VHDG Connect is our new yearly program that focuses on support, guidance, and the development of emerging artists. During 2025, a number of trajectories will be launched for diverse groups of (starting) artists based in the North of the Netherlands (Friesland, Groningen & Drenthe), establishing new networks for exchange, growth, inspiration, and support.
Through VHDG Connect we look to bring together current projects and trajectories, such as Club VHDG. In this way, artists can engage in a shorter period through a residency, and partake of the Club in a longer timeframe. We welcome you to apply for the residency program and/or to join the Club!
Professional advice sessions
Part of the Connect program is to facilitate monthly Professional advice sessions for the local creative community of Leeuwarden every first Friday of each month. People can reserve a timeslot and pitch an idea, share their portfolio, or ask for advice from one of the team members of VHDG. You can sign up here!
Artists-in-residence 2026
Artist-in-residence: Jens Huls
The work of artist Jens J.T. Huls (Vriezenveen, 2000) takes the form of (fictional) essays, texts, multimedia installations, and performances that explore identity, (auto)biography, fiction, and myth. His artistic practice is interested in a critical approach to relationality: what role does identity play in this? How and where does this take place? Which identities are allowed to (re)appropriate space, and if so, where? Community, open dialogue, resistance, mysticism, and queerness play a central role in this. Through long-term collaborations, Jens takes on the role of scriber, focusing on legends and memories.
Artists-in-residence 2025
Artist-in-residence: Maaike Meindertsma
We are delighted to announce the first artist-in-residence of our VHDG Connect program: Maaike Meindertsma! Maaike Meindertsma (1999, NL) is a visual artist from the northern Netherlands. Want to learn more about Maaike? Click here!
Working period: Hugo Tekstra
Hugo Tekstra (1992) is a visual artist from Leeuwarden and studied Fine Arts at Academy Minerva in Groningen. Read all about Hugo here.
Artist-in-residence: Lila Veloo
Lila Veloo (2000, Groningen) is an artist and writer based in Groningen, and one of our artists-in-residence in 2025. She works with installation, publications, and text, and her practice explores the tension between desire and the unattainable. Through language and its materiality, her work investigates the possibilities of fiction as a research tool—where stories intertwine fact, fragment, and fabulation. Read all about Lila here.
Artist-in-residence: Marijke Klamer
Artist-in-residence: Marijke Klamer‘In my drawings and ceramics, you see birds, hares, plant roots, marshes, and flowers with faces. The pencil drawings are monochrome, and I give each part equal attention and detail. This blurs the contrasts between the creatures and their environments. I don’t see the drawings as classic landscapes, but as portraits of living worlds,’ says Marijke. Read all about Marijke here.
