Open Call Building Talent for starting makers and designers

With Building Talent, the Fund wants to stimulate the exchange of ideas and knowledge between experienced and starting designers and makers within the creative industry, and to strengthen the connection that starters have with the professional field. The collaboration project offers starting designers and makers the possibility to collaborate on a current issue and design challenge, to obtain new knowledge and skills and to expand their personal networks.

This open call is intended for starting designers and makers, who are located in the Netherlands and have four years’ work experience at most within the disciplines of design, architecture and digital culture or any crossovers between them. Think landscape architects, graphic designers, social designers, fashion designers, creative coders, scenographers and many more disciplines. You do not have to have completed a relevant design course, you can also have developed yourself professionally in practice, without having completed a relevant design course.

In this open call, starting designers and makers can give a focused response to one of the proposals from experienced designers or makers that were selected in the first open call. You can choose from 22 proposals, giving you the opportunity to work with an experienced design practice on a current design challenge, research question or experiment for the duration of four months. No more than one proposal may be responded to per applicant within this round.

Applications can be submitted from November 2, 2022.

You can apply for one of the following proposals:
- Antoine Peters – Space Garments in the Metaverse
- Designstudio Lotte van Laatum – Haptonomie van het maken [The Haptonomy of Making]
- Fillip Studios – Aera Fabrica & Auxetic Architecture
- Geert Nellen – Playable Explainers
- Hellen van Rees – Restart Materials
- Hul le Kes – Waardevermeerdering van afvalstromen [Increasing the Value of Waste Flows]
- Jesse Howard i.c.w. Fiction Factory – Found Objects
- Joel Galvez – Shaping Events Data, Staying Up To Date without Social Media
- KETTER&Co – Ervaarbaar erfgoed; de rol van de vrouw in het veenlandschap [Experiential Heritage; the Role of the Woman in the Moorland]
- KRAFT architecten – Ongezien oorlogserfgoed [Unseen War Heritage]
- Kukka – Blended Fibres
- Lisa Konno – Artisan Diaries
- MAF.studio – Blackbox 2050
- RGBdog – Homegrown In(ter)dependence
- Roosje Klap – Systems of Post-Signature
- Siba Sahabi – Persephone
- SMELT – Uitgeput: een interventie voor boeren en burgers [Depleted: an Intervention for Farmers and Civilians]
- Studio Kornelia Dimitrova – Temporary Spaces of Care
- Studio Florentijn hofman – Living Skin
- Studio Laura Koenen – Raak.Mij [Touch.Me]
- Summum – Supply and Demand! Circular designing based on given Stock?
- Tsugi Woodworks – Totem ki no (working title)

Please note: more information on the 22 proposed in-depth research studies and experiments will follow November 2, 2022.

The collaboration is a part-time four-month work period and can be started from March 2023. Please note that start dates may vary and are specified in the profile. The Fund expects both the starter and the experienced designer or maker to commit to the project on a weekly basis, so that constructive and substantial research can be started up or experiments can be carried out. Prior to the collaboration, the parties have to draw up a joint collaboration agreement and plan of action.

An external advisory committee will look for the best collaborations during the selection process. A match is made between the parties based on the starter’s profile, motivation and relevance to the selected proposal. After that, an introductory meeting will follow to give shape to and record the collaboration. Please bear in mind that these meetings will take place in early February.

In order to prepare the application, it is important to acquire the right information based on the following documents:

Open Call Building Talent
Applications are assessed on the basis of the Open Call Building Talent for starting makers and designers, which describes the reason and objective, central questions, criteria and procedure.

Building talent project canvas and explanation
The project canvas is the core of your application. Check it out in advance so that you know what is being asked of you. Also read the explanatory notes on the project canvas.

Open Call Grant Scheme
Applications are assessed on the basis of the Open Call Grant Scheme, which describes the general conditions, grounds for rejection, manner of publication, submission procedure, assessment, the award and any grant obligations.

Applications will be assessed by the advisory committee of this open call. This will be done on the basis of the following criteria:

- the way the design challenge is approached;
- the quality of the designer’s work;
- the design challenge’s relevance to the personal developmental potential.

acceptance
When you have submitted your application, the Fund Desk will check if your application complies with the formal requirements of the Open Call Grant Scheme.

assessment
An independent advisory committee will assess your application on the basis of the Open Call Grant Scheme and Open Call Building Talent. The committee advises the Fund’s Board.

Please note: The proposal that scores the highest, will be offered as a match to the design practice in question, after which it will have a meeting with the starting designer or maker about the details of the collaboration project. After this meeting, both parties can indicate whether the collaboration will be going ahead or not. If not, then the next starter on the ranking list will be approached for an introductory meeting with the design practice.

tender
The assessment of the open call takes the form of a tender: this means that within the available budget, a number of proposals are chosen above the others. Only positively assessed applications will be supported.

decision
The Board takes account of the committee’s advice in its decision on the rejection or provision of the grant. You will be notified about the result in a decision.

accountability
If you receive a grant from the Fund, then you will have to comply with the obligations. Two weeks before the conclusion of your project, you will be asked by email to submit your accountability form in the application environment.

Applications can be submitted from November 2, 2022.

Open Call Building Talent for starting makers and designers
Open Call Grant Scheme
Building talent project canvas
Explanatory notes on the project canvas