Prince Claus Seed Awards

Building on 25 years of experience supporting, honouring and connecting artists and cultural practitioners in the fields of culture and development, the Prince Claus Fund is excited to issue an open call for the Prince Claus Seed Awards.  An Information Session takes place online on 12 April - register to join or view recording after the event.

The Prince Claus Fund will give 100 Awards to emerging artists and cultural practitioners, who will receive €5.000 to develop their cultural practice.

The Prince Claus Fund will annually recognize 100 emerging artists and cultural practitioners within the first five years of their careers. With the Prince Claus Seed Awards we aim to contribute to flourishing arts scenes globally, where emerging artists can develop their practice on their own terms.   

For the Prince Claus Seed Awards, we are looking for emerging artists and cultural practitioners whose innovative work addresses pressing social and/or political issues within their own context.  Recipients are free to invest the Award of €5.000 in the development of their artistic practice. Through the Prince Claus Seed Awards we will be supporting the career development, creativity and experimentation of emerging artists and cultural practitioners around the globe.

The Prince Claus Seed Awards are aimed at emerging artists and cultural practitioners who:

• Are on average in the initial 1 - 5 years of their professional career;
• Have an innovative and interesting artistic practice that addresses pressing social/political issues important within their local context;
• Have received little to no recognition/support for their artistic/cultural practices, and are not yet recognised internationally.

With this open call for the Prince Claus Seed Awards we would like to invite emerging artists and cultural practitioners who live and work in our eligible countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe to apply for this award. Applicants are required to fill in an online application form, submit samples of their work, one reference letter and a pitch answering the question: ‘what drives you as an artist?’.

Eligible arts disciplines: We hold a very broad view of arts and culture, and support anything from theatre and  contemporary arts to literature, journalism and interdisciplinary practices.  We do not, however, support academic research, work that is purely developmental or art practices that are not socially engaged. 

The deadline for the submission is May 11, 2021, at 23:59h Amsterdam Time. 

Information Session

You’ve seen our website, but you still have lots of questions. Sign up for our Prince Claus Seed Awards Information Session.

DATE: Monday 12 April 2021
TIME: 15.00 (CEST)
DURATION: 1 hour
WHERE: Zoom
DEADLINE TO REGISTER: 10 APRIL 2021

The webinar will cover information about the Prince Claus Fund, the Seed Awards, who can apply, how to apply and how all applications will be assessed. There will be space to ask questions, but if you already have any, be sure to send them to us in advance!

Register before 10 April and we’ll send you a link to the session a day before the webinar, on Sunday 11 April. You can register for the session and submit your questions via the link here.

Can’t make it on the 12th but still interested? The webinar will be recorded and made available online!