2024 is the last year for the Upstream: Music x Design grant scheme

starting grant versus project grant

For the development and realization of projects that result in an activity shared with a wide audience, you can apply for a project grant with a maximum contribution of € 50,000 per project. Under this grant scheme, you can also apply for a starting grant of up to € 7,500. The starting grant is intended for the initial preparatory or investigation phase of a complex and/or large-scale project. For applicants who received a starting grant in previous years or in this year’s first round, 2024 is the last year to be eligible for a follow-up grant through the Upstream: Music x Design Grant Scheme.

grant scheme

In collaboration with the Performing Arts Fund and SENA, we launched the temporary Upstream: Music x Design Grant Scheme in 2019 with additional impulse funds from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science that we received specifically for the Upstream Grant Scheme. Through the scheme, projects aimed at innovative (artistic) applications of design, image or technology within pop music will be granted grants for the fifth consecutive year in 2024. The projects by pop artists and designers or creators from the creative industry result in physical and/or virtual presentations, products, installations or interventions, which are shared with a wide audience.

The last two grant rounds of the Upstream: Music x Design scheme close on 26 March 2024 and 1 October 2024. For the new policy period 2025-2028, no funds have been added in the Creative Industries Fund’s policy framework for continuation of the Upstream: Music x Design Scheme.

Photo at top: performance by Baby’s Berserk during Dutch Design Week. Photo: Clara Gus