Inclusive Cities & Societies through Design
The Creative Industries Fund NL seeks to encourage international exchange and collaboration with the Dutch creative industry. The Inclusive Cities & Societies through Design programme specifically aims to utilize culture to contribute to a safe, just and future-proof world.
three goals
Inclusive Cities & Societies through Design aims to achieve the following:
- To build sustainable collaborations and (knowledge) networks between the Netherlands and particular countries/regions;
- To promote and/or strengthen projects rooted in the local context and responsive to a local demand;
- To promote an inclusive and equality-based approach to cross-border challenges, collaborations and exchange.
background
Inclusive Cities & Societies through Design was launched within the policy framework of the International Cultural Policy 2017-2020, with funding from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The geographical focus of the programme, in the 2017-2020 policy period, was on the so-designated ‘TREM’ countries surrounding Europe: Turkey, Russia, Egypt and Morocco. In the 2021-2024 policy period, the focus is on collaboration and knowledge exchange with several countries on the African continent. The Fund will concentrate in particular on supporting local research and experimentation. We do so for instance through the mentorship programme Building Beyond, theme-based open calls, and meet-ups devoted to knowledge sharing.
Building Beyond
Through the Building Beyond programme, the Fund aims to contribute to the ongoing dialogue about how creative work that is embedded in local communities can help bring about new perspectives and can stimulate inclusive urban plans. The programme seeks to promote and facilitate network building on the African continent and to stimulate knowledge sharing and exchange between makers and designers on the African continent and in the Netherlands.
The latter is achieved through the annual lab week in the Netherlands, where the exchange between programme participants and the Dutch creative industry is stimulated through visits to studios and cultural organisations, networking events, workshops and a public symposium. Through visits and personal encounters in the context of a lab week on the African continent, the Fund in turn gains a better understanding of local dynamics, of questions relevant to the SDGs, and a picture of potential opportunities for long-term exchanges with the Dutch design sector, for instance through focused residency collaborations. The Creative Industries Fund NL works closely with the Prince Claus Fund for the implementation of Building Beyond.
open calls 2021-2023
In 2021, the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Prince Claus Fund jointly issued the Open Call Mentorship Building Beyond #1. This call invited African makers to consider the future of public space, community and functionality on an increasingly populated continent.
The following 12 designers and artists were selected:
- Flavia Gwiza
- Hana Tefrati
- Russel Hlongwane
- Ikram Hamdi Mansour
- Inam Kula
- Katesi Jacqueline Kalange
- Kwasi Darko
- Nifemi Marcus-Bello
- Salma Belal
- Youssef El Idrissi
- Mohamed Sirra
- Yishak Teklegiorgis
Read more about the selection.
In 2022, the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Prince Claus Fund launched the Open Call Mentorship Building Beyond #2.
The following 12 designers and artists were selected:
- Wezile Harmans
- Uzoma Orji
- Sara Fakhry Ismail
- Rania Atef
- Olufèmi Hinson Yovo
- Neec Nonso
- Mika’il, the Muezzin
- Jepkorir Rose
- Helen Zeru
- Blqees Zuhair
- Arafa C. Hamadi
- Ana Raquel Machava
Read more about the selection
In 2022, the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Prince Claus Fund launched the Open Call Mentorship Building Beyond #3.
The following 12 designers and artists were selected:
- Akwasi Bediako Afrane
- Chantell Hassan
- Doha Ibrahim
- Elolo Bosoka
- Isabella Asiimwe
- Jesse Gerard Mpango
- Khotso Lamola
- Michael Tesfaye
- Nneoma Angela Okorie
- Oratile Mothoagae
- Victor Adéwálé
- Yasmin Abdu Bushra
Read more about the selection.
In 2024, the Creative Industries Fund NL and the Prince Claus Fund launched the fourth and last Open Call Mentorship Building Beyond #4 here.
In the summer of 2022, the Creative Industries Fund NL teamed up with What Design Can Do to issue an open call for projects focusing on climate change and participation in a Creative Climate Coalition during the UN Climate Change Conference 2022 (COP27). The goal was to bring together designers from various countries in Africa and the Netherlands, to thereby facilitate the international exchange of knowledge and networks between the selected participants and to create more attention for utilising the power of design to tackle urgent climate issues and the related SDGs.
The following eight makers and designers were selected through the Open Call Climate Action x Design:
Studio Sway – Aquatecture Water Harvesting System
Dirk-Jan Visser – New Horizons
Studio Makkink & Bey – Waterschool United Nations
Hannah Bosland – ComposTerra
Abla el-Bahrway (Ba7r) – Papayrus and New media
Olivier de Gruijter – The Jerrycan Water Filter
Arthur Guilleminot – Piss Soap
Taller Architects – Social and ecosystemic connectivity in Montes de Maria
Read more about the selection
The goal of the Open Call Resilient Communities / Inclusive Cities / Just Societies is to connect the creative industries in the Netherlands and in countries on the African continent and to promote an egalitarian approach to global challenges, collaboration and exchange. Designers, makers, architects, collectives, platforms and cultural organisations based in the Netherlands were invited to work with one or more partners in African countries to address currently relevant themes and issues pertaining to the city, its surroundings, and the communities living there.
The following eleven projects were selected:
Kalibu – Kalibu
Site Practice – Regenerative Fashion Community Campus in Kenya
LILA Living Landscapes – Water Cycle Stories
Slow Matter NL – Anthropocene Museum 10.0
Jossour program | (A)WAKE
Afaina de Jong – IN-FORM-ALL
Studio Jeanneworks – The Shadow of the Moon
Pauline van Dongen Innovations B.V. – The Solar Craft Hub – Oficina de Lihani
Taller Architects – Qursaya Island – Healthy communities along the Nile
T F Martelli – Accra Zine
AP+E – Decoding the Informal City
Read more about the selection
The Open Call Hidden (Hi)stories is dedicated to the hidden stories and histories that occur or have occurred within the (local) context of Dutch colonial history and the post-colonial present. We support international collaborative projects to reveal these stories and associated issues, using design to make them understandable, tangible, and a subject of dialogue and discussion.
In collaboration with Het Nieuwe Instituut (NI), in 2024 the Creative Industries Fund NL is facilitating a knowledge exchange programme with meet-ups and workshops. The goal is to link up the selected projects with each other and with experts from the field on the theme of the open call. The results and the significance of the supported projects will be shared with a wider public in 2024 by means of a public symposium.
Read more about the selection
TREM
The TREM programme focused on the role and utilization of design and design thinking in the challenges posed by the rapid urbanization in Turkey, Russia, Egypt and Morocco. Examples are the design of inclusive public spaces, developing proper and affordable housing, and new forms of circular design. Two open calls resulted in 94 proposals for collaborative projects, of which 26 were supported in the start-up and implementation phase.
Over the course of the programme, the participating parties were encouraged to exchange knowledge and expertise, to consolidate their networks and to engage in new collaborations with relevant stakeholders, both within and outside the design disciplines. The Creative Industries Fund NL organised various meet-ups to stimulate the knowledge exchange. The results of the programme were recorded in the publication Tales of the TREM, and were shared and discussed in a same-titled live-cast moderated by Jörgen Tjon a Fong.
See also the Mid-term report Internationalisation of the Design Sector Programme 2017-2018.
open calls 2017-2021
Through four open calls, the following projects were selected in early 2018:
Open Call Turkey #1
- Lüleburgaz Bisiklete Biniyor, cycling for a better city, Artgineering, Novusens and Sustainable Solutions
- Mersin CityLab, Play the City and Mersin University
- Closing the Circle, IND [Inter.National.Design]
- Izmir Metabolic Cycling Network (IMCN), FABRICations
Open Call Russia #1
- Prototyping Future Energy with HSE, Yin Aiwen
- Tomsk One – Living Laboratory, LEVS Architecten
- The Samarsky Yard, Schiemann Weyers and Samara State University
- New Urban Media Centre in Yekaterinburg, SVESMI, Municipal Association of Libraries and The July 16 Agency
Open Call Egypt #1
- Grounded Urban Practices, Non Fiction and Cluster
- From El Labana to Bustan, Bureau LADA, CILAS and Beit Yakan
- Hope for Embaba, MAATworks
- Connecting Deltas, Shift Works and Abdalla Daif
Open Call Morocco #1
- Affordable Housing Casablanca, BureauSLA and Idmaj Sakan
- PLAY CITY, NoRA
- Learning from Tiznit | Designing softscapes of Care and Resilience, Slow Research Lab
- Sahrij, Sara Frikech
Following the Open Call Turkey, Russia, Egypt, Morocco#2, the following projects were selected in early 2019:
Selected projects Turkey:
- Tradition as a Making Tool, Space Crafters and Cross Change
- Inclusive Regenerative Fashion in Turkey, Knitwear Lab and Bersa Triko
- No Seat at the Table, Minem Sezgin, Jasmijn de Nood, Rajab Eryiğit, Bob Mollema and Erhan Muratoğlu
- Pomace: Learning Circularity from Olive, Random Works and Olive Academy Karaburun
Selected projects Russia:
- Murmansk Prospekt, Stichting Sonic Acts and Friday Milk
- The Sea of Orange, Maatschap Observatorium and Street Art Research Institute St. Petersburg
- What do landscapes say? Speculating on the Diversity of Landscapes and Identities, Nomaos
- Identity in Typical, Daria Naugolnova, Alexey Boev
Selected projects Egypt:
- We Are Data, IMPAKT and Cairotronica
- Papyrus and New Media, Ba7r, Khatt Foundation and Megawra
- Asil – Arabic Typographic Experiments in Egypt, Tarek Atrissi Design, Studio DecoType and Al-Qalam Foundation
- Taking Stock, Elke Uitentuis, Wouter Osterholt, Mariam Elnozahy
Selected projects in Morocco:
- One Square Meter Berber, Mina Abouzahra and Nina Mohammed-Galbert
- QANAT: a training for the not yet, Jeanne van Heeswijk and Le 18
- Out.of.the.blue.map, Manon Bachelier, Justine Daquin and Zoé Le Voyer
- Tangier: Facets of a Mediterranean Intersection, Amsterdams Andalusisch Orkest, Mahal Art Space, Ecole Nationale d’Architecture and Think Tanger
