dialogue

The Organisation of the QfWf

The Board of the Quest for Wisdom foundation (QfWf)

bestuur@questforwisdom.org

The QfWf has laid down its mission in promoting an inclusive society in its practices and statutes of the Quest-for-Wisdom-Foundation.

The QfWf board is playing a leadership role in facilitating, organizing and realizing the QfWf-programmes on the intercultural art of living. From 2019 organized as the three Quests:

Since the QfWf-project on Global Citizenship in 2024 the yearly QfWf-programmes are published on the digital platform for Global Citizenship Golden Ratio, integrating these quests.

The QfWf websites:

  • The QfWf-website provides general information on the QfWf as a foundation with a Cultural ANBI status and how the QfWf circles are  co-creating around the three Quests, resulting in the (e)books, dialogue- and game-forms. These might be purchased in the webshop. The website is bilingual: in Dutch and English.
  • For the digital game Quest for Wisdom, launched in 2016, the Wheel for the Intercultural Art of Living was designed with 20 stories from the four corners of the world, including 80 transcultural symbols, to be consulted in order to develop the art of living personally and as a community, family or team.
  • In 2017 the QfWf started the Wisdom Web, intended for the collecting, developing and publishing of (inter)cultural and artistic materials. The website is primarily Dutch language based, but also contains a substantial number of contributions in English.
  • The Animal Wisdom project has its own website that contains an intercultural storytelling programme — including a series of e-books: the Animal Wisdom Collection as well as decades of retold animal stories with an ethos from different cultures. This website is both in Dutch and English.

flow together from 2024 onwards as The Golden Ratio Quest

Since the project “World Citizenship of the Street” in 2024, which was honored by the Cultural Participation Fund, the QfWf has been focussing on different aspects of this urgent theme every year. In the intercultural language of the arts, the QfWf Soul Circle develops each year an artistic programme to be presented on the rhythm of the four seasons as well as on the Annual Meeting Day. Hereby, the QfWf draws attention to the importance of Global Citizenship for an inclusive society along the social and intercultural axis.

The Editorial Board, the QfWf-Council and Soul Circle

For the development of her programmes and the quality of her activities, as well as for the renewal and management of her websites, the QfWf has inaugurated an Editorial Board, a QfWf-Council and the Soul Circle.

QfWf-Editoral Board

The members of the QfWf-Board are:

Heidi Muijen (Editor in Chief) together with Angela Gilds (Spoken Word), Ebrahim Sohrabi (Editor), Greg Suffanti (Art), Madalina Hristache (Editor), Mitra Muijen (Music), are taking care for acquiring and developing the monthly publications on the QfWf-Annual theme around World Citizenship on The Golden Ratio: in artistic, philosophical, poetical, musical and other creative forms — and publish them on the QfWf-website(s).

Heidi Muijen collaborated with Mitra Muijen and webdeveloper Jimmy Dean designing the digital platform The Golden Ratio in 2024: on which The QfWf-Quests flow together around a yearly changing theme of Global Citizenship — building upon the older QfWf-programmes like the Wisomweb and the intercultural storytelling programme Animal Wisdom and other projects on the intercultural art of living.

We welcome your contributions and ideas for the The Golden Ratio and for our Newsletter! Please, contact us: redactie@questforwisdom.org

The Editorial Charter

The QfWf-Editorial Charter aims to guarantee the independence of the journalistic and artistic content of the Quest for Wisdom websites.

To this end, it regulates the position and tasks of all those involved in these websites as publisher and digital platforms.

Editorial Team 

The editorial team is responsible for the development of the yearly Golden Ratio programme by means of publications in different media, the digital communication by means of social media, the QfWf-Videochannel and the QfWf-Newsletter; and the maintainance of the other QfWf-websites. Of the utmost importance the QfWf considers the task for ensuring the quality of their content to the benefit of everyone’s interests.

