Deadline: 08-Oct-2025
The Creative Industries Fund NL is offering designers and makers in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean the opportunity to strengthen their practice by working on a distinctive strategy for a future-proof practice.
The call focusses on reflection, positioning and development – the role you want to take up in your area of expertise and the strategy you need to strengthen or redefine your position. It encourages both individuals and collectives to apply, with special attention given to the changing design practice, in which themes such as collectivity, shared learning and interdisciplinary collaboration plays an increasingly large role. With this open call, the Fund contributes to promoting one of the Fund’s objectives, namely a healthy, reflective and innovative design infrastructure.
The total available budget for this open call is €200,000. Individual designers can apply for a maximum of €8,250, while duos can receive up to €9,500. For collectives of three or more, the first designer is eligible for €5,000, and every subsequent designer can apply for €3,250, with a maximum grant of €24,500 based on a group of seven designers. Larger collectives can also participate, but they will not be awarded beyond the maximum amount. The grant period is set at a maximum of 12 months.
Eligibility is open to makers and designers in the Netherlands and the Dutch Caribbean who have had their professional practice for at least three years. This includes practitioners in design, architecture, digital culture, and cross-overs such as landscape architects, graphic designers, urban designers, product designers, interior designers, fashion designers, digital storytellers, sound designers, jewellery designers, illustrators, and many other subdisciplines. Applicants can apply individually, as a duo, or as part of a temporary or established collective, with specific requirements for Chamber of Commerce registration extracts depending on the structure of the application. Designers who received support after 2020 under similar open calls are excluded unless they apply as part of a collective with a different development goal. Grants will not be awarded to applicants already funded under another active application with the Creative Industries Fund NL.
This opportunity focuses on designers who wish to deepen, position, or renew their practice by working on their professionalisation. The Fund explicitly encourages collaborations and offers scope for processes such as working on shared issues, exchanging knowledge, and exploring strategic or artistic directions. Applications may address various forms of professionalisation, such as repositioning practice towards another target group or sector, developing a long-term collective vision or strategy, setting up interdisciplinary cooperation around shared themes, strengthening networks and visibility, exploring new revenue models, or deepening working methods through reflection, coaching, or shared learning.
The contribution can be used to cover the hours invested in professionalisation processes, engaging specific knowledge or guidance, travel expenses, and costs for sharing or documenting outcomes, such as publications, podcasts, or presentations. However, regular operating costs, standard corporate identity development, simple website creation, legal advice, or the development of specific design projects are excluded from funding.
Applications will be assessed by a committee of independent advisers based on four main criteria: the relevance and acuity of the professionalisation issue, the quality of the plan of action in relation to intended results, artistic quality and positioning within the creative industry, and the quality of collaboration and division of roles.
The application package must include a completed application form, a project plan of no more than four pages, a one-page schedule, a balanced budget of up to two pages, CVs, portfolios, a collaboration agreement for duos or collectives, and one or more certified Chamber of Commerce extracts. Optional letters of intent from advisers or coaches can also be attached. The deadline for applications is 8 October 2025.
For more information, visit Creative Industries Fund NL.
