Interest-free loans for artists, photographers, and designers

Professional artists, photographers, and designers can apply for an interest-free loan from Fonds Kwadraat of up to €8,000. The loan must be repaid within a maximum of 3 years and can be used for creating and presenting (new) work, such as an exhibition at home or abroad, a publication, as well as for the purchase of equipment or tools like a laptop or camera, material research, creating prototypes, or participating in an artist residency, etc.

Graduation students at Dutch art and design academies can apply for an interest-free loan of up to €800 for the development and presentation of their final project, to be repaid in up to 20 installments of €40 per month.

Small non-profit art institutions can apply for a loan up to €8,000.

Download our general conditions here.

You can apply for an interest-free loan from Fonds Kwadraat throughout the year. It’s important to note that there are 5 application rounds per year. After the closing date, the Fonds Kwadraat committee reviews the received applications approximately three weeks later. Within a few days following the committee meeting, you will receive a notification regarding the approval of your application.

The upcoming closing dates are as follows:

• September 15, 2024
• November 10, 2024

The Fonds Kwadraat committee evaluates applications based on the following criteria:

1. Professionalism (CV): Your professional background and experience.
2. Quality of Work: The artistic quality of your portfolio and previous projects.
3. Project Quality: The quality and feasibility of the specific project for which you are applying for the loan.
4. Financial Accountability: The financial justification for the loan request.

Once your application is approved, you will receive a message from us to finalize your interest-free loan with Fonds Kwadraat.

What does that entail? 

• You will receive a loan agreement specifying the monthly repayment via automatic direct debit. Here is an example of the loan agreement. 
• If the loan amount exceeds € 5,000, a guarantee is required. Students always need a guarantee for the entire loan amount of € 800. Here is an example of the guarantee form. 
• Submit the completed guarantee form along with the loan agreement for repayment to gcrouwel@fondskwadraat.nl.

For loans exceeding  €5,000, Fonds Kwadraat requires a guarantee for the amount above € 5,000. For example, if you borrow € 6,000, a guarantee of € 1,000 is necessary. In the case of the maximum loan amount of € 8,000, the guarantee is € 3,000.

If, for any reason, it becomes impossible to fully repay the loan, Fonds Kwadraat will request the person who signed the guarantee to pay the outstanding amount. However, if the loan is repaid according to the agreement, no payment is required from the guarantor. The person signing the guarantee form can be a family member, friend, acquaintance, gallery, or client.

A loan must be repaid in a maximum of three years through monthly installments. Approximately twelve weeks after the funds are made available, the first repayment is expected, but if desired you can always repay faster.

When closing the loan, you’ll pay a one-time administration fee of 3.5% of the borrowed amount. These costs are deducted directly when entering into the loan agreement.

Example: For an interest-free loan of € 3,500, the administration costs would be € 122,50. You’ll receive € 3,377,50. The automatic direct debit repayment consists of 36 installments of € 93,82 each. The overview shows the monthly repayment amount and the total number of installments for loan repayment.