The Foundation France – Nederland Cultuurfonds attempts to realize its objects and purposes by launching three first cultural, educational and societal projects: Nouveau Grand Tour, Ik spreek ook Frans and Cercle Polder.
Nouveau Grand Tour
The Nouveau Grand Tour is a new European network of artists’ residencies dedicated to young artists under 30 in all cultural fields. Based on French-Italian cooperation, it is destined to develop on a European scale.
In 2023, with the Foundation France – Nederland Cultuurfonds and the Institut français NL involved as the Dutch coordinator for French-Dutch cooperation, the Nouveau Grand Tour is being extended to the Netherlands.
With the ambition of launching a Dutch call for applications in 2024, 10 hosting residencies are currently being identified throughout the country representing key artistic disciplines such as visual arts, contemporary music, performing arts, digital cultures, and creating writing, with the support of 5 Dutch cultural Fonds and DutchCulture.
Examples of prospective residences
Hilversum Wisseloord Studio [music]
Rotterdam Nieuwe Instituut [digital creation]
Ik spreek ook Frans
The programme « Je parle aussi français / Ik spreek ook Frans » was created by the Institut français NL and the Alliance Française de Rotterdam; it was implemented as a pilot in 2022 in Rotterdam as a programme of “Français en héritage / French heritage”.
It is a programme of workshops intended for Dutch children aged 9 to 12 from possibly French-speaking immigration (often North African), or with a French-speaking family heritage, with the aim of developing their knowledge of French by promoting their culture and their cultural and linguistic heritage. These extra-curricular workshops are multilingual, based on project pedagogy (doing something using the French language, but also Arabic and Dutch), using educational resources linked to the culture of origin to respect and enhance students’ home cultures.
Following the success of this pilot project in Rotterdam, the Foundation plans to support the extension of the programme to other cities in the Netherlands and to establish it in Amsterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.
Cercle Polder
The Cercle Polder aims to develop the strategic dialogue between Dutch and French civil societies on key socio-economic and cultural issues.
In collaboration with the CCI-French Chamber of Commerce in the Netherlands and the Alliance française The Hague, the Foundation will set up a programme of very high level encounters at the Residence of France – six per year – inviting Dutch and French personalities on very varied issues. The first encounter will be organized in September 2023.
The circle is open to individuals and companies wishing to participate in and strengthen this dialogue.
