Our history

people joined us in Amsterdam to celebrate during our Awards Week.

“By making international artistic exchanges possible, the Prince Claus Fund connects the world to Amsterdam – and Amsterdam to the world.”

Touria Meliani, Deputy Mayor for Arts and Culture, Inclusion, Anti-Discrimination and Events in the City of Amsterdam.

One standout initiative this year was an online edition of the “Funding Demystified” workshop—a four-part course designed to equip artists with essential grant application skills. To extend the impact of this workshop, the facilitators’ script and slides were published as an open-source handbook, allowing artists and cultural organizers to adapt the material to their own contexts.

“As a Sudanese single mother navigating life in Cairo, the Seed Award has been transformative. It provided me with the means to secure stable housing for my child and me, giving us a foundation of safety and peace.”

Spanning diverse fields such as poetry, performance art, filmmaking, and visual art, the six inspiring 2024 Impact Awardees embody the transformative power of culture while addressing pressing political and environmental issues, exploring queer identity, and empowering communities.

In 2024, we facilitated two Mobile Labs: the first one took us to Brazil, where indigenous leader and 2022 Impact Awardee Ailton Krenak co-curated an inspiring programme, while the second Lab took place in Senegal, where renowned filmmaker and 2022 Impact Awardee Alain Gomis curated a diverse lineup of activities, including film screenings, hands-on workshops, a live concert, and engaging public events.

“I love that Prince Claus treats awardees like a community. I especially appreciated the opportunities shared with me and the warm reception from anyone I have contact with.”

In collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, we presented "Art for Climate Justice — Reimagining Sustainable Futures", a week of exchanges, connections, and inspirations in Belém do Pará, Brazil, culminating in a public event that explored alternative solutions for the climate crisis rooted in artistic practices and ancestral knowledge.

people reached through media outlets featuring the Prince Claus Fund.

“Now, more so than ever, it is imperative to amplify Palestinian narratives, and to support those currently documenting the ongoing atrocities.”

Participants of the Fellows Award Arab Documentary Photography Programme (ADPP) who collectively showed solidarity with the people of Gaza and their fellow ADPP photographers.

We piloted Fertile Ground, a programme to further invest in our Seed Awardees and the larger cultural infrastructure in the Global South to create a blooming resilient and interconnected artistic global ecosystem. 

“As we may know, the most valuable asset for an artist is freedom, and freedom comes in different forms, such as finance, access, and time.”

“One of the biggest takeaways from the past year is that I am not alone - many of the challenges I face are universal. There are those who dare to dream radically, and in concert with me.”

Mobile Labs in Morocco, Egypt and Argentina brought together Prince Claus Awardees with regional cultural practitioners in a weeklong programme that delved into the transformative practices of Hassan Darsi, May al Ibrashy and Maria Medrano. 

“I strive to tackle urgent social, political, and environmental issues, shedding light on marginalized communities,” – Ngoc Nau (Vietnam) new media artist and participant in the first Fellows Award: Moving Narratives focused on re-examining histories and cultivating emancipatory imaginations.

A new Prince Claus Fund International Advisory Board was inaugurated: 9 inspiring individuals advise us on relevant contextual development, our strategy and the regional impact of our work.

“The first Prince Claus Fund Biennial Symposium provided a rare opportunity for artists and cultural practitioners from the region to come together in a setting and context where the region's art and societal challenges were the focus throughout.”

We organised Seeing Like a Fund, a series of events that bring together cultural changemakers to critically examine how culture is supported globally, sparking new ways of thinking about and doing funding.

The first cycle of Building Beyond brought together 12 inspiring practitioners reimagining the future of African cities online, in Accra and in the Netherlands. 

“The Prince Claus Fund Seed Award has been a pivotal catalyst for my artistic growth and recognition on a global scale. I really appreciate the freedom, network and platform that the Prince Claus Fund provides.”

From July 2022, our long-term programme Cultural Emergency Response launched as an independent entity spearheading heritage rescue in response to disaster.

The Next Generation programme came to an end. From 2028 – 2022 it supported; 64 projects in 42 countries, a network of 13 partners, 3 Next Generation awards, 23 Exchanges initiatives and 15 teams of independent researchers.

A new strategy with at its core three different Awards and trust-based funding given at important stages in the professional journey of socially engaged cultural practitioners was designed after deep reflection on how to maximise our impact.

"Art is showing us what a better world could look like, giving us tools to dream with, inspiring us, uplifting us when everything else is falling apart, giving us hope."

The Fellow Award Cultural and Artistic Responses to Environmental Crisis brought together mentors and cultural practitioners who are addressing various local manifestations of the climate crisis in a yearlong online programme and two in-person Lab weeks.

“I read once that photographers don't just capture moments but rather meaning.”

