Talent
A chain of support measures for talent development
The Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie (Creative Industries Fund NL) plays an important role in promoting talent development within the field of design. After completing their studies, designers and makers can apply for a grant that will enable them to continue developing their own style and professional practice, independent of their education or the pressures of commerce. Thereafter, throughout their careers, they can make use of the extensive range of subsidies the fund has at its disposal.
'Talent development for us as an Creative Industries Fund means that we think very carefully about how we design a range of tools with which we can serve designers and makers in various ways during their careers,' says Syb Groeneveld, director of the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie. In the first few years after completing their studies in art education, designers should be given the opportunity to develop a personal style. They must learn to interpret the world in their own way. I believe that a designer's talent only comes into its own when he/she is intrinsically confronted with and motivated by a particular issue, be it the climate, the development of sustainable materials or a social problem, and is able to apply his skills to it. Only then can someone really work with enthusiasm. Designers usually don't have that freedom within the controlled environment of a job where office managers determine the framework. The grants from the Stimuleringsfonds enable designers to draw upon their resources as they plot their own course in the world of architecture, design, digital culture and all possible crossovers. That's what makes it important for me. This means that we give these young people a lot of freedom, but we also give them direction and exposure.'
To a certain extent the Talent Development scheme has always been focused on the individual, but last year the Stimuleringsfonds invested more effort into getting the designers and makers to collaborate as well. 'We bring the group together once every two months around a certain theme or speaker,' explains Marieke Ladru, programme leader for Talent Development at the Stimuleringsfonds. 'They often propose the theme themselves. Professionalisation, for example, plays a role in all of this, so we organise events on the business aspects of setting up one's own practice. Or the curator of the Holland Festival will talk about how the organisation collaborates with designers and makers. Visibility is a very important topic, everyone is looking for somewhere to exhibit: where can I show my work, how can I make the right contacts? That the infrastructure is less developed to this end is especially evident in the design sector.'
During their studies, teachers inform young designers and makers about the existence of the Stimuleringsfonds' subsidies. However, the field of talented makers is broader. 'Some groups struggle more than others to find their way to the fund,' says Ladru. So the Stimuleringsfonds partners with the Mondriaan Fund to organise, for example, the information event "Get a Grant", which we present nationwide.'
'Over the past year, we have certainly been trying to reach out to talent that has been developing outside the usual channels,' adds Groeneveld, 'for example, makers who wouldn't normally apply to the fund of their own accord, but who would benefit greatly from support in the form of a work grant. We're brainstorming about how we can reach them, and researching how we can come into contact with progressive designers within urban networks. This year, we're going to appoint two scouts to help us with this. It's one way to ensure the design field is more broadly represented.'
'Marian Duff is one of the scouts,' says Ladru, 'She has established{run} a project with the Tropenmuseum over the past ten years, in which young makers from South-East Amsterdam design a fashion collection that is inspired by material from the museum's archive. The results are presented in a spectacular display in the museum. This recurring project has developed into a talent incubator for makers from a wide range of backgrounds, some of whom progress on to professional art education.'
'The great thing about the talent development scheme is that it gives the designer the space and freedom to start working on something that may not be successful immediately, but yet turns out to be of value later on. This room for experimentation is invaluable,' Ladru emphasises. The Stimuleringsfonds has approximately 30 talent development work grants to allocate each year, while 200 designers and creators submit their portfolios. The committee selects 60 of these applicants who are invited to write a proposal for a work grant. Of these 60, eight were scouted this year and are entering this second round, in order to make the group of applicants more diverse. 'The committee members look at how the creator positions him/herself, what the motivation behind the research question is and whether it falls in line with the portfolio,' says Ladru. 'It's primarily about being distinctive,' adds Groeneveld.
'You see in the design field that young creators are less and less rooted in their discipline,' says Ladru, 'but if they start working in a more interdisciplinary way, then how they position themselves in the design field becomes even more important: should their practice be focused on autonomous creativity or practical application.' 'As a designer, you have to make your mark quickly,' Groeneveld notes. 'Even internationally, these time spans are getting shorter and shorter. Designers and creators can apply to us for an endorsement to participate in international trade fairs such as the Salone di Mobile in Milan for design, or South by Southwest in the US for digital culture. It's an important way for them to expand their international perspective and network. This is particularly relevant for established talent, who are already successful in the Netherlands: we can further promote them internationally by supporting collaborations with foreign partners.'
Talent Portal
In addition to the work grants for starting designers and creators, the Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie has developed a sequence of schemes to support designers at various stages of their careers. 'What you see is that people who have received a talent development grant subsequently often work on their first larger-scale project together with others, via an open call or one of the other shared/collaboration schemes,' continues Groeneveld. 'Sometimes we approach designers whose work we are familiar with because they have already submitted an application for a specific assignment within the scope of the fund's programme.'
For a number of years now, the Stimuleringsfonds has been organising an open call aimed specifically at professionalisation. Designers in particular are in need of this. Architects already acquire this knowledge during their two-year apprenticeship at an office before they are allowed to register as an architect. In digital culture, the practice differs even more. 'The question as to why these practices vary so much from one discipline to another is still worth investigating,' notes Groeneveld.
'We started the Ruimte voor Talent (Room for Talent) scheme because we realised that that many artist-in-residence places in the Netherlands have disappeared over the past eight years as a result of the cutbacks. We therefore thought it would be a good idea to foster the contacts between designers and manufacturers, research labs, companies, hospitals, the water board or special initiatives in the city. There is a great need for such collaborations and it is an important step in the development of talent.'
For the open call Fresh Perspectives, designers are encouraged to look for a partner outside their own discipline and then work on a social issue. 'In this scenario, designers must relate directly to the market and, for example, make agreements about intellectual property.' That, too, is good experience, Groeneveld believes. 'It is also clear that starting designers know very little about this.'
'What is special about this arrangement is that the designer and partner submit a joint application,' says Ladru. 'This is done in two stages: in the first stage, a project plan and a cooperation agreement are drawn up, and in the second stage, the designer and partner present the plan together to the committee. This adds yet another dynamic to the application process. In fact, we're always looking for ways to ensure that the applications run smoothly and are as accessible as possible.'
Interview: Lotte Haagsma