Annual Report 2020 Tel +31 (0)20 520 00 (0)20 520 10 +31 Tel Herengracht 514, 1017Cc Amsterdam,Herengracht 1017Cc the Netherlands 514, Turingfoundation.Org Content
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TURING FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2020 TEL +31 (0)20 520 00 (0)20 520 10 +31 TEL HERENGRACHT 514, 1017CC AMSTERDAM,HERENGRACHT 1017CC THE NETHERLANDS 514, TURINGFOUNDATION.ORG CONTENT FOREWORD 4 NATURE 12 ABOUT US 8 DONATIONS 2020 9 Nature Conservation Projects 14 OUR FUNDING AREAS 10 EDUCATION 22 Education Projects 24 ART 36 GRANTS TO PROJECTS IN 2021 AND BEYOND 54 Visual Arts Projects 38 FINANCIAL REPORT 56 Music Projects 46 Capital of the Turing Foundation 56 Poetry Projects 47 Financial Developments in 2020 56 Asset Management 57 Financial Statements 58 LEPROSY 48 BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND ORGANISATION 60 INDEX 61 Leprosy Projects 50 COLOPHON 62 2 3 FOREWORD MAKE FUTURE We soon concluded that it was more effective and appealing Concessions would certainly have to be made from time to not to address people as individuals (and lecture them: ‘you time, but this would ultimately lead to fewer flights without In addition to all its projects in the arts, education, leprosy have to do without something’), but rather collectively and in fewer passengers being transported: it is empty seats that are control and nature conservation – many of which have been an inspirational way (‘we can do something, together’). And done away with, as well as the perversity of it sometimes being hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, not least of course festivals not to address people as consumers, but as citizens. To ask more expensive to take the train from Amsterdam to Schiphol and exhibitions – the Turing Foundation also put much work them to (help) change certain systems. than to fly from Schiphol to Milan. into an exceptional project in 2020: a nature conservation project, not at sea or in Africa, but in our home country. We You might think that if consumers bought fewer airline tickets Our efforts resulted in a campaign to tackle systems with large saw that people in the Netherlands have an increasingly urgent there would automatically be fewer flights. But guess what: collective campaigns. And a visual language that is not gloomy sense that something needs to be done about all the heat planes will simply fly around without passengers, otherwise and apocalyptic, but encouraging and hopeful. No smoulder- waves, floods and other visible symptoms of climate change. the airline risks losing their “landing slots”. The slot system ing, polluted debris on an uninhabitable earth, but images of But many people do not know what to do. This is partly predates the computer age. It is a kind of logistical ‘conveni- how we want the future to be. Because this is about the future. because there are many different, conflicting messages about ence’ having a plane flying between Amsterdam and London what could help (sometimes very cynically interspersed with four times a day, like some kind of local train. When too few An important insight we gained whilst working on the cam- disinformation and ‘dirty advertising’ from those with an inter- people buy tickets, airlines invariably dump tickets for next to paign was that when we were young, the future was something est in the status quo). ‘Less meat? No, drinking milk is much nothing. That is ‘better’ than flying planes with empty seats. to look forward to – unpredictable but exciting. Nowadays worse’. ‘Electric cars? They’re also polluting, just in another we can reasonably predict what the future will look like, and way’. ‘The ads say my SUV is probably the greenest SUV ever’. Even well-disposed, green-minded consumers will refuse a it is not a heartening prospect. This instantly illustrates our 9-euro ticket to Milan and demand a more expensive ticket. overarching task: whatever measures we take, the goal must This does not just make people unsure, but also cynical. And But citizens have proved in favour of banning ridiculously be to create a future. sceptical: if the government is not doing anything about it cheap tickets. For instance, the Austrian Airlines (like KLM in then it is probably not that urgent. And the reverse: if it really ‘Dirty advertising’ and green washing makes people cynical the Netherlands) received corona support, but subject to a You can ask about every action and every measure: does it is that bad then the government should do something about green condition: airline tickets can no longer be sold for less make a future? For example: ‘Go and vote, make future’. Of it. It also irks many that apparently we should deny ourselves The Turing Foundation decided to explore whether we could than 40 euros in Austria (by any airline), and a special tax of 30 course, go and vote, because your parliament can do a