A number of international political and cultural developments in 2003 resulted in the Prince Claus Fund deploying a series of new initiatives and positions. Following the looting of cultural heritage during the war in Baghdad (Iraq),
the Fund set up the Cultural Emergency Response in co-operation with the
International Committee of the Blue Shield.
The aim of this cultural emergency fund is to provide emergency assistence in the event of damage to, or destruction of, cultural property arising from human made or natural disaster. The Cultural Emergency Response’s first activity was announced on 26 September at the presentation at Delft’s Prinsenhof Museum in the presence of the Fund’s new honorary chairmen Their Royal Highnesses Prince Johan Friso and Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands.
This initial undertaking consisted of providing the necessary resources for the purchasing of tables, chairs and computers for the devastated Central Library of the University of Baghdad.
In mid-March 2003, 75 Cuban cultural and social activists were arrested and condemned to lengthy prison sentences of up to 28 years. The 8th Havana Biennale, which has government links and is an international, non-Western art event, did not distance itself from this policy of persecution. The Prince Claus Fund decided in 2003 not to provide any financial support to the 8th Havana Biennale, which was held in Havana (Cuba) in November 2003.
Social, cultural and economic developments in the Arab world were the subject of critical discussion at the Arab Human Development Reports: Bridging the Deficits debate that was organised by the Prince Claus Fund and the Inter- national Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and held at Amsterdam’s Rode Hoed centre on 9 December. This debate was also held to mark the granting of a Prince Claus Award to the 2002 Arab Human Development Report. On 10 December, Prince Constantijn presented the Award to the Report’s editors Rima Khalaf Hunaidi (Jordan) and Nader Fergany (Egypt).
The Prince Claus Fund formulated two new themes that resulted in a series of new contacts and initiatives. The 2003 Prince Claus Awards were based on the theme of the Survival and Innovation of Crafts. On 3 December in Beijing (China), Prince Johan Friso presented the Prince Claus Award to Wang Shixiang, an expert on Chinese furniture and crafts. In co-operation with the Premsela Dutch Design Foundation, the Fund compiled the Prince Claus Fund Journal 10a, entitled The Future is Handmade.
The Prince Claus Fund also introduced its Sport and Development theme, which was reflected in the granting of the 2003 Prince Claus Award to the Mathare Youth Sports Association of Nairobi (Kenya) and the supporting of the Sports for the Development of the Underprivileged organisation that encourages sport in African refugee camps.
The Zones of Silence denote areas in the world of culture and development that, through whatever form of exclusion, are the subject of limited national or international attention. This theme remains high on the Prince Claus Fund’s agenda. Hence, for the first time the Fund supported activities in Kinshasa
(Congo), Afghanistan, Chad and Iraq. In addition, the Reyum Gallery art centre
in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) was granted a Prince Claus Award.
The Prince Claus Fund undertook various activities in the Netherlands. These Dutch initiatives included: the Nieuwe Beeldenstormen debate on cultural identity in an international perspective, which was organised in co-operation with the Winternachten literary festival; the presentation of the Cultural Emergency Response at the Prinsenhof Museum in Delft; the reception held in Amsterdam’s Koepelkerk in honour of the granting of the Prince Claus Award to the Mathare Youth Sports Association; and the Arab Human Development Reports: Bridging the Deficits debate, which was held at the Rode Hoed centre in Amsterdam.
In short, for the Prince Claus Fund the year 2003 was dominated by political positions, a quest to find new approaches to crafts and sport, the high- lighting of Zones of Silence and an emphasis on activities in the Netherlands. All this was supported by the active involvement of our two new honorary chairmen.
