For the third and final time, initiatives have been selected for financial support under the Faro Implementation Agenda Subsidy Scheme. This year, there are 23. The funds aim to make the principles of the Faro Convention a sustainable part of heritage practice. Not the heritage itself, but people and their relationship with cultural heritage are central to this convention. The proposals come from heritage communities and volunteers, residents committees, museums, and other cultural institutions.
All applicants worked hard on the proposals in an open process. The initiators and stakeholders in the heritage field and the Faro network jointly discussed the initiatives. The selection is very diverse: from giving meaning to estates in the Achterhoek as cooperative living and working spaces and bearers of traditions, participatory public methods for guides and tour leaders at heritage institutions, to exploring and valuing the intangible dimensions of metal detecting. The applicants themselves are also diverse: communities advocating for, for example, fairground, football, Muslim, and keyboard heritage.
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20ac 2 million is available for this application period (2025). In 2023, 26 initiatives received funding in the first round (20ac 1.3 million), and in the second round (2024), 20 initiatives were selected (20ac 1.5 million). In total, 69 initiatives have been made possible with the Faro scheme.
Social value of heritage
The substantive framework for the subsidy scheme of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) is formed by the Faro Implementation Agenda. This agenda describes what the heritage field considers the meaning of the Faro Convention in the Dutch context and what is needed to implement the convention. This requires a change in thinking. While other heritage conventions mainly focus on the preservation of cultural heritage, the Faro Convention specifically concerns the value of that heritage for society. How are people involved with their cultural heritage, what significance does it have for them, and how can heritage contribute to a better society? The convention calls for cooperation between governments and other parties in society to jointly take responsibility for cultural heritage.
Curious about the initiatives? View the full selection list on the Faro platform.
