The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996, named in honour of Prince Claus of the Netherlands.
The Prince Claus Fund is an organisation that supports artists and cultural practitioners, allowing them to pursue their work without restrictions. Its aim is to foster culture that can lead to positive social change. The Fund focuses on amplifying the work of young and emerging talents, supporting future leaders, and acknowledging change makers globally, particularly in areas where cultural expression faces challenges such as suppression and limitations on civil liberties.
With a history spanning over 25 years, the Prince Claus Fund has developed a presence in the field of cultural support, utilising its extensive networks to offer unrestricted funding. The organisation prioritises the creation of meaningful connections to support sustainable development goals, emphasising equity, inclusiveness, peace, and environmental sustainability.
The Prince Claus Fund was established as a tribute to HRH Prince Claus's dedication to culture and development. Since then, it has grown into an independent Fund supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Dutch Postcode Lottery, and private individuals and institutions.
People develop themselves. They need space for experimentation and reflection for new perspectives to flourish. Through its Seed, Mentorship, Impact Awards, and Exchanges, the Fund is serving a worldwide community of creative change makers exemplifying the transformative power of culture.
The Prince Claus Fund's initiatives demonstrate its role in supporting cultural expression and development, particularly in regions where these are at risk. Through its work, the Fund contributes to the broader dialogue on the role of culture in societal transformation and sustainable development.
A consistent way the Prince Claus Fund has supported and connected artists and cultural practitioners is through the Prince Claus Awards. It now has a sequence of three categories of Prince Claus Awards that are designed to support artists and cultural practitioners in different ways at crucial stages in their professional careers.
Each year the Prince Claus Fund gives 100 Seed Awards of €5.000 to artists and cultural practitioners who are in the first five years of their careers. With Seed Awards, the Fund recognises emerging artists and provides initial support to the career development, creativity, and experimentation of cultural practitioners whose artistic work engages with pressing social and/or political issues within their own local context.
Each year the Prince Claus Fund gives around 35 Mentorship Awards of €10.000 to artists and cultural practitioners further along in their careers. The Awards are designed to strengthen the artistic responses of individuals to urgent social issues through mentoring programmes. The Prince Claus Mentorship Awards are aimed at supporting mid-career talent, accelerating socially engaged art practices and facilitating meaningful connections between creatives working on similar themes. In this way, the Fund is creating space for individuals to learn, grow, experiment and test out new ideas - both individually and with their peers. For its Mentorship Awards, the Fund collaborates with partner organisations, such as the British Council, Goethe-Institut, the Creative Industries Fund-NL, the Arab Fund for Art and Culture, and Magnum Foundation.
Once every two years, the Prince Claus Fund recognises six trailblazing artists and cultural practitioners with Prince Claus Impact Awards of €50.000. These Awards are presented to artists and cultural practitioners in recognition of both the excellent quality of their work and of their positive contribution to the development of their communities. Recipients are leaders in their respective fields. Their work demonstrates the transformative power of culture in creating positive social change. Impact Awards recognise artists who are excellent role models, whose work and positive impact on their societies deserve worldwide recognition.
From 1997 until 2021, the Fund used to present the international Prince Claus Awards annually, to honour individuals and organisations reflecting a progressive and contemporary approach to the themes of culture and development.
Since 2021, the Fund has implemented a new strategy, focusing exclusively on supporting individuals through three Prince Claus Awards: Seed, Mentorship, Impact Awards.
35 Mentorship Awardees:
6 Impact Awardees:
35 Mentorship Awardees: