Life After Rietveld and Sandberg: On Funding Bodies & Presentations by Funds

On Thursday 15 January, there will be two successive sessions.

At 16:00 there will be presentations by Amarte Fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Stimuleringsfonds and Voordekunst about Dutch funding opportunities.

At 17:15 this will be followed by a session hosted by Pedro Matias (alum Rietveld and Sandberg) in conversation with Margherita Soldati (Rietveld designLAB 2018 alum) and Tara-Eva Kuijpers Wentink (Rietveld Fine Arts 2020 alum).

This session offers a direct look at how Dutch funding structures operate and how artists can engage with them critically and strategically. Pedro Matias and invited speakers will share concrete experiences from working with public funds, including proposal development, committee processes, common pitfalls, and what actually shapes a successful application.

The lecture situates funding within a broader neo-liberal and success-driven framework—but instead of moralising, it asks how artists can work within these systems while also unsettling them. You will leave with practical insights, sharper language, and a clearer sense of how funding can support—rather than distort—your practice.

Programme 15 January

16.00 – 17.00 Presentations by Funds

17.15 – 18.45 On Funding Bodies

At the Theory Stairs, FedLev building, Gerrit Rietveld Academie

The session will be held in English at the Theory stairs in the FedLev Building. The space is accessible for wheelchair users. It will not be live-streamed, but a recording will be shared afterwards on the website.

Workshops 21 and 28 January 2026 (the same workshop will be given twice)

KA~CHING! 2.0 — You Better Have My Money by Pedro Matias

A hands-on workshop on navigating Dutch public art funding. We unpack how funding bodies work, how to write sharper proposals, and how to position your practice without diluting it. Expect concrete examples, interactive exercises, and tools you can apply directly to your own projects. A supportive space for anyone—especially students who feel outside dominant art-world frameworks—who wants to understand and use these systems strategically. You can register here!

About

Pedro Matias
Pedro Matias (they/them - he/his) holds an MFA from Sandberg Instituut, a BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and a MA in Philosophy from the New University of Lisbon. Pedro is a transmedia artist and researcher exploring new flows of alternative knowledge and ways of being, in the intersectional space of audio-visuals, materiality, performativity and critical thought. Since 2020 Pedro is co-developing a collaborative artist-run research network - Iridescent Institute of Desire. Pedro’s individual and collaborative practices have received several Dutch grants and were exhibited internationally. For the past years, Pedro has given workshops on grant applications at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, Salwa Foundation & ThisWorks Foundation.

Tara-Eva Kuijpers Wentink
Tara-Eva Kuijpers Wentinks is a sculptural artist based in Amsterdam. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2020 and obtained her Master’s degree in Sculpture from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2022. Her practice explores the inner physicality of the human body and the plant world. The imperfections of both human and non-human bodies, shaped by environment and experience, inspire her to imagine alternative forms and beings with a peculiar beauty. Through her installations, she engages the viewer’s senses, emphasizing physical experience and inviting reflection on our relationship with our bodies and the world around us. Her work has been shown at venues including Het Hem, Blikfabriek, Marres Maastricht, Unfair, Platform Galerie, de Kring, NEVERNEVERLAND, Prospects Art Rotterdam, and This Art Fair, and has received recognition in de Volkskrant, Het Parool, Museumtijdschrift, and T(x)P.

Margherita Soldati
Margherita Soldati is an Amsterdam-based artist who graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie’s designLAB in 2018. She is an educator and co-founder of Absurd Beings and Burning Steps, working across performance, storytelling, writing, and the creation of sculptures and installations. Her practice combines embodied research with material experimentation, often unfolding beyond the gallery in laboratories, greenhouses, and other lived infrastructures. Teaching and mentoring are integral to her approach, fostering exchange through workshops and long-term mentoring programmes. Her work explores care, refusal, and more-than-human relations through collaborative and research-driven processes.

Life After Rietveld and Sandberg
Together with the departments, Rietveld and Sandberg organise a series of monthly sessions to prepare students and recent graduates for professional practice after their studies. By inviting both experts and alums, the series aims to give participants a clearer idea of what professional practice they aspire to and what their first steps will be after graduation. The programme is open to Rietveld and Sandberg students as well as alums who have recently (less than 5 years ago) graduated.

Did you miss the previous sessions? You can find the recordings here!