Fresh Perspectives – 8 projects selected

28 June 2020

The following eight proposals were selected during this round of the Open Call Fresh Perspectives:
• Encounter 8 – Joost van Wijmen and Woonzorggroep Vitalis
• Integrative Hout Werk Plaats – Robin Weidner and Reinaerde De Heygreaff, Woudenberg
• Hennephuizen – Site Practice and Dun Agro Hemp Group
• #YOUTOO? – Anne Ligtenberg and Blauwe Maan
• De kleinkijk academie – Sjaak Langenberg, Rosé de Beer and Gehandicaptenzorgorganisatie Severinus
• De Naaikrans – De Feministische Handwerk Partij and Atria
• Māku – Ann.ID and Samenwerkende Spierfondsen, Yumen Bionics
• Rehearse The Revolution #economy – SPACE and De Herenboeren Nederland

general impression

What stood out during this round was the huge diversity of urgent social issues and themes. A large part of the application focuses on social design or on using design power in complex environments, such as care. Themes vary from sexual abuse to burnout and are set in various contexts, such as youth care and disabled care. For example, Anne Ligtenberg and Mats Horbach have partnered up with care organisation Blauwe Maan to investigate ways to reach silent victims of sexual abuse in unsafe home environments, while social designers Sjaak Langenberg and Rosé de Beer, together with disability organisation Severinus, are developing a new learning programme where care providers are provided with the necessary tools to transform everyday moments into cultural activities.

Many of the projects seek ways to interact and to establish new connections. Examples are: De Naaikrans, Encounters 8 en Integrative Hout Werk Plaats. For De Naaikrans, the Feministische Handwerk Partij is working with the knowledge institute for emancipation and women's history Atria to organise a number of meetings where art & crafts will be combined with sharing underexposed women's histories as well as current issues, such as gender inequality. The project Integrative Hout Werk Plaats also puts crafts and working with your hands centre stage. Designer Robin Weidner wants to make the creative processes more inclusive and will develop a series of workshops in partnership with residential care facility Reinaerde, where Reinaerde residents will have the opportunity to work with wood. In Encounters 8, designer Joost van Wijmen is teaming up with residential group Vitalis to facilitate a number of meetings between elderly people and their environment, with the theme of 'the changing body'. It is the aim of this project to facilitate knowledge sharing between different generations and to develop a social network.

assessment

All applications were submitted to an independent committee consisting of architect, chairperson of Dutch Creative Residency Network and consultant to Raad van Cultuur Martine Zoeteman, researcher and digital culture entrepreneur René Post, designer and lecturer in design research at the Royal Academy of Art Yassine Salihine, and Marieke Rietbergen, founder of the Design Innovation Group. The committee evaluated the applications on the relevance of the project's task, aim and approach, the designers' quality of work and the aim of the collaboration. The applications which were not selected failed to meet one or more of the criteria. Although the majority of applicants cover relevant social issues in their proposal, very few managed to convincingly use their design skills to offer a new perspective.

figures

For the Open Call Fresh Perspectives #4, the Creative Industries Fund accepted 42 applications for consideration. Eight of these applications were approved, resulting in an acceptance rate of 19 per cent. The available budget for this round was € 260,000. In this first phase the maximum grant for each project is € 10,000; the second phase offers a maximum grant of € 30,000 per project. Being awarded a phase 1 grant is no guarantee that a grant will be awarded for phase 2.