The Support Fund for Ukrainian Artists is now open for applications. The Dutch cabinet earlier announced that a million euro would be set aside this year to give temporary support to artists who were forced to flee their country after the Russian attack on Ukraine and are living in the Netherlands. The Support Fund is intended for both individual artists and groups. Applications can be made through the Dutch Foundation for Literature, via this website.
Applications can be submitted by a Dutch legal entity, for instance a cultural organisation or institution, on behalf of, and with the consent of, an individual artist or a group of artists. The Dutch organisation can either submit applications for a maximum of three individual artists from Ukraine or Russia or submit one application for a group of a maximum of fifteen people. The artist(s) should have at least three years of professional work experience in their discipline. All disciplines qualify: film, performing arts, visual arts, creative industries (including architecture and design), cultural education, cultural heritage and literature.
Those eligible are artists with a Ukrainian passport who were living in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 and are now living in the Netherlands or who will travel to the Netherlands for their project.
The support programme can also provide support to independent or dissident artists with a Russian passport who were living in Russia on 24 February 2022 and are now living in the Netherlands. Russian refugees are required to go through the general immigration or asylum process in the Netherlands; this may include a screening of their background.
This year the Support Fund will enable at least 95 artists who have fled to the Netherlands to continue their work here. A maximum of € 9,000 is available per artist. Applications are considered in the order in which they arrive, according to the date on which the complete application is received. The programme will be open until 15 November 2022 or will close sooner, should the total budget of € 945,000 already have been allocated.
Financial resources for the Support Fund have been made available by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ). The programme is administered by the Dutch Foundation for Literature, in collaboration with the other Dutch national cultural foundations (the Mondriaan Fund, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Performing Arts Fund NL and the Cultural Participation Fund).
The details and the application form are available on this website under the heading Subsidies, including a summary in English. Applications can be made in Dutch or English by the legal entity based in the Netherlands.
