30r364 boek.qxd:awards book 11 - Prince Claus Fund

An OverviewThe Prince Claus Fund is an active Fund. It acts both as a sponsor,protector and observer, and as an initiator and executor.The Prince Claus Fund’s mission is to:• increase cultural awareness and promote exchange betweenculture and development• initiate and support artistic and intellectual quality, especially inplaces where cultural activities find little support or are under threat• provide a platform for intercultural exchange• open up ‘zones of silence’, areas where artists and cultural activities arehidden and silenced through exclusion, war and/or repressive regimes.The annual Prince Claus Awards have a high public profile. Less knownto the public are the variety of targeted programmes through which theFund carries out its mission: Network Partnerships, the Prince ClausFund Library, the Cultural Emergency Response (cer) and the Activities,Exchanges and Publications Programmes. Alongside these programmesand together with partner organisations, the Fund also initiates andorganises particular projects to promote artistic and intellectual quality.Network PartnershipsThe core of the Fund’s Network Partnerships Programme is an open,mutually beneficial exchange based on respect and trust. Each year theFund invites two cultural organisations with their own established net worksin Asia, Africa, Latin America or the Caribbean to become NetworkPartners for a three-year period. The partners and the Fund build a strongrelationship, sharing the experience of their different networks, givingadvice, inspiration and support, and working together on innovativecultural activities.1062008 Prince Claus Awards