Adjustments to grant schemes 2026

What is going to change?

‘The main change is that no new rounds of the Creative Industries Kick-start Grant Scheme will open in 2026 for the fields of design and digital culture. For the Design Grant Scheme and the Digital Culture Grant Scheme, there will be two application rounds each instead of the usual three, with the first at the end of February and the second in mid-August. The budget that the Fund had earmarked for these fields in the Kick-start grant scheme will be partly added to the Design and Digital Culture rounds. With a larger budget, more projects can be supported within those rounds. The budget for the Open Call for Professionalisation and Practice Development will also be expanded to provide additional incentives for the development of makers. Meanwhile, we are working in 2026 on a structural adjustment of the design and digital culture grant schemes. This adjustment will be introduced from 2027. This means that 2026 is emphatically a transition year.’

Why is adjustment needed?

‘In recent years, the Fund has seen the increasing pressure on the design and digital culture grant schemes, while the available budget has not grown proportionally. For the new policy period, which started in 2025, we deliberately chose to keep the grants we make available for these fields broad, with both a Kick-start grant scheme for small, experimental projects and the Design and Digital Culture grant schemes for larger projects. To keep the grant schemes workable, we decided to take only a maximum number of applications into consideration in each round, to be assessed by the committees. Applications were considered in the order they were submitted.

Having worked with this for a year, we have to conclude that the method is not sustainable for the scale of demand. The ‘first-come, first-served’ principle puts great pressure on applicants. Immediately after opening, there is a peak load on the application system, which sometimes results in disruption. Additionally, grant schemes fill up at lightning speed and many applicants miss the boat, despite good preparation. The technical disruption of the application system has occurred in several rounds in 2025 and means that we are unable to guarantee a level playing field. This is an undesirable situation and calls for other choices to be made.’

So why are there not three but two application rounds for Design and Digital Culture next year?

‘That is related to the technical disruptions that occurred. The conclusion that we cannot guarantee a level playing field was checked with the appeals committee, which confirmed it. As a result, we have decided to fix this as best we can for the third rounds of 2025 for Design and Digital Culture and the Kick-start grant scheme. We are doing this by taking into consideration all the applications submitted on the first day the round opens, not just the first 50 as stated in the grant scheme. The decisions on this situation will follow in 2026.’

Will the Fund continue to work with maximum numbers of applications to be processed?

‘Yes, we will continue to do that. It is simply not feasible to process all the applications submitted. We do not have enough staff and advisers available for that. The Fund does not have sufficient financial resources to increase this capacity. What we will adjust in 2026 is the ‘first-come, first-served’ principle. Instead, we will work with an objective draw under the supervision of a notary, which we expect to be able to introduce in February. This eliminates the time pressure to submit an application and levels the playing field because every applicant has the same chance with a draw. Apart from the Design and Digital Culture grant schemes, the draw will also be introduced for the other project grant schemes where a maximum number of applications is used. These are the Architecture Grant Scheme, the Creative Industries Kick-start Grant Scheme – Architecture and the Internationalisation of the Design Sector Grant Scheme.

In addition, the conditions for submitting an application are being slightly tightened. In 2026, for the above-mentioned grant schemes, signed letters of intent for phase I will become mandatory for applications above € 25,000. This means that a maximum of € 25,000 can be requested for projects where there is no collaboration involved.’

How does the Fund arrive at this structural adjustment for 2027?

‘As I said, this takes time so that we can come up with a suitable alternative based on data and in dialogue with the field – advisory committees and applicants. We consider it very important to involve the field, precisely because we are faced with the task of making substantive choices and narrowing the subsidies we offer in a number of areas. The aim, of course, is to continue stimulating the field where the most impact can be made, in a way that is appropriate to the development of the fields. We expect to collect the feedback we need from the field for this in the first quarter. We will keep everyone informed about this via the website and newsletter.’

Consultation hour

Do you have any questions about the above-mentioned adjustments? On Monday 22 December 2025, we are organising an online consultation hour from 15:00 - 16:00. An overview of the opening and closing dates for 2026 can be found here.