Festivals and public presentations – 11 projects selected

16 June 2022

The Festivals and Public Presentations Grant Scheme has a strong focus on reaching a broad audience and regional distribution. The resources for this scheme are therefore divided among five different regions of the country and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The available budget per region is limited due to the distribution across five parts of the country.

assessment

The selection committee, chaired by Rolf Quaghebeur, assessed the proposals against the following four criteria:
- contribution to public interest in the creative industry in the respective part of the country;
- substantive significance for the creative industry;
- effectiveness of set-up, audience strategy and level of support;
- contribution to diversity and inclusion within the field of activity.

selection

Of the 27 applications, the following 11 were awarded a grant:

- New Radicalisms: but where are you really from? – (A)WAKE
- Africa is not a country – West Africa edition: Rupture / Rapture – Afro Vibes
- Imagine Expanded: World Hopping and Things to Come: Transplantation Nation – Imagine Film Festival
- Cinedans FEST’22: VR Focus & Moving Media – Cinedans
- AFFR 2022 – NEW REALITIES – Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam

- STRP Festival 2023 The Art of Listening – Stichting STRP
- Manifestations 2022 – Stichting Art & Technology
- Framed animatiefilmfestival – Forum Groningen
- The Overkill festival 2022 – Stichting Guido
- Schemerlicht Festival – Stichting Schemerlicht (photo above)
- Freaky Dancing – Freaky Dancing

The distribution over the regions is as follows: in the North and Middle of the Netherlands one project was awarded a grant, in the East and South two projects each were awarded a grant, and five projects focused on the West received grants. No applications were received from the Caribbean region.

Priorities had to be set for the West and South regions. Despite a positive recommendation, the proposals by ADE, Tolhuistuin and Cross Comix (West) did not receive funding, and neither did the proposals by Viewmaster, Makerdays and Future of Work (FOW) (South).

The committee regretted this situation and the Fund will deliberate on the distribution of grants for future rounds. In particular, the Fund did not anticipate the high amount of almost 400,000 euro requested by the South region.

The following projects give a good idea of the breadth of the selection:

STRP Festival 2023 The Art of Listening – Stichting STRP
STRP has been in existence since 2006 and positions itself as a festival that focuses on the relationship between technology, design, art and innovation, where commissioning is central and creates a breeding ground for both makers and interested parties from the creative industry. With the festival The Art of Listening in April 2023, STRP wants to facilitate a dialogue between visitors, artists and speakers about the art of listening. Questions that are central to this are: how can we listen more carefully, empathetically and deeply to each other, to nature, to silence and to voices that need to be heard. And also, what role does technology play in this? The programme consists of an international exhibition with 13 mainly new works commissioned by STRP, four public talks under the name STRP Scenario, an extensive education programme and an experimental music programme. Education partners involved include St. Lucas and Fontys Universities of Applied Sciences. In addition, partners such as Affectlab, the Hmm, Impakt and the Netherlands Film Festival are involved in the programme.

AFFR 2022 – NEW REALITIES – Stichting Architectuur Filmfestival Rotterdam
From 5 to 9 October 2022, the 14th edition of the Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam will take place. AFFR programmes cinematographically high-quality films in which architecture, the city and the built environment play a central role. With the theme New realities, AFFR explores in film and debate what connects us in the city and the architecture. Are we able to bridge differences and tackle the enormous challenges facing our urban society? Where can we find examples and inspiration? How can we find solutions through design? AFFR has established several programme lines: Hidden Infrastructures, Indigenous Architectures, Through the eyes of the Masters, Grand Urban Visions, Interview with the Architect, and lastly, a special focus on animated film. In addition, there are programme specials such as The Masters with filmmaker Wes Anderson and architecture journalist Olly Wainwright. This year’s new programme component is Best of AFFR on tour, a travelling variant in which a series of three films is offered to all art cinemas and architecture institutes in the Netherlands in the period after the festival.
AFFR aims to reach 8,000 physical visitors. AFFR collaborates with, among others, Independent School for the City, the international Film & Architecture Studio, AIR, Open Rotterdam, Vers Beton and Galerie de Jaloezie, Rotterdam Speciaal, Goethe-Institut, Archined, De Architect, Stylos and Archiprix.

The Overkill festival 2022 – Stichting Guido
The Overkill Festival focuses on art and games and will take place from 28 October to 4 November 2022 in Enschede. In 2021, the festival celebrated its tenth anniversary and has grown in that time into a multidisciplinary festival where playfulness is central. In 2022, the theme is HEAL Royale and within this theme The Overkill will programme interactive installations, indie games, a film programme, experimental performances, talks, discussions and a hackathon. With HEAL Royale, The Overkill explores the way technology and digital culture on the one hand expose humans to a constant stream of input and on the other hand provide space for online expression and healing practices. The festival has named three narratives, each linked to game-character archetypes. Technology and spirituality are linked to Healers, and within this line attention will be paid to traditional healthcare, meditative technology and liberating sessions in which expressing pain, frustration and discrimination also have a place in the healing process. The second narrative Digital commoning is linked to the Witches archetype. In this narrative, through online games, online rituals, glitches and indigenous traditions, alternative and radical ways of replacing the prevailing capitalist and binary systems are sought. With the programme Crowds of Sinner, The Overkill focuses on the possibilities of multi-sensory play. Among other things, it reflects on the problematic aspects of digitization and inclusion. Collaboration partners include Roodkapje Rotterdam, Tetem, Design LAB University Twente and Creative Coding Utrecht.

You can view the entire selection here.

numbers

Of the 27 assessed applications, 11 were awarded grants. This brings the percentage of applications receiving grants to 40.7%. The budget available for this first round in 2022 was € 600,000. The budget was distributed over the five parts of the country as follows:
- West € 180,000
- North € 84,000
- East € 84,000
- Middle € 84,000
- South € 84,000
- the Caribbean part of the Kingdom € 84,000

In 2022, one more round is planned for the Festivals and Public Presentations Grant Scheme. The deadline is 12 October.