France

Are you looking for (international) funding? Check our general funding page for different funding guides, grants and open calls, or the digital Cultural Mobility Funding Guide for the Netherlands for regional, private and international (mobility) funding.

In the Netherlands the means for international cultural cooperation are delegated to the national funds. The fund that works for your art form or discipline, has one or several subsidy schemes for internationalisation. To make sure the program fits your project, contact the advisors of the fund before starting the process of application. These are the national funds:

Design, Creative Industries, Architecture, Digital Culture

Creative Industries Fund NL
> International Vouchers
> Internationalization of the Design Sector Grant Scheme

Visual Arts, Heritage

Mondriaan Fund 
> Subsidy for International Art Presentation to present work by living Dutch(-based) artists. For Dutch(-based) artists or internationally recognized art organizations outside the Netherlands.
> Subsidy for International Art Fair/Art Book Fair to present work by living Dutch(-based) artists. For Dutch and non-Dutch galleries, publishers and non-Dutch art fairs.

Theater, Dance, Music

Performing Arts Fund 
> Grants for foreign organisations to invite Dutch(-based) artists
> Internationalisation grants for Dutch(-based) artists

Audiovisual media, Film, Documentary

Dutch Film Fund
The Film Fund has several subsidy schemes to support co-productions and distribution (film & documentary).

Literature

Dutch Foundation for Literature
The Dutch Foundation for Literature has several subsidies for internationalisation:
> Translation grants for foreign publishers
> Travel grants

Participation, Education, Communal arts, Cooperations, Projects with non-professionals

Cultural Participation Fund
> The international collaboration grant is available for all disciplines and designated for finding partners abroad.

Heritage

International Heritage Cooperation is part of the Netherlands’ international cultural policy. The embassies of the Netherlands in the partner countries have a budget for supporting local cultural heritage projects. DutchCulture manages a Matching Fund. Dutch legal entities (companies and registered freelancers) are able to apply for partial funding for an international heritage cooperation project.

DutchCulture supports sustainable Dutch-European heritage cooperation by supporting and facilitating (international) expert meetings and exchanges while underlining the European context of heritage. The Europe + Heritage programme offers advice, a travel grant scheme and a support grant scheme for European heritage cooperation.

More funds

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency is not a national fund but also offers on behalf of various ministries and the European Union subsidies for companies in the creative industries.

In France, the cultural policy is formulated by the Ministry of Culture (Ministère de la Culture). Here you find their subventions and other aides. Please note these are eligible only to artists and artistic organisations in France.

The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministère des affaires étrangères) jointly framed an International Cultural Policy. The policy aims to promote French culture abroad and build international relations through cultural exchange. Bilateral exchange happens often in special projects, such as the organisation of a ‘year of France’ in another country or by inviting a guest country to organise a ‘season’ in France.

The national and international cultural policies are executed by the Institut français de Paris. The network of French cultural institutes abroad (both Institut français and Alliance française) diffuse the French language and culture at a local level. In the Netherlands, an Institut français is located in The Hague. This cultural institution can act as a partner for cultural projects with a French component in the Netherlands, or provide aid if you want to invite French (speaking) artists.

On the website of On the Move, you find elaborate cultural mobility funding guides for France. Here is an overview of the public sector and here is one of private funds.

Culture Moves Europe is the new mobility financing programme for artists and cultural professionals active in sectors such as architecture, heritage, design, fashion, literary translations, music, performing arts, and visual arts. There is also a scheme for residency hosts.

Creative Europe (2021-2027) is the seven-year support programme by the European Commission for the cultural and audio-visual sector and consists of two subprograms: Culture and MEDIA. The Creative Europe Desk of the Netherlands is part of DutchCulture. Be aware that there are many strict conditions to be considered before applying for this programme.

Besides these two programmes of the European Commission, there are more European funding opportunities, and within the two programmes, there are different calls and subprogrammes. This funding guide can help you on your way.

Visa

EU citizens do not need a visa to work in France. If you have a passport from outside the EU, it is wise to check the rules with your country's representatives in the Netherlands. The French organisation MobiCulture offers information for cultural professionals in France. Read more here on visa regulations when visiting France as a non-EU artist.

Disclaimer: The information given above is mainly provided by the French authorities. In case of any doubt or further questions, please contact the French Embassy in The Hague. 

Social security

PEARLE* Live Performance Europe, a European performing arts employers’ organisation, wrote a guide on social security in an international context, as part of their series The Ultimate Cookbook for Cultural Managers in 2016. The guide offers a detailed but accessible explanation of how social security works for namely those working in the performing arts within the EU, with a wealth of practical tips and illustrative examples. The guide can be found here.

The website of the Dutch Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) offers a lot of information on social security when working internationally, with specific information for artists. The information is available in five languages.

Your Europe is an extensive knowledge database about living and working in the EU, with specific information on working across borders available in all 24 official European. Specific information on social security cover in the EU can be found here, as well as a very useful Frequently Asked Questions page. Direct enquiries can be submitted to the team of legal experts from Your Europe Advice.

Taxation

As artists are highly mobile these days, there are specific rules to avoid that one would not pay taxes. Everyone needs to pay income taxes, but when you have earned your income in different countries in which country should you pay? And how can you avoid double taxation? The above mentioned organisation PEARLE also published a guide on artist taxation in an international context. This booklet provides information on special tax rules for (performing) artists, both for the country of work or performance and the country of residence.

Above that, the Netherlands has tax treaties with a number of countries. In many cases this means that the taxes you pay in one of the countries are deductible from the taxes you owe in another country, or that you are exempt from paying certain taxes. Here you can find an overview of the countries with which the Netherlands has a treaty. Very many matters in the EU are centrally regulated, but taxes differ in each country, and some countries have signed bilateral tax treaties. For information about existing tax treaties between specific European countries, go to the website of Your Europe.

It is a good idea to engage local publicists, that have an understanding of your art discipline, audience and region. The cultural department of the Dutch Embassy in Paris can help you find a network or promote your work through their channels. By becoming a member of the Atelier Néerlandais, a cultural space founded by the Dutch Embassy in Paris, you can use the space and facilities to show work or meet French peers. The Atelier also has a large network and connects Dutch to French artists and creatives.

Make sure to contact the embassy to let them know about your projects. Do not forget to create a My DC account, where you can add your activities to our Cultural Database. This way you will be included in our database and become part of our network.

Through the DutchCulture database, you can find out which artists from the Netherlands have worked at which venues, and start your research there. Go to the search icon on the upper left corner of the website, and search by discipline, country, and city.

For residencies, DutchCulture's TransArtists is a great research tool. In order to successfully build an international career, and in order to find sustainable partners in a country, it is always wise to spend more than a few days somewhere. Residencies, which can last from a couple of weeks up to several months, can help you achieve this.

To keep up to date on cultural activities of artists and cultural professionals from the Netherlands in France, you can subscribe to the newsletter of the embassy and follow the embassy on Facebook and Twitter.