SofinaBoël for Education and Talent: young artisans in heritage trades (Fund)
Advanced training grants for talented young artisans in heritage trades.
What is it about?
Sofina and the descendants of Gustave Boël have created within the King Baudouin Foundation the SofinaBoël Fund which focuses on the education and training of young talent. The fund aims to support the emergence and strengthening of talent either by awarding specific individual scholarships or by supporting the projects of organizations committed to comparable objectives.
It focuses on three areas:
- Scholarships for graduates and Ph.D. students who wish to further their knowledge at a renowned foreign university, in any discipline (law, engineering, economics, literature, science, etc.)
- Scholarships to train talented young artisans in the heritage trades
- Ensuring the successful transition between secondary school and higher level or university level education of talented young students from modest socioeconomic backgrounds
The second approach supports the training of talented young artisans (between 20 and 45 years of age) in the heritage trades in order to accelerate their path to excellence. This will be done by enabling them to mix with the world’s top professionals and trainers in their discipline. The scholarships will enable the artisans to perfect their skills in a centre of excellence or with a master abroad.
Each year, a call for applications runs until the end of August to identify the training projects that the fund wishes to support. Grants are awarded on the basis of actual costs, up to a maximum of 12,500 euros per grant. This amount may, however, be reviewed if the candidate's needs exceed this amount to complete the training (cost of material, duration of training, etc.).
Who can apply?
The call is aimed at young artisans between 20 and 45 years of age who can claim one or more strong ties to Belgium. They must be active in the heritage trades. The following are some of the eligible disciplines: decorative painting, gilding, glass-making, stone-cutting, ironwork, roofing, carpentry, cabinet-making, mosaic tiling, plastering trades, market gardening or historical horticulture (decorative orange trees), old tree pruning, book binding, clock making, etc.