frequently asked questions

Research, design, implementation, production, reflection and debate aimed at developing design, architecture and digital culture are eligible for support. This may involve several phases. The following project types are eligible for support: exhibition, presentation, product development, festival, expert meeting, symposium, publication, media production, documentary, AV production, game, starting grant project / research, (design) research, international project, annual programmes.

A grant cannot be awarded to:
- educational programmes and related activities by educational institutions
- universities and universities of applied sciences
- projects extending over a period longer than 24 months, unless explicit permission has been given
- study trips
- education
- operating deficits
- labour costs for employees of governmental, provincial or municipal agencies
- the acquisition of possessions
- standard building and restoration costs
- interior design, restoration en conversion plans
- activities that do not go beyond the regular business activities

The Fund focuses on professionals working in the creative industry. In order to receive a grant from the Fund, the applicant must be registered in the Chamber of Commerce (KvK) business register, or one of the Chambers of Commerce that fall within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Students (bachelor or master) may, in principle, submit a project application from within their own practice, but the project for which the application is being made may not relate to activities taking place in the context of a course or study.

No, it is not possible to apply for more than one grant programme for a single project. Contact the Fund for advice on which grant programme best suits your application.

No, but please consult the Grant Application Guide before submitting your application. The guide provides advice with regard to the grant application and drawing up a project plan, budget and presentation plan.

Register with the Chamber of Commerce as soon as possible. An application must contain a digitally certified extract no more than one year old from the Trade Register of the Dutch Chamber of Commerce or one of the Chambers of Commerce within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This applies to all grant programmes, with the exception of the Grant Programme Talent Development, where you can request a Chamber of Commerce extract after a positive advice on your subsidy application.

The Fund contributes a maximum of € 82,50 excl. VAT to the hourly rate of the applicant and equivalent collaboration partner. For a guideline on hourly rates, please refer to the website of the Fair Practice Code for more information.

When drawing up the budget for your grant application, it is important to take into account whether you will have to pay VAT if you receive a grant. Whether or not you are subject to VAT depends on the activities you carry out. If you are subject to VAT, you draw up your budget exclusive of VAT. You can reclaim the VAT included in your expenditure from the Belastingdienst (Inland Revenue Service). If you cannot reclaim the VAT included in your expenditure from the Belastingdienst, this VAT is a component of the project costs and you draw up the budget including VAT. If in doubt, consult your financial adviser or a tax inspector.

If your application is honoured, the Fund will regard the amount of grant awarded to you as a contribution to the costs of your project and not as a payment (charged with VAT) for a service provided to the Fund. If, at any time, it should transpire that you are nevertheless liable for VAT on the Fund's contribution, we will assume that this VAT is included in the amount of the subsidy granted. In that case, any VAT charged on the contribution will be entirely borne by the applicant.

You only fill in the number of FTEs working within your organization. As a freelancer you fill in 1 FTE for a full-time working week, and if part-time, 0.2, 0.5 or 0.8 FTE, for example, depending on how much of the week you work.

Specific questions about the procedure, budget and/or project plan can be sent via e-mail to one of the grants or open calls officers

Grant applications are assessed by independent advisory committees. They work according to the Advisory Committees Procedure. The advisory committees are composed of experts in various fields and in such a manner that members can operate independently and critically. In the composition of the committees, attention is paid to avoid any conflict of interest arising. New advisors are selected by the external selection committee advisors.

Unless stated otherwise, the Creative Industries Fund NL observes a processing period of ten weeks starting from the closing date. After this period of ten weeks, you will be notified by e-mail that the result of your application is available in the online application system. Please note that your project may not start before you have received the result.

Prioritization is necessary when the budget available for the round is not sufficient to cover all the positively assessed applications. The applications that were positively assessed will then be weighed up against each other and ranked by the committee. You can find a complete description of how prioritization works in the grant scheme of your choice.

Unlike applications with a negative advice, applications that have not been selected after prioritization can be submitted again, in the same form, to the same grant scheme within six months after the negative decision has been received.

If you have any questions about the reasoning behind the rejection of your application, please contact the coordinator of the relevant grant programme. In many cases, they will be able to explain the decision further and answer any questions about the evaluation.

If you would like to submit a new application as a result, this is only possible if there are new facts concerning the project. In this case, you prepare a revised application with an adapted project plan, in which you also respond to the arguments set out in the previous decision. Staff then assess, together with the coordinator, whether the proposal contains sufficient new information to be resubmitted to the advisory committee. It is not possible to submit a new application for exactly the same project within six months of the decision date.

If you do not agree with the result of your grant application, you may lodge a letter of appeal with the Board of the Fund as an interested party under the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene Wet Bestuursrecht), within six weeks of the decision date. The Fund has an independent advisory committee for appeals, appointed by the Board. This appeals committee evaluates the decision made by the Fund on formal and procedural grounds. NB: It does not, therefore, involve a re-evaluation of the content of the application.

The appeals procedure is elaborated on the website of the Creative Industries Fund NL. If you would like more information about the rules applicable to the appeals procedure, please contact the Fund regarding this. We will be happy to help you.

Application forms can be submitted up to 23:59 hours on the day of the closing date. However, we expressly advise you to submit your application before 17:00 hours on the day of the deadline as we can then be reached during office hours if you need help should something go wrong.

For security reasons, your account will be approved manually. This only happens during working days. So make sure you create an account on time here.

It is possible that the confirmation e-mail has ended up in your spam folder. If this is not the case, please contact the Fund.

At the question 'are the bank details correct' in the application form at Organization 1.2, if you click 'no', fields will appear where you can fill in your bank account details.

