Belgium

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

Visual Arts, Heritage
Mondriaan Fund 

Theater, Dance, Music
Performing Arts Fund 

Audiovisual media, Film, Documentary
Dutch Film Fund

Literature
Dutch Foundation for Literature

Partication, Communal arts, Cooperations, Projects with non-professionals
Cultural Participation Fund

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 international heritage cooperation between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Europe. The Europe + Heritage programme offers advice, a Travel Scheme (vouchers of €350-€1000) and a General Support Scheme (maximum €5.000) for heritage professionals and heritage organisations based in the Kingdom of the Netherlands who wish to visit a European partner, invite a European partner or set up a cooperation with a European partner. Heritage can be both tangible and intangible.

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.

Belgium is a federal state comprising three regions: the Flemish region, the Brussel-Capitol region and the Walloon region. There are also three communities, which are language-based: the Flemish community, the French community and the German community. Each of the entities (communities, regions and federal state) has its own parliament and government. Those of the Flemish region and the Flemish community are however merged. The jurisdiction of Culture belongs to the communities.

Flanders

In Flanders, the Ministry for Culture exercises the cultural policy by the Arts Decree (Dutch) providing development grants, project subsidies and travel grants. Please note that the project subsidy is available to individuals (professional artists and mediators) and organisations who are part of the Flanders arts scene, but also to organisations abroad who are working on a project that is linked with Flanders (by artists and/or organisations from Flanders) and that includes a public presentation. Find more information here (Dutch).

Brussels

For information about the Flemish art scene in the disciplines of visual arts, classical music and theatre, you can contact the organisation Flanders Art Institute (Kunstenpunt) in Brussels. They also have an international visitors' programme. Find here an overview of the Flemish art landscape by Kunstenpunt.

Wallonia

The French community is called Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles (Federation Wallonia-Brussels) and is in charge of culture in Brussels and the French-speaking areas in Wallonia. The General Administration for culture offers subsidies and financial support.

Wallonie-Bruxelles International is the agency occupied with international relations for the region, including cultural relations. Please note that these subsidies are only available to Belgian artists or artists living in Belgium permanently.

There are also subsidies to invite international artists to the Walloon Region (the Walloon organization needs to invite): List of aids and services.

Doing your research beforehand and finding Belgian partners is essential. You can use the DutchCulture Database by simply going to the search option in the upper left corner, and searching for 'Belgium' of any Belgian city you are interested in. In this way, you will see which Dutch artists are already active in which areas.

On the Move offers an elaborate mapping of funding opportunities in Belgium.

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.

It is a good idea to engage local publicists, that have an understanding of your art discipline, audience and region. Make sure to contact the cultural department of the Embassy in Brussels to let them know about your projects, and don’t 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.

Visa

As an EU citizen, you do not need a visa to work in Belgium. 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 Flemish organisation Cultuurloket offers information for cultural professionals in Belgium. Read more here on visa regulations when visiting Belgium as a non-EU artist.

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

Check out our Dutch-Flemish tax guide for more specific questions on income taxes, social welfare en VAT (in Dutch).

Moreover, more questions can be answered by the Dutch tax office and the tax telephone can assist with further questions on handling taxes in the Netherlands.

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.

Browse through the DutchCulture Database and figure out which artists from the Netherlands have worked at which venues, and start your research this way. Go to the search icon on the upper-left corner of the website, and search by discipline, country and city.

For residencies, the organisation TransArtists, which is also a part of DutchCulture, 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, ranging from a couple of weeks until several months, can help you to achieve that.