great all kinds of things: a tasty piece of meat, a flight to someplace inform the Dutch public about action we could take which euros per seat was introduced on very short flights. Although deal if you give it a mandate. But also take into account wheth- nice – whilst the neighbours (or neighbouring countries) carry would work. We turned to Greenpeace for advice – the organi- some companies complained bitterly, there were no outcries er your vote contributes to making a future. Or is the party you on regardless! sation successfully collaborated with the Turing Foundation in from consumers. Measures like this mean that airlines can not are voting for just trying to maintain the status quo, or favour- D.R. Congo and has spent years researching which meas- fill seats by dumping cut-price tickets any more. Instead, they ing a specific constituency over other groups? The combination of all these things is dejecting and dispir- ures really make a difference. With the aid of a strategy and might look at a charter-like system, in which the exact number iting. This is hardly improved by the depressing, apocalyptic campaigning company called Dawn, we set to work designing of flights between airports and exact departure times are not images often used to illustrate the bleak future we are creating a large-scale public campaign ‘that touches, informs, and fixed for years in advance, but are determined on a day-to-day for our children. encourages high impact climate action’. basis, by demand. 4 5 Greenpeace became increasingly enthusiastic over the course up surfing the wave. Top talent produced and directed the clip. of the process, eventually deciding to put all its 2021 cam- Spectacular sea images were provided free of charge by Chris paigns – greening politics, stopping short or empty flights, Bryan, the renowned contributor to the Blue Planet and David banning dirty advertising, reducing nitrogen emissions – under Attenborough nature documentaries. The large media budget the ‘Make Future’ umbrella. The Turing Foundation decided meant the clip could even be aired around election debates, to seriously support this initiative, enabling a media budget eight o’clock news bulletins and other prime-time program- of 2.2 million euros, comparable to the media budget of a ming. large political party in the Netherlands. 1.2 million euros was released immediately, and another 500,000 euros was released According to the latest figures, more than 260 million ‘Make on the condition that other donors equal the contribution. As Future’ “impressions” were pushed at the Netherlands (of we write this, half of this amount has already been provided by which an estimated 97 million reached the target group). We two major donors. Françoise and I helped raising funds, which Image from the ‘Make Future’ video clip will not know what all of this will yield until next year – in as The design of ‘Make Future’ was a new experience (normally the Turing Foundation only far as it is measurable at all: this project was also exceptional provides funds). for us because of its intangibility. At the end of the project you When creating a new brand – which ‘Make Future’ is – the first will not see a new school or exhibitions, or a group that has blow is half the battle. A mass media campaign aimed to reach Although the ‘Make Future’ colour scheme is supposed to received training in Burkina Faso or attended a music festival every Dutch person in the target group (five million adults express hope and optimism, making a future does not happen in Utrecht. The most we can hope for is that the campaign has who are concerned about the environment and the climate automatically and cannot be done alone. It has to be done with created a little more awareness in the minds of certain Dutch but are unsure what to do about it) on average twenty times, others, and action has to be taken – and not always action that people for nature, the climate and the future, and that this will through television, radio, YouTube, Facebook, billboards, everyone supports, because the status quo is always tena- contribute to a better world. posters, the brand new website Maaktoekomst.nl and so on. cious. Hence the caption ‘Make friends. Make trouble. Make That first advertising blitz needed to have a broad appeal, future.’ Pieter and Françoise Geelen, be active but not activist (by for example calling people to April 2021 march in protest), and most certainly not have a political hue, The great thing about the mission statement ‘Make Future’ because ‘green’ isn’t left-wing or right-wing (even though is that it can be used concisely about what you should do the Green-Left political party claimed the term a bit in the (e.g. ‘Go and vote. Make future’), and what you should not past – something that we think is mainly counterproductive do (‘Make future, not plastic’). It is no coincidence that the nowadays).