Keith McFarlane is based in Amsterdam and is the owner and Developer of the ArtWorld app–an app for art collectors to connect with artist (available on iTunes here). Keith asked me to share the news of the Win-Win Program at the Window Gallery in Amsterdam.

Here is what Keith wrote:

Artworld both supports and works closely with the Window Gallery in Amsterdam. The gallery, owned by Ella Arps of Arps & Co, is well-known for its innovative Win-Win programme. The programme offers emerging artists from across the world a ten-day exhibition here in Amsterdam. The idea behind the programme is to win exposure for the artists and to bring a new and fresh perspective to the arts’ community in Amsterdam. There is also a charitable element: artists must make a donation to an international arts’ educational charity TeachforLife. And they may take part in the Netherland’s Overdekunst (About Art) programme, whereby Dutch schools are given a budget to buy original artworks by contemporary fine-artists. Win-Win artists will feature in the Overdekunst catalogue for one year (commissions apply to any school purchase).

Many recent Win-Win artists now participate in Artworld, among them Xavier Yarto (Mexico City, Mexico), Esra Kizir Gökçen (Istanbul, Turkey), Maša Gala (Ljubljana, Slovenia), and Marta Brysha (Tasmania, Australia). It has been my pleasure to meet all of these artists and to see and to study their work!

For artists seeking a first international exposure, an opportunity to travel and spend a few days in The Netherlands, this is a very personable, or as the Dutch would say gezellig, and intimate experience. The costs for the artist are shipping, own travel and accommodation. Arps & Co provide the gallery, local publicity, insurance, framing, hanging, and advice about the Dutch market. It truly is a Win-Win!

I think this is an excellent opportunity for international exchange, one, moreover that has a personality all of its own: quite unlike the aggression and competitiveness of a large exhibition. It brings a rounded sense of the personality of Amsterdam and of the individuals that take part.

I would like very much to see this idea extended to other small galleries with an education and charitable interest internationally. And I wonder whether funding could be found to bring talented and emerging artists from countries and circumstances where international travel and shipping would otherwise be beyond their reach? This might be done independently, for example in South Africa, India or East Asia, but it might also bring such new talents to Amsterdam. If you’re interested, then you might contact Arps & Co directly. Alternatively you might contact the Keith McFarlane, editor@negativeentropy.net. I will do what I can to connect people who are interested.

And if you’re an artist wishing to take part in the Win-Win programme and to visit Amsterdam, then contact Ella Arps at info@arpsgallery.com.