United Kingdom

Are you looking for (international) funding? Check our general funding page for different funding guides, grants and open calls, or the digital Cultural Mobility Funding Guide for the Netherlands for regional, private and international (mobility) funding.

In the Netherlands the means for international cultural cooperation are delegated to the national funds. The fund that works for your art form or discipline, has one or several subsidy schemes for internationalisation. To make sure the program fits your project, contact the advisors of the fund before starting the process of application. These are the national funds:

Design, Creative Industries, Architecture, Digital Culture

Creative Industries Fund NL
> International Vouchers
> Internationalization of the Design Sector Grant Scheme

Visual Arts, Heritage

Mondriaan Fund 
> Subsidy for International Art Presentation to present work by living Dutch(-based) artists. For Dutch(-based) artists or internationally recognized art organizations outside the Netherlands.
> Subsidy for International Art Fair/Art Book Fair to present work by living Dutch(-based) artists. For Dutch and non-Dutch galleries, publishers and non-Dutch art fairs.

Theater, Dance, Music

Performing Arts Fund 
> Grants for foreign organisations to invite Dutch(-based) artists
> Internationalisation grants for Dutch(-based) artists

Audiovisual media, Film, Documentary

Dutch Film Fund
The Film Fund has several subsidy schemes to support co-productions and distribution (film & documentary).

Literature

Dutch Foundation for Literature
The Dutch Foundation for Literature has several subsidies for internationalisation:
> Translation grants for foreign publishers
> Travel grants

Participation, Education, Communal arts, Cooperations, Projects with non-professionals

Cultural Participation Fund
> The international collaboration grant is available for all disciplines and designated for finding partners abroad.

Heritage

International Heritage Cooperation is part of the Netherlands’ international cultural policy. The embassies of the Netherlands in the partner countries have a budget for supporting local cultural heritage projects. DutchCulture manages a Matching Fund. Dutch legal entities (companies and registered freelancers) are able to apply for partial funding for an international heritage cooperation project.

DutchCulture supports sustainable Dutch-European heritage cooperation by supporting and facilitating (international) expert meetings and exchanges while underlining the European context of heritage. The Europe + Heritage programme offers advice, a travel grant scheme and a support grant scheme for European heritage cooperation.

More funds

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency is not a national fund but also offers on behalf of various ministries and the European Union subsidies for companies in the creative industries.

The UK has an elaborate system of art subsidies, but in order to be eligible for these financing opportunities it is in most cases necessary to have a UK based partner. Only people or institutions registered in the UK can apply for funding, unless it is noted to be otherwise. Therefore we advise you to ask your British partner organisation to apply for funding in the UK, at the Dutch Funds or at the Embassy of the Netherlands in London.

Besides that the Embassy of the Netherlands in London has an extensive network in the local cultural sector and in-depth knowledge of its cultural institutions, organisations and theatres. The embassy can advise on opportunities for cooperation. In addition, they can provide grants to local cultural institutions that present Dutch cultural works in the United Kingdom. They also help Dutch artists and creative entrepreneurs in increasing their visibility.

Doing your research beforehand and finding local partners is essential. You can use the DutchCulture Database by simply going to the search option in the upper left corner, and search for ´United Kingdom´ or any city you are interested in. This way you will see which Dutch artists are already active in which areas.

DutchCulture also works closely together with On the Move, where you will find an elaborate mapping of funding opportunities. This guide was updated in 2023 and lists national, local and international resources, be they public or private.

It is a good idea to engage local professionals and publicists, that have an understanding of your art discipline, audience and region. There is a growing number of Dutch people living in the United Kingdom and many cities have a Dutch network. Using these existing networks will also help you to promote your work.

Make sure to contact the embassy to let them know about your projects. Do not forget to create a My DC account, where you can add your activities to our Cultural Database. This way you will be included in our database and become part of our network.

Visa

For any information on visa, please consult the website of the UK government. 

Social Security

The website of the Dutch Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) offers a lot of information on social security when working internationally, with specific information for artists. The information is available in five languages.

Taxation

As artists are highly mobile these days, there are specific rules to avoid that one would not pay taxes. Everyone needs to pay income taxes, but when you have earned your income in different countries in which country should you pay? And how can you avoid double taxation?

The Netherlands has tax treaties with a number of countries. In many cases, this means that the taxes you pay in one of the countries are deductible from the taxes you owe in another country, or that you are exempt from paying certain taxes. Here you can find an overview of the countries with which the Netherlands has a treaty.

The rules and regulations for working in the UK have changed with Brexit. For tips and tricks, please find the podcast we made on this topic.

Through the DutchCulture Database you can figure out which artists from the Netherlands have worked at which venues, and start your research there. Go to the search icon on the upper left corner of the website, and search by discipline, country and city.

For residencies the organisation TransArtists, which is also a part of DutchCulture, is a great research tool. In order to successfully build an international career, and in order to find sustainable partners in a country, it is always wise to spend more than a few days somewhere. Residencies, which can last from a couple of weeks up to several months, can help you achieve this.

For news from the British cultural sector, see Arts Council England. For more specifics on Dutch-British cultural cooperation, see the social media accounts of the Dutch Embassy in the United Kingdom, and subscibe to their newsletter through sending an email to lon-ppc@minbuza.nl.

The UK left the European Union on 1 January 2021. How does that influence cultural cooperations?

And what happens next? There are several scenarios possible and the impact on cultural cooperations differs in the respective options.

Below we collected some useful links for you:

• A very clear Brexit Q&A can be found on the website of the Dutch government. In Dutch here, in English here)

• Read the latest news about the negotiations on the future partnership between the European Union and the United Kingdom.

• You find here several factsheets about the consequences of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union.