In 1964, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, BNG established the BNG Culture Fund Foundation. For sixty years, the bank has been contributing to arts and culture projects throughout the Netherlands through the BNG Culture Fund. The fund also encourages young talent with awards in the fields of theatre, literature, circus, music, and dance. There is also an annual heritage award for municipalities.
This festive milestone was celebrated on Monday 25th November with many councillors for culture, people from the arts and culture sector and BNG employees. The celebration took place at Theater aan het Spui in The Hague. The hosts for the evening were Ron König and Mat Meijs, respectively the chairman and secretary of the Culture Fund.
Olivier Labe, CFO of BNG, addressed the audience and conveyed congratulations on behalf of the bank. Afterwards, many recent award winners took to the stage.
First, attention was paid to the BNG Heritage Prize, which was awarded in June to Alderman Tobias van Elferen of the municipality of Nijmegen. Next, the focus shifted to ‘Let's Go Barbie’, the winning performance of the BNG Theatre Prize 2024. After that, choreographer Sheree Lenting, winner of the BNG Dance Prize 2024, performed her beautiful show ‘I am my ancestors wildest dreams’.
After the break, Daan Heerma van Voss, winner of the BNG Literature Prize 2023, read a short story. Harvey Cobb, winner of the BNG Circus Prize 2022, then gave a special performance. The evening concluded with a performance by the jazz quartet led by Bram van de Glind, winner of the BNG Music Prize 2023.
Culture is at the heart of our society. And our society is at the heart of BNG. The BNG Culture Fund continues to support special artistic projects with great energy and dedication.
