The ELJA Foundation has four distinct thematic programs, each serving a specific purpose:
Founder Projects: major, life-changing initiatives. The core values of this program are inspiration, experimentation, and innovation.
ELJA Connects: innovative projects in collaboration with prominent partners in the cultural field. Its emphasis is on ensuring sustainability and deepening.
ELJA Fund: the ELJA Foundation uses financial contributions to support good initiatives that align with its core philosophy.
ELJA Academy: the ELJA Foundation initiates research and promotes professional development in the fields of Music, Dance, Visual Arts, and Community building.
An interactive game developed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and others which teaches young people in a playful way the skills needed to create classical music together in a symphony orchestra.
A spectacular Art Festival bringing young people from all 12 provinces in the Netherlands together to collaboratively construct an Art Community from the ground up.
A national Sing Up! campaign, which seeks to invigorate children’s choirs across the Netherlands. As every child can sing, and singing together gives every child its own voice in a larger collective.
2023-2026 | Bijdrage: € 510.000
H’ART Museum biedt al jarenlang een uniek kunst- en educatieprogramma voor kinderen en jongeren tussen 7 en 16 jaar uit heel Amsterdam. Hierin ontdekken kinderen via schoolbezoek, maar ook met een meerjarig talenten- en academietraject, hun creatieve talent.
2023-2025 | € 624.734
In the summer of 2023, the Groninger Museum is set to unveil an exciting initiative. An American Airstream will be transformed into a mini-museum, and will go, with artists and museum educators in toe, on a three-year journey across all 150 villages in Groningen province.
2023-2025 | € 375.000
ISH Dance Collective’s initiative ‘ISH Academy’ aims to help young people aged 6 to 18 with their self-development under the guidance of accomplished dancers within their respective genres. Following the principle of ‘each one, teach one’, this community fosters an environment where individual talents can thrive, and experimentation is encouraged. Whether on stage, behind the scenes, or in the audience, the young people follow their unique development path.
2023-2025 | € 450.000
The Amsterdam Museum is being renovated. It will reopen in mid-2026 with a groundbreaking and innovative program, in which children will play an important role. This includes the creation of a children’s museum. Over a span of three years, children from the Amsterdam metropolitan area will actively contribute to laying the foundations of this museum.
2023-2024 | € 151.165
Maas Theatre and Dance‘s art-vacation program provides an opportunity for children from diverse neighborhoods in Rotterdam to create art collectively. Together with other children who may at first seem different. And guided by professional artists, the program takes them on a journey through dance and visual art. The ultimate goal is a professional performance, in which children’s voices take center stage. Rotterdam will stage this art summer camp: Break, Make, Create.
2023 | € 98.000
Children from Friesland are embarking on an expedition through the Frisian peatland with WETTER. This project was developed by Oeds Westerhof and National Park De Olde Faenen. Like the biodiversity, the cultural diversity in this region has been diminished. Now that this land is being returned to nature, children are breathing new life into the cultural diversity of the area with new imagery, sounds, and rituals.
2023-2024 | Donation € 15.000
Eurosonic Noorderslag in Groningen is the leading showcase festival for pop music in Europe. ESNS and Kunstpunt Groningen’s project ‘ESNS Art 2024 – Future Notes‘ will give children from neighborhoods in Groningen visual art workshops, culminating in the creation of a collaborative public artwork that will be prominently featured at the festival.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 25.000
The Residents is the Residentie Orkest’s main educational program, giving pupils at schools in The Hague the opportunity to develop musically on an instrument for four years. They are lent an instrument, have weekly lessons, play together, and give regular performances at and outside school.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 30.000
Dance company Introdans and schools in Gelderland and Overijssel have established the dance education program WDo you want to date us? This sustainable partnership with regular and special needs education gets pupils and teachers literally and figuratively moving in intensive three-month courses.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 25.000
Jonge Strijkers en Blazers Nederland, the Junior Jazz College, and the 5 O’Clock Class are establishing an exchange project together: Dance the Music. Talented young (urban) dancers and (classical and jazz) musicians from Amsterdam learn from each other (and their art disciplines) and collaborate on a production.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 15.000
The project HEADSPACE 2.0 is focused on young people’s mental health. In cocreation with young people, DEGASTEN is making a performance consisting of a soundscape (music, texts, sounds) and dance that will tour schools and youth centers. Workshops will be used to invite participants to reflect on their own mental well-being.
2023 | Donation: € 10.000
The International Dance League is a big urban dance battle festival that brings together the hip hop and urban dance world in Rotterdam and where dancing skills can be showcased to a broad public. In 2023, the ELJA Foundation is supporting the Teens division, where young dancers collaborate in teams to work on their dance skills and personal development.
