Now, 400 years later, the project 12xHolland is going to facilitate twelve Dutch professional artists and specialists to go live and work in historic Hirado for an entire month. This will take place in the period between July 1 and October 31 of the year 2000. This way the project points back to the past while it wants to create new contacts for the future at the same time.

Through 12xHolland the twelve participants working from their own specialism will organize workshops, concerts, lectures, visits to schools and other kind of presentations. They will also take courses themselves in Japanese art forms. Some of the participants will be accompanied by their partner and/or children. For 12xHolland the main purpose is the meeting and the exchange with the local people in today’s Japan, but also to display contemporary Holland through a creative ambiance.

After an open entry which was closed on January 15, 2000 the twelve participants were selected from a group of about 150. (They were invited to enter in 14 different categories, which were: Lute; Recorder; Percussion; Children’s songs; Dance; 2D/Painting; 3D/Sculpture; Ceramics; Photography; Fashion/Costume History; Japanese & Dutch Language; History Japan-Holland; Bread & Pastry; and Birds in Holland.) Each submission had to be accompanied by an initiative plan descibing what one intended to do during a month in Hirado. These plans have been judged by the organization in Japan (Cultural Department of Hirado City) and in Holland (Studio E), and also by a committee consisting of Onno Mensink/Haags Gemeentemuseum; Casper Gijzen/KNTV, and Kuniaki Seki/Japanese School in Amsterdam). The participants will be offered a ticket to Japan, and also accomodation expenses, pocket money, and living and work space.