Internationalisation

The Performing Arts Fund promotes cultural exchange with a focus on building sustainable relationships. To this end, we receive funding from the Ministries of Education, Culture and Science and Foreign Affairs under the International Cultural Policy (ICB). Through this policy, they link Dutch cultural policy with foreign policy. Furthermore, this demonstrates that the Netherlands is open to cooperation and cultural exchange with other countries.

The activities carried out by the Fund can be grouped into various instruments. We use various instruments to connect the Dutch sector with relevant international organisations. On this page, you will find an overview of these instruments.

Through our international visitor programmes, we introduce international programmers to relevant Dutch performing arts – and vice versa.

In collaboration with various festivals, the Fund facilitates a limited number of large-scale group visits each year. This enables international programmers to discover a wide range of offerings within a specific performing art form in a short space of time. In addition, we collaborate with organisations on small-scale visitor programmes and also facilitate individual visits for international programmers who wish to attend multiple concerts and/or visit various organisations.

The travel schedule of international programmers features a number of key dates throughout the year and locations around the world. This is where they scout for new work and meet one another. These international festivals serve as vital meeting places within the international performing arts network. A few times a year, the Performing Arts Fund offers a small group of creators the opportunity to attend such an international festival. During these networking trips, creators explore the international field in an organised setting. They gain insight into what is required to operate internationally and meet venues, programmers and artists from various countries.

In addition, the Performing Arts Fund occasionally organises a research trip to a country that offers concrete opportunities for collaboration between organisations. In such cases, there is confirmed interest from foreign partners, and the trip serves to further discuss the concrete implementation of ideas and plans.

The Performing Arts Fund can launch a focus programme when there is a need within a performing arts discipline for intensive exchange and collaboration with a specific ICB focus country. These programmes often run for several years and enable the use of various tools, such as visitor programmes, research trips and activities aimed at international exchange. The aim of the focus programmes is to build sustainable relationships that remain self-sustaining in the long term, both at organisational level and for individual creators. For the implementation, we work together with the network of Dutch embassies and consulates abroad.

The Performing Arts Fund is a member of a number of international networks: the International Network for Contemporary Performing Arts (IETM), the International Theatre Institute (ITI) and the International Society for Performing Arts (ISPA). These networks provide insight into international developments and trends.

We make these and other networks accessible to Dutch artists through fellowships. For example, four creators can participate in the ISPA fellowship for three years to expand their international network as a business or artistic director. Within ITI, we support the Music Theatre Now network, which actively works on the development of music theatre and its audience. For young music theatre creators, a one-year Music Theatre Now fellowship is available to participate in the Creators Connection Programme.

Since 2017, the Dutch National Cultural Funds have jointly offered a residency in the studio-apartment at the Van Doesburghuis, near Paris. The residency is intended for artists working in the disciplines in which Theo and Nelly van Doesburg were active: architecture, visual arts, literature, music, design and the performing arts.

Artists are invited to spend four months conducting research, developing ideas or creating new work. This enables them to develop their own practice within the specific context of France. Fonds Podiumkunsten offers this residency approximately every other year via an open call. The resident receives a fixed grant to cover travel, materials, transport and accommodation costs.

The Translation Award is an annual award for a Dutch-language play from the Dutch-speaking world with the greatest international potential. The jury of the Playwriting Prize selects ten nominations for the Translation Award from the entries for the Playwriting Prize. This prize is awarded to the author of the winning play and consists of a translation of the text and participation in promotional activities relating to the winning play abroad.

In the current arts planning period, a translation into German has been chosen. The vast German-speaking region offers many opportunities for publishing texts (or having them published) and presenting translated texts to a professional audience.

The Translation Award is organised in collaboration with Literatuur Vlaanderen.