In the current circumstances, the Fund is adopting a lenient attitude with regard to makers and institutions that it already supports. If your event or project has definitively been cancelled or postponed, please email your contact person at the Fund. When drawing up new applications, consider the extent to which COVID-19 could affect the feasibility of your project and how you can deal with that. To receive positive advice, a project must be realistic and feasible. With regard to internationalization please note: the costs for trips to countries or areas that, at that moment, are colour-coded orange or red, cannot be paid with the grant.

The Fund is providing extra support in times of COVID-19. The Government's support packages for the cultural sector have reserved extra support for makers and institutions. Read more about the Fund’s support measures for makers and institutions in this overview.

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) has set up various cultural funds. With their subsidies to institutions, makers, designers and artists, the cultural funds facilitate dynamism and innovation in the cultural sector. Each fund focuses on a different cultural area and type of maker.

Performing arts
The Performing Arts Fund supports all forms of professional performing arts. Performing arts institutions and artists in the fields of dance, theatre, festivals, music and musical theatre in the Netherlands can apply here.

Innovation in the arts
The Cultural Participation Fund supports innovative initiatives in the fields of amateur art, cultural education and popular culture. Many Dutch people participate in these activities.

Visual arts and heritage
The Mondriaan Fund is the fund for visual arts and cultural heritage. The fund focuses mainly on museums, presentation institutions, artists' initiatives, archives and libraries. The Mondriaan Fund Policy Plan 2013-2016 gives a clear picture of the fund's role in the subsidy system.

Film
The Netherlands Film Fund stimulates the development, production and distribution of a diverse and high-quality range of films in the Netherlands.

Literature
The Dutch Foundation for Literature stimulates literature with grants and subsidies to writers, translators, publishers and festivals. The fund also supports the distribution and promotion of Dutch and Frisian literature at home and abroad.

Private cultural funds
There are also private funds and initiatives that make money available for culture. Well-known private funds are the VSBfonds, the Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds, Stichting DOEN and the VandenEnde Foundation.

Fonds Kwadraat (interest-free loan)
The Fonds Kwadraat provides interest-free loans to artists and designers. In 2014, the Fund entered into a partnership with Fonds Kwadraat. The aim is to support more projects in the creative industries, increase support generally and stimulate entrepreneurship through smart financing strategies. With a positive evaluation for a grant, a project proposal automatically qualifies for an additional interest-free loan. For more information, click here.

Contact point on behalf of the six national public cultural funds
The six national public cultural funds have appointed a contact person for applicants who operate at the interface between different disciplines or between culture and the rest of society. This person informs applicants about the possibilities for a contribution from the various funds (Mondriaan Fund, Cultural Participation Fund, Performing Arts Fund, Netherlands Film Fund, Dutch Foundation for Literature and Creative Industries Fund NL) and will refer them if necessary. The contact person, Emma Parmentier, can be reached by e-mail.

Cultural Funding Guide
Applicants and organizations looking for funding for a project, product or company can use the Cultural Funding Guide of Cultuur + Ondernemen to get an overview of funding options in the Netherlands.

The Creative Industries Fund NL aims to provide good and clear services and values customer satisfaction. If you have any questions or comments, you can contact the Fund by phone or email. It may then still be the case that you are not happy about the Fund’s service provision or its communication. In that case, you can file a complaint in accordance with our complaints regulations. These regulations serve to further improve the quality of our service provision and to ensure that the Fund handles your complaint with care.

Mores is the disclosure office for reporting undesirable behaviour in sectors including the creative industry. Have you been subjected to 'undesirable behaviour': sexual intimidation or abuse, aggression and violence (including intimidation and abuse of power), discrimination or bullying? Then you can contact one of the confidential advisors associated with the platform. Mores and the confidential advisors at the disclosure office are independent, and all reports are treated in confidence.

reliance on the Open Government Act (Woo)
You can enquire about the Creative Industries Fund NL’s conduct, its actions and why and how a decision is made. This is laid down in the Open Government Act. If you would like to receive information, you can submit a Woo request to the Fund. You will then be making use of the Open Government Act (Woo), previously the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Wob).

a Woo request must meet certain conditions
Indicate as accurately as possible what information you want.

Make sure that your request for information contains at least the following specifics:
- State the topic, the decision or the document you want information about. If you state a topic only, this must be specific enough. Thus, the topic cannot be formulated too broadly.
- It has to concern information that is demonstrably available to the Creative Industries Fund NL and that is laid down in documents that are in the Fund’s possession.
- So, the information asked for has to have been recorded in some manner by the Fund.
- The information you ask for has to relate to one of the Fund’s activities and, in that context, to an administrative matter, i.e. the Fund’s public tasks and policy including how this policy was prepared and implemented.

processing your request
The Fund will consider whether the requested information can be made public under the Woo. The Fund may not share some information with you, like confidential or privacy-sensitive data. Privacy-sensitive data will be redacted before it is provided. If the request is formulated too broadly, the Woo contact person will contact you to specify the request.

The Fund’s board must take a decision on your request within at most four weeks after its receipt. However, the Fund may extend the four-week term. In that case, you will be informed about this extension. Reasons for the extension could include, for example, the involvement of other parties.

If the Fund’s board decides in favour of your request, you will be sent the information at the same time as the decision. In the event of a negative decision, you will be informed about the reasons for that decision.

In principle, the Fund will not charge you for processing the request for information. If information cannot be provided digitally, the Fund may charge you, depending on the amount of information that is provided. The Woo contact person will always discuss this with the person requesting the information first.

request for information to the Woo contact person
Address the request to Joris van Ballegooijen, the Woo contact person at the Fund. You must submit your request in writing, by post or email, stating ‘Woo request’ and your reference to:

Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie
Woo request
PO Box 29066
3001 GB Rotterdam

wooverzoek@stimuleringsfonds.nl