Deadline: 08-Oct-2025
The Creative Industries Fund NL has announced a grant scheme for cultural institutions and organizations aimed at organizing festivals within the context of the Dutch creative industry that serve an important public function.
The scheme contributes to promoting a healthy and innovative design infrastructure. The festivals contribute to widening the audience reach, interest in, and development of the fields of design, architecture, and/or digital culture.
This scheme is intended for cultural institutions or organizations that are demonstrably positioned within the creative industry. Applicants must be registered with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce or one of the Business Registers that fall within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Not eligible for a grant are applicants financed through the Grant Scheme for Basic Cultural Infrastructure, those with another structural grant relationship with the central government, or educational institutions.
The grant request must be between a minimum of €1,350,000 and a maximum of €85,000. The festival must contribute to strengthening the fields of design, architecture, and/or digital culture and take place within the Kingdom. With the exception of festivals in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the event must have an audience strategy aimed at reaching at least 1,000 physical visitors per edition.
An application is submitted via the Fund’s application platform in Dutch or English. It must include a fully completed application form, a project plan, a balanced budget and funding plan, and a communication plan. The application must also contain a digitally certified extract from the Business Register and a representative image of the festival for communication purposes.
Applications are assessed by an independent advisory committee based on four equally weighted criteria: the festival’s contribution to strengthening public interest in the region, its significance for the creative industry, the effectiveness of its design and the support it has created and the business health of the organization. Applications with an average score of 3 or higher are considered positively assessed. Within each of the five regions and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the two highest-valued, positively assessed applications are first eligible for a grant. The remaining budget is used for other positively assessed applications.
The board will inform the applicant of its decision within eleven weeks after the final submission date. The scheme came into effect on September 1, 2025, and will expire on January 1, 2029. In all public statements about the funded activities, the grant recipient must mention the Creative Industries Fund NL as the grant provider. The application closes on 8 October 2025.
For more information, visit Creative Industries Fund NL.
