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Pynarello & Kika Sprangers at the celebration of 50 Years Erasmus Huis, 2021.
We offer tailored support to every diplomatic mission in a focal country. Our Focal Countries Desk works primarily with our country advisors to ensure optimum service. The Focal Countries Desk comprises a secretarial co-worker plus two advisors.
General information supply
The Focal Countries Desk fulfils the general information need of the diplomatic mission network in the focal countries. This can vary from information about funding schemes, the Dutch cultural infrastructure and international networks, to residencies, EU programmes and heritage. We also keep you updated on thematic, multi-country programmes, relevant developments in the Dutch cultural sector, and best practices in the field of international cooperation. To this end, we send you a newsletter especially for the diplomatic missions in the focal countries and invite you for a series of online informative sessions, for which you can register.
Contact: for general queries, please contact the secretariat of the Focal Countries Desk.
Country pages
To stimulate and provide insight into Dutch collaborative ventures with the 24 focal countries, we maintain a country page for each focal country. Each page contains information about the multi-annual plans, large programmes, FAQs and a searchable database of the Dutch activities in the country concerned. In addition, we are continually updating our COVID-19 country pages so that the cultural field remains aware of local developments, which might have an impact on planning, activities and collaboration.
DutchCulture database
In 2021, the database of Dutch activities abroad will be automated by means of a data scraper. This will reduce the burden of manual entry and should ensure a higher coverage ratio. We will supplement the online database with the data previously collected about Dutch cultural activities abroad in the period from 2000 to 2017. This will facilitate the performance of historical analyses and the identification of multi-year trends.
Contact: our data specialist Erin Chang is your contact person for the DutchCulture database. For purposes of for instance analysis or presentation, she will share with you upon request the most recent overviews and (responsive) infographics for each focal country, based on specified criteria (e.g. time interval, disciplines and/or location). She will also contact you 2 to 3 times a year to supplement the collected data with your own information.
Country teams
In 2021 we started performing secretarial services for the 23 (now 24) country teams, which consist of the diplomatic missions and (some of) the other parties implementing the international cultural policy. We can assist you with holding (online) meetings with the country teams, for instance in scheduling, organising and reporting on the meetings. In most cases, this will involve a small number of larger and smaller meetings per year, depending on the Dutch cultural programming and activities in a particular country. In consultation with a diplomatic mission, we can also facilitate expert meetings on a specific topic in order to promote collaboration with the focal country concerned.
Contact: would you like to convene a country team meeting or expert meeting (online)? Please contact the Focal Countries Desk, and we will provide for further organisation in consultation with you.
(Online) visitors programmes and country events
To consolidate or expand the cultural network with focal countries, we organise (online) visitors programmes (buitenlandse bezoekersprogramma’s, BBPs). These include multi-sectoral BBPs and BBPs for heritage professionals. Additionally, we offer a series of country events in the form of (interactive) live casts or webinars. These serve as a source of knowledge and inspiration for people engaging in cultural collaboration with the focal countries. In 2021 we initially concentrated on online programmes, but depending on the possibilities and developments, we may continue with hybrid forms or in-person meetings. The number of programmes we can offer is limited, so we will need to make well-considered choices with a view to topical developments, relevance and opportunities for the cultural field.
Contact: do you have any wishes or suggestions for visitors and events? The Focal Countries Desk or your regular contact person is happy to receive them (at any time throughout the year).
Requests for advice
We welcome all requests from diplomatic missions for advice, matching and similar matters to support collaboration and the network. Our advisors are eager to apply their knowledge, expertise and connections to help you. Besides the diplomatic mission network, we also advise the cultural field in the Netherlands and the focal countries about international collaboration. Parties can arrange an advisory meeting through our Mobility Info Point and/or with the country advisers that we have for a number of countries.
Contact: to request advice, please contact your regular contact person. It is also possible to refer Dutch or local makers and cultural organisations in the focal countries to us for advice, via the Focal Countries Desk and/or directly via our country advisors.
