.
Marc: That’s a good sign, I would say.
Johan: Very.
Marc: How is it to put together an exhibition with so many artists?
Johan: It feels a bit like a mission impossible when you start. You want an audience to be able to see every work, so you have to think a little bit like IKEA. You come in and you have to see the whole space.
Marc: How important is it for starting artists to be able to show their work on an exhibition like Prospects?
Johan: I think it’s incredibly important. I’ve said to many other people, if one of these artists would have a show, even at Stedelijk, which is maybe the nicest venue in the Netherlands, not the same amount of professional art people would come and see their work. Not all collectors, not all galleries, not all museum directors, not all curators. But they do come here. So, the artists get a lot of exposure to a lot of people that potentially could help them in their next step in their career. I think it’s incredibly important to be active, because you learn so much from sharing your work. You learn about your own work by sharing it with others. So I strongly believe that doing all kinds of small exhibitions is very helpful. So I definitely advice to do as much as the energy levels allows.
Marc: How do young artists come to the attention of a curator?
Johan: Making good work? That’s of course what all curators are looking for. It starts with the work, really. Of course, we have a network evening here, like in any other field. You need to know people to be able to get further in your career and they need to know you. Just talk with people.
Marc: Final question. If you look back, what would you say? Like in general, these are the right things to do. These are the artists that I’ve seen moving up.
Johan: That’s a difficult question. In general, all of them would have some incredible passion. Some sort of unique passion for what they’re doing and love for what they’re doing. That’s what keeps them being so strong, continuing doing whatever they need to do. And I think the ones that manage to have a lot of fun making their work, that’s really where it goes well.
Marc: We have heard what you can apply for, what the money is meant for and even what visibility can do for your application. But in the end, someone has to decide. So who looks at your application?
Joyce: An advisory committee looks at your grant application, and the committee consists of four different people from all different fields within the cultural sector. So there are curators, researchers, other types of makers, but there’s always someone for your practice within that committee. So if you’re a painter, there will be a painter present.
Marc: We are slowly getting a sense of what’s involved in starting out as an artist, though, of course it can still feel overwhelming, but what happens after the beginning? What does the path look like once Artist Start is behind you? To find out, we talk to someone who received a grant a long time ago and who has since built an impressive career. One that’s still ongoing, now back in his country of birth. But Joyce, can you apply for the grant, even if you don’t have the Dutch nationality?
Joyce: You can apply for a subsidy if you don’t have the Dutch nationality. There are some rules to that, though. You need to live in the Netherlands, so you need to be registered to a Dutch address when you submit your application. And you also need to be active within the Dutch national art field. There needs to be activity within the Netherlands for you to be eligible.
Marc: We call Sam Salehi Samiee who received Artist Start in 2016. Hello Sam.
Sam: Good to be with you. How are you doing? How’s it going?
Marc: Very good. I’m in Amsterdam. Where are you?
Sam: I’m currently in Tehran in Iran.
Marc: Is that your home base?
Sam: For the past months, yes.
Marc: Can you tell us a little bit about Iran? How is it to live as an artist over there?
Sam: I think it might be different in different parts of Iran, but where I am, which is Tehran, it’s on many practical levels quite similar to being an artist anywhere else. But while there are also hundreds of problems that you can imagine living in today’s world, especially in Iran, so I can go into those as well, but that might be out of the interest of this interview, but you can imagine.
Marc: So, let’s talk about your work. But first briefly, after your studies in Iran, you moved to the Netherlands. You started painting at the AKI in Enschede and then went to the Rijksakademie. Could you tell us something more about your work?
Sam: My work is really around painting,the history of painting and employing different styles of painting. It’s kind of a dialogue with other paintings I have seen in history. So in the last few years, I have been more interested in artists in Europe who rejected to become a part of avant-garde movements and went to south of France, south of Europe, they decided to paint beautiful things in in the middle of wars and turmoils they decided to be decorative. People like Bonar, Matisse, Renoir. And I have been doing mostly acrylic on canvas work. You see from the trace on the wall, the former canvases that have been hanging on the wall. So because I just had this big show at Cobra Museum, the studio is now looking like a crime scene.
Marc: Haha, yeah. And where did you spend the money on?
Sam: I spent a lot of that money on paint and canvas. Painters know that a lot of white, because white is the colour you buy the most. The most memorable thing is that it allowed me to continue having this very great start after the Rijksakademie and produce more and make more paintings.
Marc: Maybe a better question is, what did it mean to you to receive the Artist Start funding?
Sam: It meant many things for me. Well, it really made me happy. It made me feel that what I have worked on is really trustable for a group of people. And to continue following my own vision and not necessarily listen to what the galleries thought that I should be doing, or collectors thought that I should be doing, or worried people around me would think I should be doing, like parents and friends. All wish the best for you, but it also makes your heart empty, shaky for going further to take more risks. So it made that I could continue to take more risks. It was an encouragement, if you continue doing this, we take you seriously enough that this can be continued and we’re gonna see what you’re gonna do with it.
Marc: I guess this also, answers the question, what influence the Artist Start scheme had on your practice?
Sam: Right. I think this should be clear. The artists should not feel that they should work less freely because we give them this money. They should really think that the priority for you must be improving the quality of your work, because this will benefit the public. That keeps the Netherlands as a place internationally that is always a cutting edge for the art world.
Marc: Can you take us back? How was it to apply for the funding?
Sam: I took a long time. Honestly, the first times are always the most difficult. When you do it the first time, the next time will be easier. I also realized for artists doing this it’s really emotionally taxing. Because of being a good dancer, painter or writer, you all of a sudden have to do all this paperwork. So it’s very normal to panic and not know. And then, because you have to describe your whole life in few pages, you also get existential crisis. You’re like: Really? This is what I’ve done? It his really what I wanted to do? Don’t worry about those things. These are really formalities. Nobody is reducing your life only to those few pages. My advice is don’t hesitate to get in touch with other artists and with your teachers and with your professional network and with the Mondriaan Fund and ask them: Hey, how can I do this? How can I make this work better? Know that the goal here is that everyone wants to help. We want every human being to be able to be creative. So this is a part of that. You know, you should see and understand it in this way.
Marc: Thank you very much.
Sam: Thank you very much for having me.
Marc: And thank you for listening to this episode of the Mondriaan Fund podcast. We hope we’ve helped you to take one step further in launching your artistic career. Oh, Joyce, one last question. Where can people go if they want to apply or find out more?
Joyce: Through our website, mondriaanfonds.nl/artiststart and you can find all the information you need to apply on that webpage. If you don’t find all the information or if something is unclear, please call, email. We are there to help. Please reach out.
Marc: Don’t forget to follow us on our online channels, and good luck with applying.