Prince Claus Fund

Prince Claus Fund An independent foundation dedicated to culture and development. The Prince Claus Fund believes that culture is a basic need. Join us in moving forward.

We enable artists and cultural practitioners to work freely & without restrictions creating culture that inspires positive social change, leading to a future that is equitable, inclusive, peaceful, and environmentally sustainable. The Fund was established as a tribute to HRH Prince Claus's dedication to culture and development more than 25 ago. Now, we are a forerunner in the unrestricted funding field, fostering meaningful connections within a worldwide community of creative changemakers. Through our Awards, we amplify young & emerging talent, accelerate future leaders and recognise change makers where cultural expression is under pressure. Contribute to a world where culture is a basic need.

Meet the 2026 Seed Awardees🌱100 emerging artists are bringing bold new perspectives to a world in motion: reexamining hi...
08/10/2026

Meet the 2026 Seed Awardees🌱

100 emerging artists are bringing bold new perspectives to a world in motion: reexamining histories, addressing the climate emergency, creating space for q***r expression, and imagining what an open & free world can look like.

From Latin America and the Caribbean to Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, their practices reflect diverse cultural landscapes and lived experiences.

The Seed Award provides €5,000 in unrestricted funding, alongside global recognition and opportunities, supporting experimental, critical, and community-oriented artistic work.

Through performance, film, sound art, photography, visual art, literature, and interdisciplinary practices, these 100 inspiring artists each carry a story rooted in their community, yet resonating far beyond it.

Explore the full list of 2026 Seed Awardees and discover their practices: shorturl.at/wzcuU.

The 2026 Seed Award is partially made possible thanks to the generous support from Ing Yoe Tan Fund & Hawthornden Foundation.

On 22 and 23 October, our Exchanges programme takes over Amsterdam Dance Event for two gatherings, creating a space for ...
08/10/2026

On 22 and 23 October, our Exchanges programme takes over Amsterdam Dance Event for two gatherings, creating a space for meaningful connections and exploring how we can support creative ecosystems.

𝟐𝟐 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝟐𝟎:𝟑𝟎-𝟐𝟏:𝟑𝟎 Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam

Join us at The Bookshop at ITA for “An Encounter in Three Parts”, an intimate gathering featuring Seed Awardees Lady Donli and Raiany Sinara. The two artists treat sound and storytelling as sites of study for navigating inheritance, collective memory, and cultural transformation. First, Lady Donli will open the space with an artistic statement created specifically for the occasion, setting the frequency for the evening. We then shift into a deeper conversation moderated by ITA programmer Richard Kofi, looking closely at the creative practices that shape their work. Lastly, Raiany Sinara presents a sonic performance responding to the opening statement.

𝟐𝟑 𝐎𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝟏𝟏:𝟏𝟓 - 𝟏𝟐:𝟎𝟎 Felix Meritis

Be part of “The City, The World, The Artist: Culture as a Lifeline”, a panel talk moderated by Ruth Daniel, artistic director of the international NGO In Place of War, and bringing together once again Lady Donli and Raiany Sinara. Alongside Araf Ahmadali, director of the Department of Arts & Culture of the City of Amsterdam, and Tessa Giller, Head of Strategy at the Prince Claus Fund, they will discuss trust-based support in challenging contexts, as well as how cultural funding can create space for artists to shape their own future. Please note that an ADE Pro Pass is required to attend this panel.

Exchanges is our programme connecting Prince Claus Seed Awardees with Amsterdam's cultural field, made possible through the generous support of the Gemeente Amsterdam.

Discover the full programme here: https://shorturl.at/qBaV0

What is the common thread bringing together two different practices?As part of Exchanges with Unfair, we brought togethe...
05/10/2026

What is the common thread bringing together two different practices?

As part of Exchanges with Unfair, we brought together two Seed Awardees from our global network: Georgian artist Gvantsa Jishkariani and Kazakh artist Aiganym Mukhamejan.

Though their practices take very different forms, both artists engage with contested histories, cultural memory and questions of identity. Gvantsa reworks Soviet propaganda, traditional crafts and popular imagery, while Aiganym works with her own body and persona. Across both practices, humour and irony become ways to approach subjects that can be difficult to address directly.

