Grant Scheme for Music Hubs in the field of pop, hip hop and dance music

The grant is intended for organisations and individual initiators that stimulate talent development in the field of pop, hip hop and dance music. Pop music is understood to also include popular sub-genres such as Tumba, Zouk, Soca and Kompa. With the budget that, within the Grant Scheme for Music Hubs in the field of pop, hip hop and dance, is earmarked for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, the Performing Arts Fund seeks to support initiatives established and active on Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba.

Relevant activities include providing opportunities for personal research and development, facilitating performances, and offering artistic and business mentoring. Our goal is to increase the development opportunities for new talent and to contribute to a stronger local music scene.

The budget is intended for:

· Organisations that are established in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom where they support talent development in the field of pop, hip hop and/or dance music.

· Individual initiators (natural persons, such as self-employed professionals) who live and work in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom and who support talents as part of their professional practice.

Please note:

· Individual initiators cannot apply for a grant to support their own artistic development. The grant is for activities aimed at supporting talents.

· Organisations already receiving a multiple-year organisational grant from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), or receiving a multiple-year production or festival grant 2025–2028 from the Performing Arts Funds NL, are not eligible to apply.

An application can be submitted if:

· The applicant has demonstrable experience with talent development in the field of pop, hip hop and/or dance music (in the widest sense);

· One or more talents are actively supported in their artistic as well as business development and presentation;

· The application concerns professional musical practice, rather than amateur art, wellness activities or leisure time activities.

Talent development does not just pertain to performing artists on stage. Functions behind the scenes, for example in productional, organisational or technical aspects, can also be part of the project.

Relevant activities include the following:

· Providing opportunities for personal research and development;

· Facilitating performances;

· Offering artistic and/or business mentoring/coaching;

· Awarding assignments;

· Offering residencies.

Activities should last at least 12 months and at most 24 months. This period starts on the day after the grant decision is announced.

Applications are assessed with respect to the following criteria:

· The experience and quality of the applicant The applicant must have demonstrable experience with talent development in music and can substantiate this.

· Contribution to talent development and presentation The application shows how talents can develop professionally and how they are presented within the local music infrastructure.

· Financial substantiation The budget is realistic, in line with the plan, and is properly substantiated.

Please note: Applications are rejected if the assessment of the applicant’s reflection on the assessment criteria contains three or more critical points.

The grant sum is at most:

- € 40,000 for legal persons (with legal personality but without profit motive, such as foundations and associations)

- € 20,000 for individual initiators (natural persons, including self-employed professionals). Not more than 25% of the grant sum may be used to cover organisational and overhead costs.

Before submitting an application, be sure to read the full grant scheme text on wetten.overheid.nl (in Dutch only) as well as the explanation at the bottom of this page. Here you will find detailed information on the requirements that your application must fulfil.

You can submit your application via My Fund. For this you need a My Fund account. Don’t yet have an account? Bear in mind that it takes two office days on average for a new account to be activated.

The budget available for the Caribbean part of the Kingdom can be applied for all year round. Applications are processed in the order that they arrive, and for as long as the budget has not been exhausted. Only fully completed applications submitted in time will be processed.

Would you like to check beforehand whether your plan is eligible for the grant scheme? You can have a draft application reviewed until not later than three weeks before the moment when you wish to submit the application. You can email your draft application to: muziekhubs@fondspodiumkunsten.nl.

Any questions about the Music Hubs grant scheme? You can contact us using the email address above, or phone us on +31 (0)70-7072700 (Monday to Friday, 9.00-17.00, Netherlands time (CET time zone)).

Please remember that time in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom (AST time zone) trails Netherlands time by 4 hours. During the European winter time scheme, the difference is 5 hours.

Header photo by: Elvis Harrigan