The Fund will engage with journalists and creators during a working visit, come learn about local journalism and provide information about available grants.
In February 2025, the Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten (Fonds BJP) will pay a working visit with the aim of getting to know journalists and makers in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. During this working trip, Joëlle Terburg, director-director of the Fonds BJP, and Wensly Francisco, program and documentary maker, hope to learn more about specific needs of local journalism, and to bring the opportunities offered by the Fund to the attention of local journalists and media professionals.
The BJP Fund is a grant fund from the Netherlands that supports journalists and creators with project grants for larger journalistic productions, such as documentaries, (web) reports, podcasts and written works. It also plays an important role in the talent development of journalists, through work experience placements and grants for courses and training. Until now, the BJP Fund's activities have focused primarily on the European Netherlands, but the lagging number of applications from the Caribbean and the desire to better tailor the scheme to the needs of journalists there led to the planning of this working tour.
Joëlle Terburg explains the trip: "We see that there is a lot of quality and talent on the islands, but also that there are specific challenges that we might be able to support better with our fund. It is time for us to get closer and engage with journalists and creators to hear what they really need." The BJP Fund offers various forms of support, from project grants to grants for journalistic development. In addition to these forms of support, there are also the Traineeship in investigative journalism and the Journalistic Development Scholarship for (freelance) journalists who want to develop further. The Fund also organizes meetings to promote exchange and cooperation between journalists and offers opportunities to experiment with new forms of storytelling and publication.
About the Special Journalism Projects Fund
Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten was established in 1990 and supports journalists. Funding comes from the Culture and Media Budget of the Ministry of OCW and aims to support the production of independent journalism projects and encourage the development of journalists. During the working tour, the Fund is not only presented as a source of funding, Fund BJP also hopes to contribute to local journalism. For more information and available schemes, please visit www.fondsbjp.nl. The website is currently only available in Dutch. If you would like to make an appointment or participate in one of the meetings/workshops, please take contact on with the coordinator of the work visit.
Ms. Alice van Romondt is coordinator for Fonds BJP in Aruba, to be reached at alivaro@hotmail.com
On Feb. 10 from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., there will be a town-hall meeting at Cas di Cultura.