Their encounter unfolded at Unfair, the non-profit, artist-driven platform and contemporary art fair supporting emerging artists and connecting them with audiences, collectors and cultural institutions across Amsterdam.

Under this year’s theme, “Back to the Future”, their participation in Exchanges culminated in the artist talk “Patriotic subjectivity: On humour & politics”, a conversation about how humour can unsettle, question and reshape the ways we relate to politics and belonging.

Exchanges is made possible through the generous support of the Gemeente Amsterdam

Images by Almicheal Fraay.

This November, we’re celebrating 30 years of Prince Claus Fund with a week of gatherings, conversations, performances, s...
01/10/2026

This November, we’re celebrating 30 years of Prince Claus Fund with a week of gatherings, conversations, performances, stories, and encounters, bringing our global community together to reflect on where we’ve come from and imagine what comes next.

Guided by the vision of our 2026 Impact Awardee kąrî’kạchä seid’ou, this year’s Awards Week programme explores community as practice, as something that isn’t fixed but as something we collectively make and remake each day.

And there are plenty of ways to join us!

𝟐𝟒 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠
Join long-term Prince Claus Fund collaborator, designer and bookmaker Irma Boom at EENWERK for an afternoon of conversation, exhibition, and hands-on bookmaking, exploring how publishing can preserve stories together with International Advisory Board Member Maya El Khalil.

𝟐𝟓 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲
At Paradiso Amsterdam, co-curated and facilitated by Russel Hlongwane “Into archival practices” brings together Prince Claus partners Archival Consciousness, Mezrab and Vlisco Netherlands B.V , alongside Prince Claus Awardees Rabiul Khan, Nova Ruth and Dicky Takndare, for conversations and explorations of cultural memory, heritage, archives and community-based knowledge.

𝟐𝟔 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 (invitation-only)
At Royal Palace Amsterdam, we honour the 2026 Impact Awardee kàri’kachà seĩd’ou and featuring Dr. Adjo Daiki Apodey Kisser & performances and talks by members of our global network, including Leonel Vásquez, Khtek, Lapdiang Syem, and the 2026 Impact Award Jury members Ibrahim Mahama, Daniela Ortiz, and Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy.

𝟐𝟕 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞
Visit “Far and Familiar” at Domo, a curation by Ala Kheir and Building Beyond Senior Fellow Ola Hassanain featuring Sudanese photographers from the Arab Documentary Photography Program exploring a country in transformation through documentary and lyrical approaches to photography.

𝟐𝟖 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 | 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐠𝐢𝐟𝐭
Impact Symposium at Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam featuring kaɽiʹkačha seiʹou and his collective blaxTARLINES KUMASI, alongside Impact Award jury members Ibrahim Mahama, Daniela Ortiz and Fatima Bintou Rassoul Sy.

Come celebrate, exchange, and imagine with us.

Discover the full Prince Claus Awards Week programme and RSVP for all public events: shorturl.at/3epGs.

Thank you to our partners: Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Postcode Loterij, Gemeente Amsterdam, Luxury Hotels of Amsterdam, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Belvedere Vodka, AFAC - The Arab Fund for Arts and Culture, Magnum Foundation, Mezrab, Amerpodia, EventTouch, VETTE Projects, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Rode Hoed, JCDecaux, Holland Herald and amsterdam&partners.

2015 Prince Claus Awardee Newsha Tavakolian is one of Iran’s most influential photojournalists. She started photographin...
29/09/2026

2015 Prince Claus Awardee Newsha Tavakolian is one of Iran’s most influential photojournalists. She started photographing her country’s ordinary life and social movements at the age of sixteen, eventually acquiring international recognition. In a new impact story for the Prince Claus Fund, she sat down with photographer and cultural programmer Bayryam Bayryamali to share some insights into her career.

Throughout the interview, Newsha talks about her latest book And they laughed at me, in which she unburies some of her most personal work, images that were never meant to be shown to the public before. This new approach responds to a recent creative breakthrough. As a young artist, she patiently waited for the decisive moment that would bring her the perfect picture. However, as she developed her photography over the years, she came to appreciate the hidden emotional truth in damaged prints, torn photographs, contact sheets, and overexposed negatives. According to her, “they reveal hesitation, time, loss, and the fact that memory is never complete.”

