Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development

With this open call, the Creative Industries Fund NL is offering designers and makers in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean the opportunity to strengthen their practice by working on a distinctive strategy for a future-proof practice.

The call focusses on reflection, positioning and development - the role you want to take up in your area of expertise and the strategy you need to strengthen or redefine your position. It encourages both individuals and collectives to apply, with special attention given to the changing design practice, in which themes such as collectivity, shared learning and interdisciplinary collaboration plays an increasingly large role. With this open call, the Fund contributes to promoting one of the Fund’s objectives, namely a healthy, reflective and innovative design infrastructure.

This open call is intended for makers and designers in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean with their own practice in design, architecture or digital culture and any cross-overs between them. By this we mean garden and landscape architects, graphic designers, urban designers, product designers, interior designers, fashion designers, digital storytellers, sound designers, jewellery designers and illustrators and makers in many other subdisciplines.

Proposals may be submitted by applicants who are based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and have had their own practice for at least three years. You can apply individually or as a partnership, such as a duo or (temporary or long-lasting) collective.

For the implementation of your plan, you have to engage at least two advisers or mentors, who could be business coaches, artistic coaches, financial advisers, impact strategists or branding experts, to name but a few. Curators, intermediaries or other designers could also play a role.

For game developers, we've launched another open call: Open Call Game Sector Professionalisation and Practice Development

Applications can focus on various forms of professionalisation, such as:

• repositioning your practice towards another target group or sector;
• developing a long-term collective vision or strategy;
• setting up an interdisciplinary cooperative venture around a shared theme;
• strengthening your network and visibility;
• exploring new revenue models;
• delving deeper into your working method by means of reflection, coaching or sharing knowledge with others.

The Fund’s contribution is meant to give designers time, scope and resources for their professional development. The contribution could be used, e.g. to cover:

• the hours needed to work on the professionalisation process;
• engaging specific knowledge or guidance;
• travel expenses;
• costs of sharing or documenting the knowledge gained in the professionalisation process, such as a publication, a podcast or a presentation.

What will not be compensated:

• regular or recurrent operating costs, such as the rent for a studio or an office;
• standard corporate identity development or building a website that is clearly not part of an inventive professionalisation process;
• legal advice;
• the development or production of specific design or creation projects.

As the Fund wants to promote collective professionalisation and collaboration with this open call, a fixed allocation method has been drawn up on how the budget is to be divided amongst the parties involved.

The allocation method is as follows:

• individual designers can apply for a maximum of €8,250;
• duos can apply for a total maximum of €9,500;
• three designers or more: the first designer receives €5,000, every next designer €3,250;
• the maximum amount that can be applied for is €24,500, based on a collective of seven designers. Larger collectives can still take part, provided that the plan and the formulated problem is manageable. However, collectives of more than seven people cannot apply for more than the maximum grant of €24,500.

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

Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development

Applications are assessed on the basis of the SCI Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development, which describes the reason and objective, design challenges, phases, criteria and procedures.

Open Call Grant Scheme

Applications are also 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 are assessed on the basis of the Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development and the Open Call Grant Scheme.

assessment criteria

• relevance and acuity of the professionalisation issue
• the quality of the plan of action in relation to the intended result
• artistic quality and positioning of the practice(s) within the creative industry
• quality of the collaboration and division of roles

acceptance

When you have submitted your application, the Fund 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 the Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development. The committee advises the Fund’s Board.

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.

SCI Open Call Professionalisation and Practice Development
Open Call Grant Scheme
Budget and Funding Plan Template