Your partners in the Netherlands

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (BZ) including Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation (BHOS) is the channel through which the Dutch government communicates with foreign governments and international organisations. It coordinates and carries out Dutch foreign policy. The Ministry encompasses two parts: its headquarters in The Hague and its missions abroad (embassies, consulates, and permanent representations).

Worldwide, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has some 150 embassies, consulates-general and permanent representations to international organisations. It also has 345 honorary consulates.

Within the ministry, the International Cultural Policy Unit (ICE, Eenheid Internationaal Cultuurbeleid) is responsible for the coordination, monitoring and evaluation of this policy. ICE is your first point of contact. Its director is also the Netherlands’ Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, currently Dewi van de Weerd. The position of Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation was created in 1980, in response to the Ministry’s increasing focus on international cultural policy.

Website: Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Government.nl or Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken | Rijksoverheid.nl

The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) works to create a smart, skilled and creative environment in the Netherlands. Its mission is to ensure that everyone gets a good education and is prepared for responsibility and independence. The Ministry also wants people to enjoy the arts and aims to create the right conditions for teachers, artists and researchers to do their work.

Website: Ministry of Education, Culture and Science | Government.nl or Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap | Rijksoverheid.nl

At both ministries you will find contact persons for each focal country, see list of contact persons for focal countries in Dutch International Cultural Policy at BZ, OCW (and DutchCulture).

The Performing Arts Fund NL is the cultural fund for music, music theatre, dance, theatre and festivals in the Netherlands. The Fund supports all forms of professional performing arts. Special attention is paid to internationalisation and pluralism among companies, venues and audiences. The Fund can award a grant to venues and festivals abroad to support the programming of performances and concerts by Dutch companies, ensembles and performers.

The Cultural Participation Fund encourages people to actively engage with culture and is tasked with making culture accessible to everyone. The Fund focuses on cultural participation, intangible heritage and cultural education, promoting a culture that invites and facilitates everyone’s participation.

The Netherlands Film Fund is the national agency responsible for supporting film production and film-related activities in the Netherlands. Its focus is to develop and strengthen Dutch cinema and film culture both domestically and internationally. The Fund does so by offering a variety of selective support schemes, cash rebates on production costs, and financial research-support for international production companies.

The Dutch Foundation For Literature is tasked with supporting writers and translators, and with promoting Dutch literature abroad. It invests in the quality and diversity of literature through grants for writers, translators, publishers and festivals, and contributes to the production and distribution of Dutch and Frisian literature at home and abroad. The Fund aims to promote a thriving literary climate, embedded in literary history and attuned to the latest developments in the publishing industry.

The Mondriaan Fund is the public fund for visual art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands. It supports plans, projects and programmes of artists, exhibition makers and critics, museums and other art and heritage institutions, and publishers and commissioning clients. All contributions reinforce the production or presentation of art and heritage from the Netherlands, both at home and abroad. The Fund offers a range of possible grants for artists, museums, galleries and curators. There are contributions for talent development as well as the in-depth development of artists, exhibition makers and critics. For museums and other art and heritage institutions, there are contributions for commissions, programming and collections.

The Creative Industries Fund NL is the Dutch cultural fund for architecture, design and digital culture, as well as every imaginable crossover. The Fund strives to make a substantial contribution to the quality of professional design practice. Part of this endeavour is the interdisciplinary interplay between the cultural, social and economic domains. The Fund supports exceptional and innovative projects and activities of designers, makers and cultural institutions in the creative industries. The aim of all the grants and programmes is to enrich the creative sector and through cooperation to stimulate a culture and knowledge-driven creative economy.

EYE Film Institute of the Netherlands / See NL assists film professionals with a wide range of services and products. Programmers, researchers, filmmakers and film restorers can turn to EYE for research, rentals, and expertise in the field of promotion. EYE rents out films, distributes classic and experimental films, develops educational programmes, and maintains the largest film library in the Netherlands. For questions regarding Dutch participation at film festivals in your country, EYE can help you with finding titles available in different languages, copyrights, etcetera.

Het Nieuwe Instituut aims to increase the appreciation of the cultural and social significance of architecture, design and digital culture and to strengthen the interaction between these disciplines. Het Nieuwe Instituut moderates, stimulates and facilitates debate about architecture, design and digital culture through research and a public programme. You can also contact them with requests on architecture biennials.