In this impact story, Newsha reveals that she does not merely aim to speak to an international audience, as she also delivers a strong message to Iranians themselves. In her own words: “(The book) is a reminder of a country that too easily forgets its own past. I hope it encourages people to look back, to recognize those who came before them, and to understand that today's struggles are part of a much longer history.”

Read the full impact story here: https://shorturl.at/a7QQV.

Cover photo courtesy of Newsha Tavakolian.

From 1 to 7 September, we brought the Exchanges programme to Buro Stedelijk gathering Prince Claus Seed Awardees—Dhiraj ...
24/09/2026

From 1 to 7 September, we brought the Exchanges programme to Buro Stedelijk gathering Prince Claus Seed Awardees—Dhiraj Rhabha, Bui Bao Tram, and Dicky Takndare—and local practitioners—Nathalie Muchamad and Tumelo Mthimkulu—in Amsterdam for a week of collaborative workshops, shared discussions, and public events.

Centred around Buro Stedelijk’s current exhibition “Names in Our Veins”, featuring 2014 Prince Claus Awardee FX Harsono alongside Vincent Ruijters, the week became a gathering point that brought together Amsterdam’s diverse artistic community across generations and diasporas.

While the artists engaged in collaborative sessions throughout the city, key moments included a dinner workshop by Nathalie Muchamad hosted in Hartwig Proxy, a studio visit with Vincent Ruijters, a propaganda poster workshop by Bui Bao Tram, a masterclass by FX Harsono and an afterparty at Sexyland World.

Exchanges is made possible through the generous support of Gemeente Amsterdam.

Discover more about the Exchanges programme: shorturl.at/sGFYC.

Images by Peter Tijhuis and Tulip Utomo.

This September, our Exchanges programme lands at Unfair 2026, bringing together two Seed Awardees: Gvantsa Jishkariani (...
15/09/2026

This September, our Exchanges programme lands at Unfair 2026, bringing together two Seed Awardees: Gvantsa Jishkariani (Georgia) and Aiganym Mukhamejan (Kazakhstan).

On Sunday, 20 September, from 14:00–15:00, we’ll host the artist talk “Patriotic subjectivity: on humour and politics”, a conversation between the two participating artists.

Learn more & grab your ticket here: shorturl.at/BTqlx.

The conversation traces a common thread in Gvantsa and Aiganym’s practices: the use of wit and pop sensibility as political tools.

Gvantsa Jishkariani draws on Soviet-era propaganda and traditional craft to explore precarity and collective memory, using sharp wit to re-examine Georgia’s Soviet past and pull apart the narratives that propaganda leaves behind.

Aiganym Mukhamejan uses ironic self-portraiture and neo-folklore to navigate the contradictions of contemporary Kazakh identity, weaving together ecological grief, bodily ritual, and the language of everyday life.

Their practices are rooted in contested histories, the politics of the body, and the resilience of cultural memory, making this conversation a chance to explore how humour, irony, and popular culture can become tools for questioning the stories we inherit.

Join us!

Exchanges is made possible through the generous support of Gemeente Amsterdam.

Take a look back at our 30th Anniversary Celebration Dinner hosted by De L'Europe Amsterdam! Thank you to all our partne...
11/09/2026

Take a look back at our 30th Anniversary Celebration Dinner hosted by De L'Europe Amsterdam! Thank you to all our partners and friends who joined us and celebrated 30 years of global connections, supporting cultural changemakers under pressure.

The evening featured a speech by our Director Hendrikje Crebolder, an intimate fashion presentation by South African designer and Building Beyond Fellow, klein MUIS, we heard from FX Harsono, our 2014 Awardee, who was part of the Exchanges with Buro Stedelijk programme, reflecting on the impact of the Prince Claus Fund on generations to come. The evening was marked by the special announcement of our 2026 Impact Awardee, kąrî'kạchä seid'ou.

Steven Collet, Deputy Director-General for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reflected on the role artists can play in helping us understand and navigate the world:

“Artists can see things that diplomats sometimes cannot. They challenge the categories through which we understand the world. They preserve memory when others prefer forgetting. They imagine futures before policy makers have found the language to describe them. Let us regard them as guides.”

