Craft and design projects in Denmark and abroad

The Committee for Craft and Design Project Funding funds artists, designers, curators, authors, promoters, museums, galleries and others with an interest in developing and promoting craft and design in Denmark and Danish craft and design abroad in the form of projects.

You can read more about how the committee defines a project under the "What is the purpose of the programme" section of this page. 

Examples of projects that the committee may fund include:

• Exhibitions and dissemination projects as well as exhibition series and annual programmes that involve works by contemporary artists and designers in Denmark and/or abroad.
• Residencies and exchange/work stays
• Production of works
• Projects that show aesthetic potential and a thorough understanding of a craft, materials and sensuousness
• Projects that are centered on concrete design solutions to specific problems or projects that are more immaterial or critical in nature.
• Presentations and all types of dissemination (verbal, written, visual, digital and printed) of the works of contemporary Danish artists and designers to a relevant audience, this includes travel funding and residencies in connection with specific exhibitions and tasks
• Funding for establishing a business and international cooperation on the production of new types of Danish craft and design products that contribute to demonstrating the special identity and profile of the craft or design
• Editorial content production for different media: reviews, articles, dissemination of academic research projects etc.

Find out more about how to apply if your project combines different art forms.

You cannot receive funding for:

• Activities completed before the application deadline
• Courses of study/training courses
• Projects that the committee have previously supported
• Capital investments and operating expenses
• Expenses from previous calendar years. That is, only expenses from either the same or upcoming calendar year can be entered into the budget

The purpose of the fund is to promote artistic quality within craft and design i Denmark and the artistic quality within Danish craft and design abroad through grants for projects.

What is a project?

• A project is characterised by having an intention; a project has a time limitation and has a target group.
• This means that you must be able to define your project with a goal, an intention, a schedule, a budget, a target group or audience and any partners.

The committee wants to award grants to projects that are characterised by good and original ideas, are realistic, achievable and, not least, that create meaning for relevant target groups. The committee also places emphasis on whether the project is carried out independently.

Therefore, please answer the following help questions as part of your project description:

• What is the idea and how will you implement it?
• How does the project develop and challenge the specific area in question?
• What is the intention and what is the project to provide and to whom?

If your project is not mature and cannot be defined by stating an intention, a schedule, a budget and a target group, but by nature is characterised more as being research and investigations, you may apply for a work grant. 

Remuneration for craftspeople and designers

The committee encourages established exhibition venues, museums and galleries to pay fees to artists and designers for their work before, during and after an exhibition. For example, for participating in meetings, setting up and dismantling exhibitions and for participating in PR and promotion.

As an artist, designer, freelance curator/promoter, etc., you can apply for a fee for your own working hours. This could for example be working hours in connection with an exhibition (meetings, installation, dismantling, etc.) or a production fee (the time spent producing works, content for e.g. book projects, etc.).

During an residence, it may be possible to apply for funding for both guest and host.

The exhibition venue may apply for funding for fees together with grants for exhibitions from this fund. In addition, institutions may have expenses refunded for exhibition remuneration to artists and designers.  

Read more about the exhibit fee program on our website (in Danish).

The main criteria for all awards from the Danish Arts Foundation are the project’s artistic quality and the artistic talent in relation to the project applied for. The Committee for Craft and Design Project Funding processes the applications based on the following criteria, which are included in a total evaluation of the project’s artistic quality:

• Professionalism
  The project develops and challenges practices, ideas, traditions and materials
• Coherence
  The project has a thoroughly thought-through connection between ideas and the methods and/or effects chosen.
• Significance
  The project shows reflections in terms of how the project creates significance in relevant contexts

The Committee funds projects of high artistic quality throughout the entire craft and design field and is aware that craft and design is a broad practise. The Committee looks for projects that demonstrate aesthetic potential and a keen understanding of the craft, its materials and sensuousness, as well as projects centered on specific design solutions to specific problems or projects of a more intangible nature.

Please be aware of the following:

A good, complete application complies with the formal criteria for what an application must (and must not) include, as well as precisely and briefly presenting the case for why the project is important and relevant for the applicant, the profession and the wider world.

Whether you are applying for partial or full funding of your project, the committee reserves the right to accommodate the application with an amount that is less than what was applied for, based on an evaluation of the application in relation to all of the other applications, available resources and the desire to ensure diversity and geographic spreading of art funding. If you receive a smaller amount than applied for, details on whether you need to submit additional information before the grant can be disbursed will be outlined in your approval letter.

The committee provides grants for specific projects on the basis of budgets. This means that if your project is not yet mature and concrete, but by nature is characterised as being research and basic investigations, you may apply for a work-related grant from the Committee for Craft and Design Project Funding.

Danish Arts Foundation encourages applicants to incorporate green sustainability into their work. 

If you have applied for a grant from Danish Arts Foundation within the last three years, this information will be considered in the processing of your current application. 

Please read our guidelines before submitting your application.

You submit the application via the Grant Portal, which you can find here.

You must attach the following: 

• Complete the mandatory project description and budget template:
  • Project description. No more than one page of 2.400 characters, including spaces (PDF or Word). You MUST use the mandatory template. Please do not remove the questions from the template. Download the template here.
  • Budget: Fill out the budget and financing plan in the mandatory template. Download template here.
    • In the budget, you must state all income and expenses in the project. Remember to indicate which expense items you are applying for support from the Danish Arts Foundation.
    • If you are VAT-registered, the requested amounts that contain VAT must be indicated excluding the VAT you can get refunded via SKAT (Danish Tax Agency).
• Images:
  • No more than three A4 pages with relevant images that visualises the project for which you have applied for funding. The pictorial material may be photos, sketches or other images (file format: PDF or Word).
  • No more than three A4 sheets of images documenting previous work (PDF or Word).
• Brief CV
  • A CV must be made for all artists, designers, curators, promoters, authors etc. for whom funding is being applied for. The CV must not exceed an A4 page. For projects with multiple participants, you must attach shortened CVs that do not exceed a half A4 page per participant (file format: Word or PDF).

Please do not attach inspirational pictures, moodboards or other pictures of the work of others.

If you are a group of several people collaborating on a project and you wish to share any funding but do not have a joint business registration (CVR) number, each of you may submit an application with an identical project name and description in which each of you state the amount in the budget that is the applicant’s share of the total amount applied for. Alternatively, you may submit a joint application in which one of you accepts the legal and financial responsibility for the application and any funding.

If you have a very special reason to attach such images, it must be clearly stated in your application that the images do not visualise your work. You must also write in your application if an artistic work has been carried out in collaboration with others. If you are applying for grants for the same project from other committees in the Danish Arts Foundation, you must also state this in the application.

You will receive a reply on your application no later than 12 weeks after the deadline. You will receive a notification email when your reply is shown on your profile in the Grant Portal. This is unless you have chosen to not receive such notifications.

During the 12-week period, all applications will be collected by the secretariat and sent to the committee who will then read them and decide on who will be awarded a grant. When a decision has been made concerning all cases from the same application round, every applicant will receive a reply in the Grant portal or by email, and, at the same time, the awarded grants will be published on our website. Here, you will also find the names of all of the applicants to the Danish Arts Foundation, which will be published in the committee’s minutes.

Decisions are made in accordance with section 3(1), cf. (2) and (3) of the Danish Act on the Danish Arts Foundation’s Activities (Act no. 458 of 8 May 2013).

The Danish Arts Foundation’s Committee for Craft and Design Project Funding processes the applications and makes the final decision concerning the distribution of the committee’s funds.