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

On Thursday 15 January, there were two successive sessions.

First there were presentations by Amarte Fonds, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst, Stimuleringsfonds and Voordekunst about Dutch funding opportunities.

This was 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).

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

The lecture situated funding within a broader neo-liberal and success-driven framework—but instead of moralising, it asked how artists can work within these systems while also unsettling them. Visitors left with practical insights, sharper language, and a clearer sense of how funding can support—rather than distort—their practice.

Find the recording of the session below

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.