Constantijn Van Oranje-Nassau, Honorary Chair of our Board, took us back thirty years, sharing personal memories of his father, HRH Prince Claus, and what the Fund meant to him.

We want to thank Hotel de L'Europe for hosting this wonderful night, as well as our long-standing partners who trusted us along the way- the Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken, Postcode Loterij, Gemeente Amsterdam, as well as many corporates and individuals!

For many more years to come together. Because culture is a basic need.

All images are by Catalina Reyes Navarro.

Cycle 5 of the CAREC Fellows Award has come to the end of its Lab Week in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, centred on the theme “Art...
09/09/2026

Cycle 5 of the CAREC Fellows Award has come to the end of its Lab Week in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, centred on the theme “Artistic Practices as Pedagogies for Collective Consciousness.” Co-curated with the Bishkek School of Contemporary Art (BiSCA), the programme explored how artists and cultural workers shape the ways we understand reality and respond to the climate crisis.

Last week, we caught you up on the first part of the cohort’s Lab Week. This time, we would like to highlight the workshops prepared by the artists and Senior Fellows for the collective gathering at Bulbul Art Residency, where they shared approaches to creating and exchanging knowledge through art and culture.

The workshops form part of CAREC’s own pedagogical approach, which places learning and knowledge-sharing at the heart of artistic practice. Developed exclusively for the gathering, they were informed by the understanding that the climate crisis is also a crisis of meaning, as highlighted by former CAREC Fellow Diego Gutiérrez Valladares. Each group worked from a single concept, asking how we can share experiences without reducing their complexity or openness, and how artistic practices can engage with the ongoing processes through which we make meaning in a changing world.

The explorations resulted in three experiences:

“Contamino-ke — Sounds of Contamination” explored what we consider contamination within our artistic practices and how it can become a starting point for collaboration and reciprocity.

“TOXI###” invited participants to dwell on and examine the different forms of toxicity that infiltrate our lives.

“Spice Remains” centred on the concept of remains and leftovers, looking at what persists after processes of transformation, consumption and the passage of time.

We would like to warmly thank all the CAREC artists who made this week possible, alongside our Senior Fellows and all the collaborators who contributed to the Lab Week — especially our friends and collaborators at BiSCA, whose care, knowledge and generosity were an integral part of the experience.

Today, we celebrate 30 years of the Prince Claus Fund – and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Prince Claus!To mark t...
06/09/2026

Today, we celebrate 30 years of the Prince Claus Fund – and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Prince Claus!

To mark this special occasion, our Director Hendrikje Crebolder sat down with Prince Constantijn, Honorary Chair of the Prince Claus Fund Board, to reflect on his father’s ideas and philosophy, the legacy they inspired, and the future of the Fund. You can read their conversation in Harper's BAZAAR NL: www.harpersbazaar.com/nl/cultuur-reizen/a73601164/prins-claus-fonds/

“Culture already is a basic need. It is part of our society’s DNA, perhaps more than we realise. We are immersed in culture every single minute of our day...” reflects Prince Constantijn, adding that culture is about understanding – and understanding leads to trust.

Trust has become one of the main pillars of the Prince Claus Fund. Over the past 30 years, we have built a global community of more than 50,000 artists and cultural changemakers, who continue to inspire us to imagine better futures.

In an increasingly divided world, building personal and cultural connections is more essential than ever. Just as we invest in diplomatic and trade relations, we must invest in cultural relations – they are fundamental to the future of a connected and humane global society.

And, as Hendrikje Crebolder highlights, the work is far from finished. We need to strengthen and expand these connections. Through freedom of expression and cultural exchange, we can build understanding across differences, create lasting connections and help shape the fabric of society – while continuing to advocate for culture as a basic need.

Today, just as 30 years ago, we remain inspired by Prince Claus’s ideas and philosophy: bringing people together across cultures, perspectives and borders. It is our legacy – and it is our future.

We thank for the support and trust Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken Postcode Loterij Gemeente Amsterdam, as well as all private companies and individuals who have been with us!

Photos courtesy of Vincent Mentzel and the Prince Claus Fund archive.

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