We have celebrated our 25-year anniversary with the online festival 25 Years, 25 Hours featuring many of our exceptional partners and their unique stories about the transformative power of arts and culture, reaching +2.5K people online.

In response to the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the cultural sector worldwide, we distributed 1 million euro in relief grants to over 160 partners from the past three years. 

“I think the PCF has embodied ‘care’ as one of its principal core values ever since I have known the team and your care and sensitivity only shone through evermore brighter during these trying times” - Prince Claus Fund grantee Arko Datto, India.

We launched Forces of Art: Perspectives from a Changing World, in collaboration with Hivos and the European Cultural Foundation. This interdisciplinary volume presented research by 15 teams of researchers on the transformative power of art in communities in the global south.

“Sometimes you ask yourself is it really worth it, but you have to constantly remind yourself of the communities and future generations you are building.”

"Women in Crystal Cubes", in a first solo exhibition the work by Principal Prince Claus Laureate Kamala Ibrahim Ishag from Sudan was shown in the Prince Claus Fund Gallery.

Our public programme team travelled to Senegal with Dutch hip hop artists and prominent members in the scene to perform at the Festa2H festival by NextGen partner Africulturban, give workshops and participate in panel discussions.

Thana Faroq, Yemen, took part in the Arab Documentary Development Programme. In "The Passport Project" she reflects on notions of freedom and the struggle to leave a country where violence, war, and aggression are prevalent.  

We began our support for CAREC - cultural responses to environmental change with a call for proposals, in collaboration with the Goethe Instituut.

“I was inspired by the people — their resilience to fight and live fully.” – Prince Claus Fund Awardee Mohamed Mahdy, Egypt, author of the project Moon Dust.

In 2018 we launched our Next Generation programme. We created partnerships with 12 inspiring youth-led organisations, supported projects in Africa and the MENA region and began the Forces of Art research initiative.  

Our gallery hosted the exhibition featuring the work of 10 Prince Claus Awardees, whose work reveals a collective narrative of social injustice. 

"Meeting people and their organizations from other parts of the world, getting to know their culture, struggles, achievements and successes is the most valuable thing that this network offers." – Dokufest reflecting on Network Partnership meeting in Kosovo.

Along with our Network Partners, we joined the call for the release of our longtime friend and partner Shahidul Alam, who was abducted from his home after speaking out during student protests in Bangladesh.

“You guys created a space not just to make good work but a safe space where we could share and discuss our most personal stories and coming from a minority this is so special for me. First time in my life I have shared my identity with my colleagues.”

“I just hope that shining the light on certain things may lead them out of darkness, and the light will certainly reflect back to you, because what we do affects one another.”

“I know why the rebel sings”, brought Tavakolian’s practice as a photojournalist and her more intimate artistic projects together for the first time.    

Cycle 1 of ADPP brought together emerging photojournalists from the region for mentorship and training, in collaboration with AFAC and the Magnum Foundation.  

Muholi's powerful images support and promote self-expression and pride within the LGBT community in South Africa and beyond. 

The Cultural Emergency Response programme supported the rescue of 400.000 centuries-old manuscripts from Timbuktu, which were under threat of willful destruction by extremists.  

“Culture, that is every moment of life…Too often people associate the word 'culture' with something that is far from them. That is of course a wrong idea,” shared Carlos Jiménez of Museo de Antioquia in Medellín.

Hosted by Shahidul Alam and the DRIK picture library, the meeting prompted extensive discussion of archiving and knowledge sharing.  

Simón Vélez was honoured for his innovative and sustainable work. Years later, Vélez shared how the recognition of the Award prompted the changing of a planned ban in his native Colombia on the use of bamboo in construction.  

Authors Malu Halassa and Rana Salam documented the lingerie culture of Syria, revealing a previously unknown side of Arab design, fashion, and sexuality. 

Produced by the Prince Claus Fund and created by musicians, writers and dancers from across West Africa, the opera tells the story of Bintou Were, a pregnant child soldier crossing the desert in an attempt to reach Europe. 

Taking place at the Rolzaal of the Binnenhof in The Hague on 6 September, a public fashion show by the Senegalese designer Oumou Sy was held in as a part of the Fund’s anniversary celebrations. 

Jonathan Shapiro, better known as Zapiro, is a cartoonist based in South Africa. Zapiro has carved a niche for himself as South Africa’s most recognized and awarded editorial cartoonist.

A poetry reading was organized in his honour, with Darwish reading from his own work in the auditorium of the University of Amsterdam. 

In response to the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan, and the looting of the Iraq museum, the Cultural Emergency Response programme was launched to provide emergency assistance in the event of damage to cultural property arising from human made or natural disaster. 

A network partnership is an agreement between the Prince Claus Fund and an organisation known to the Fund, with both actively engaged and functioning as networks in the field of culture and development.