De Boekmanstichting (Boekman Foundation) collects and disseminates knowledge and information about the arts and culture in both policy and practice. It stimulates research and the development of opinion on the production, distribution and take-up of the arts and on national and international policy regarding arts and culture.

DEN is the knowledge institute for digitisation in the cultural sector. DEN supports culture-producing and heritage-managing organisations to jointly contribute to the information society through digital collection formation, archiving and services. DEN helps cultural institutions to utilise digital and new opportunities and possibilities, as they believe that cultural institutions have a unique role in telling stories, reflecting on complex situations and helping us understand the society we live in.

LKCA (Landelijk Kennisinstituut Cultuureducatie en Amateurkunst, National Knowledge Institute for Cultural Education and Amateur Art) is devoted to promoting cultural education, cultural participation and the accessibility of culture. LKCA stimulates cultural and creative development for everyone, regardless of cultural background, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, socio-economic status, education level or age. The organisation operates in various domains: culture, education, care, welfare, science.

Cultuur+Ondernemen (Culture+Entrepreneurship) is the knowledge platform for entrepreneurship in the cultural and creative sector. The organisation supports cultural organisations and independently working artists and creatives who want to do business, so that they can flourish and society can benefit optimally. To this end, Cultuur+Ondernemen works with public authorities and funds to boost the effects of their cultural policy and investments. The platform focuses on three areas: governance, business development and finance, based on the belief that expertise in these areas is necessary for successful entrepreneurship.

The International Heritage Cooperation programme (IHC) (the former Shared Cultural Heritage programme) is part of the Netherlands’ international cultural policy. How does the history of the Netherlands as a world nation continue to influence Dutch society and our international relations? The language we speak, the food we eat, the buildings that surround us and the stories we pass on bear many traces of a shared history with other countries, among them Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Japan, Russia, Suriname, Sri Lanka, the United States and South Africa. The Netherlands is now working with these countries to explore and preserve the significance of these historical links for future generations. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Archives of the Netherlands, the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, the Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage, DutchCulture, Dutch embassies and various organisations in the partner countries are collaborating in this programme.

The Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed) focuses on tangible heritage, in particular built heritage, historical landscapes, archaeology and museum collections. The Agency does do by offering trainings, workshops and co-creation labs; network, stakeholder and expert meetings; knowledge products (such as handbooks) and general advice. In the international field, it supports a worldwide heritage community in which professionals can connect, learn from each other and develop knowledge together towards finding solutions to shared challenges.  

International Heritage Cooperation Policy Note 2021-2024

Shared past - New perspectives. Shared Cultural Heritage programme 2017-2020

The National Archives of the Netherlands (Nationaal Archief) holds over 3.5 million records that have been collected by the central government, organisations and individuals and are of national significance. In the international field, the National Archives aims to stimulate international and interdisciplinary (historical) research, improve the accessibility of international heritage archives, increase the visibility and awareness of heritage and history, and to support Dutch and international heritage professionals and organisations in the field of restoration, conservation and digitisation.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland, KIEN) aims to promote intangible cultural heritage and to make it accessible, to stimulate and professionalise the sector, and to encourage the public’s participation. The Centre initiates activities aimed at the preservation, management and development of intangible cultural heritage in the Netherlands. It strengthens the sector and helps communities to safeguard their intangible cultural heritage while continuing to grow and develop.

The Prince Claus Fund (Prins Claus Fonds) is an NGO supporting arts and culture in countries where cultural expression is under pressure. Its mission is to support, honour and connect artists and cultural practitioners in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe, especially in countries or regions where cultural expression is under pressure. It seeks to realise a world where cultural expression is free and valued. The Fund supports cultural projects across the world and annually grants Prince Claus Awards that are designed to support artists and cultural practitioners in different ways at crucial stages in their professional careers.

Creative NL is a public-private organization, and an initiative of the Dutch creative industry made possible by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Climate and realized by CLICKNL in cooperation with its partners.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland, RVO) supports entrepreneurs, NGOs, knowledge institutes and organisations. It aims to facilitate entrepreneurship, improve collaborations, strengthen positions and help realise national and international ambitions with funding, networking, know-how and compliance with laws and regulations. RVO is a government agency that operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy. Its activities are commissioned by the various Dutch ministries and the European Union.