About
TimeWindow is a platform for artist development (formal title: talent development platform) rooted in the performing arts and branching out to connected disciplines. 50 artists across art forms, coming from varying backgrounds and experience levels share space, knowledge and ideas for the future.
At TimeWindow, we create collective solutions for individual artists’ needs. We work together to find alternatives for existing structures and systems within the (Dutch) art world. A unique ongoing experiment in an old office building in Rotterdam.
Grant writing workshop at TimeWindow
Talent development
All individual members (we call them Widdies) trace their own trajectory and goals. Our creative biotope is a solid home base and a safe environment to experiment freely, without the pressure of time limits, themes and targets. But as we say: do it yourself, but not alone! Everyone’s talent development is supported by all the knowledge, experience and connections that are present within the community. We’re with (around) 50 people, after all.
The Biotope
Our biotope acts as a permanent artistic residency for the individual members, as opposed to being tied to projects to use a workspace. Since 2016, we inhabit our home base at Teilingerstraat 120 in the ZOHO quarter in Rotterdam. It’s not just a space, it’s a network, a living room, an ecosystem, hence: the biotope.
New methods
By sharing our experiences in the art world, we found that we agree that things need to change. As a new art institute, we develop alternative organizational systems through trial and error. For example, instead of a top-down hierarchy, we work with sociocracy and adapt it to artists’ needs. Each individual member is part of a committee that takes care of the daily organization of the collective. We also develop a new method for paying creators for the value they bring to a project, both as an artist and as a committee member. Read more about our philosophies here.
Audience at CAMPSITE Festival by TimeWindow in TENT in 2023
Events
We invite audiences to become part of the creative process in all stages. Our events, big and small, are all about experimenting and sharing. Read more about it on the events page.
Advocacy
There’s still a lot of progress to be made in the art world. Fair pay, a safe work environment, gentrification, creative license… As a platform we are vocal, give advice and share our methods.
Made possible by the city of Rotterdam
Next to some incidental support from various funds, we are included in Cultuurplan 2021-2024 as a talent development institute. With this structural funding, we can keep the biotope alive and change the system from within. For the Dutch art world, we are a unique concept that puts artists and their needs in the forefront. Through our activities we hope to spread this spirit. First in Rotterdam, then the rest of the world.