2023 | Donation: € 13.000
OYA KRIATURA RAZU is a cultural exchange project at primary schools in Curaçao, consisting of an interactive performance with dance, spoken word and music, and reflective workshops. The project aims to introduce children to themes such as slavery, the Orisha gods, and Yoruba culture in an accessible way.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 25.000
The annual International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) strives to reach as broad and diverse an audience as possible. In the coming year, IDFA is collaborating with the organization Visio to develop a program with a documentary archive especially for visually impaired pupils.
2023 | Donation: € 25.000
Vocal Statements wants to use music education to contribute to empowering young people in underprivileged neighborhoods. A Vocal State of Mind is a project for secondary school pupils in Utrecht in which young people work on developing their own voice by singing together and storytelling at weekly lessons.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 35.000
Dutch National Opera & Ballet is getting a new small theater: Studio Boekman. The focus is on young visitors, who often have their introduction to opera and ballet here through school or family. The ELJA Foundation is supporting the broad youth programming in Studio Boekman’s opening season 2023-2024.
2023 | Donation: € 10.000
Pan Educatie Fonds and the regional vocational education centers in Friesland, Twente, and Amsterdam have established the project ‘Vocational Education and Art Fairs’ to inform vocational education students about the world of art fairs. Workshops, guest lectures, and lessons prepare participants for actual participation in PAN Amsterdam 2023 with a self-developed exhibition booth.
2023 | Donation: € 21.000
The biggest outdoor festival for classical music in the Netherlands is held every year in ‘s Graveland. For children, Wonderfeel is organizing in addition to the summer festival a separate mini-festival called ‘Playing with Your Ears’ for 1,500 pupils from schools in Hilversum. Children are also helping decide the children’s program through a programming council.
2023 | Donation: € 15.000
The Holland Festival is biggest international performing arts festival in the Netherlands. In the project Empowerment van jongeren d.m.v. podiumkunsten, pupils in Amsterdam engage with the themes of a performance in interactive workshops with artists and collaborate towards a collective final project and presentation.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 15.000
Noordje introduces children and young people from Amsterdam Noord to art and culture. Meetingpoint Z gives young people aged 13 to 16 an intensive and comprehensive program, with weekly art activities, a school program, and pop-up exhibition spaces at three locations in Amsterdam Noord for them to showcase their art.
2023 | Donation: € 10.000
North Sea Round Town (Rotterdam International Fringe Festival) makes live jazz accessible to everyone in Rotterdam who can’t go to the North Sea Jazz Festival. Diverse music workshops are organized for specific target groups of children and young people, exposing them to high-quality Jazz and enabling them to create music together.
2023 | Donation: € 10.000
The Grachtenfestival is the biggest classical music festival in the Netherlands and is focused on music. The ELJA Foundation is supporting two projects: ‘Classical Generations’ and a performance aimed at reaching target groups in Amsterdam-West in collaboration with Oorkaan and Podium Mozaïek.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 20.000
De Vrolijkheid invests in the development and empowerment of young people living at asylum seeker reception centers with art programs at these centers throughout the Netherlands. With KickstART, teenagers engage with various forms of art at weekly workshops.
2023 | Donation: € 25.000
OSCAM is a museum for art, fashion, design, and craftsmanship in Amsterdam Zuid Oost. During the Dutch Commemoration Year of Slavery Past, Young Oscam is giving children an education program about (the ramifications of) the history of slavery in which children engage in conversations with each other and creative activities.
2023 | Donation: € 20.000
The Junior Calves Gala is a film project for schools in the Utrecht region in which pupils work towards creating their own short film. They go through all the steps of the filmmaking process and delve into each other’s worlds. The Junior Golden Calf awards are presented at the grand finale.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 20.000
Philomela wants to make classical music and art accessible to everyone. Its program, Young swallows, lets newcomers’ children at primary school discover the world of classical music with the guidance of professional musicians. In 16 weekly music lessons they work towards a festive performance at school or care center in the neighborhood.
2023 | Donation: € 30.000
IMC Weekendschool provides supplementary, motivation-oriented education for curious and motivated children in the areas of the Netherlands where it is most needed. Passionate guest teachers introduce children to their respective fields on a weekly basis. The art lessons explore cultural themes in the visual arts, performing arts, and music.
2023 | Donation: € 15.000
Musicians Without Borders’ project Music Bus NL tours emergency reception facilities throughout the Netherlands to give music workshops to asylum-seeking children. Facilitating moments of pleasure and connection increases participants’ resilience.
2023 | Donation: € 25.000
The Oranjewoud Festival in the fairy-tale Oranjewoud parkland also has a Family Zone, which is a complete festival of its own for children. To extend its reach among children who don’t come with their families, this year the Family Zone hosted primary school pupils from Heerenveen the day before the festival.
2023-2024 | Donation: € 20.000
The world’s biggest film and media festival for children is organizing the nationwide film project Shorts by Kids. Children in years six and seven from underprivileged neighborhoods throughout the Netherlands follow an intensive program with a school competition, working on creating their own short film.