Editoral tasks 

Members of the Editorial team take care of all the editorial tasks in cocreation, among others to:

  • develop text as well as illustrations in coordination with the QfWf Soul Circle and authors
  • check the suitability of the offered material for the development of the QfWf annual theme
  • acknowledge copyrights of the QfWf authors and illustrators[1]
  • check copyrights if the content was published previously on a medium channel, website or publisher
  • take care of the content and the maintenance of the QfWf-websites

Digital communications:

The QfWf-Council

The QfWf-Council offers advice to enhance the quality of the QfWf-activities and her intercultural programmes. The members of QfWf-Council have a responsibility to keep an open eye on the QfWf-developments and will be consulted by the QfWf-Board and the Editors-in-Chiefs whenever necessary to assess the quality of the material offered by third parties for the QfWf-websites.
The members have a seat on the Council — because of their unique and diverse qualities.
They ensure quality by providing solicited and unsolicited advice and by contributing to the editorial pages of the Wisdomweb and the Animal-wisdomprogramme as well as the themes on Global Citizenship on the Golden Ratio platform.

The Members of the QfWf-Council

Angela Roothaan, Annelie van Steenbergen, Erik Hoogcarspel, Giovanni Rizzuto, Greg Suffanti, Harm Jaap Hartmans, Henry Muldrow, Johann Gomes, Louise Müller, Michael Susanto, Mitra Muijen, Nivedita Yohana, Rosalie de Wildt, Viola Talloway, Wim van de Laar  are — because of authentic qualities in their field — members of the QfWf-Council.

Soul Circle

with a keen eye and heart for the the Quest for Wisdom!

The QfWf strives to shape its activities in co-creation with the circles of the people involved. 
The Soul Circle is initiated to be as group the intercultural community that the QfWf is propagating as its mission. As the ambassadors of the QfWf they also propagate the QfWf to the outside world in their own networks. And internally they form the hands, hearts, heads and voices of the Quest for Wisdom, connecting people and Quest initiatives to let the Quest for Wisdom grow into the future.

The Soul Circle

The members of the Soul Circle are

Members of Honour

Honorary members are people who have earned this special recognition due to their inspiring ideas and/or their special contributions to the QfWf.
Since December 2016, the QfWf has selected two honorary members.

The Honarary Members are

Dirk de Wachter – foto: ©Kristof Ghyselinck

 

Circle of Friends

Since the year of her foundation in 2016 the QfWf has grown thanks to the help of friends, who contributed to the three Quests in their own authentic way. For their dedication the QfWf pays credit to

The first Circle of QfWf Friends shaping the three Quests:

Update 2025-12

[1] QfWf authors are writers, actors and other muses, such as artists, designers, drafters, photographers, illustrators, video and film makers and other producers of text, images, sound, and stakeholders, who make the texts and other materials available to a of the QfWf-websites have stated.

The Organisation of the QfWf Read More »

QfWf: Cultural ANBI status

doneer aan de QFWF

The Quest for wisdom foundation (QfWf) has a cultural ANBI status.
What that means according to the ficus is explained here:  Public Benefit Organizations / Culturele ANBI

Donate? Yes, please: thanks!

In 2026 we have cancelled the expensive Mollie-service. As a consequence the Donation button does not work anymore. So please, donate via a bank transfer:

bankrekening IBAN: NL14TRIO0777827654

The reason for cancellation is that the monthly costs of this service are too high for our limited budget.

Donate? Yes, please!

Cultural ANBI-Status Obligations

Below is the (annual) publication obligation on our website

State of affairs: end of 2025

Publication Obligation Regarding the Cultural ANBI status

1-3: Business data QfWf:

4: The QfWf Goals:

Intercultural Art of Living for Inclusion and Transcultural Connections

The objectives of the QfWf are based upon the statutes of the Quest for Wisdom foundation. As founded in 2016 statuten volgens de oprichtingsakte Stichting Quest for Wisdom foundation. 

5: The QfWf Policy plan:

The QfWf policy plan is detailed in a multi-year plan: Beleidsplan-QfWf-2024-2026

Objectives and Policy Plan stem from the QfWf Mission and Vision:

The Quest for wisdom foundation was founded on the 10th of October 2016 by Dr. Heidi S.C.A. Muijen with the mission of fostering a culture of openness to inclusion and cultural diversity. The QfWf does this by collecting and further developing cultural expressions of wisdom traditions from North and South, East and West.

The QfWf activities continue to take place together with a growing circle of stakeholders, who share the mission of the foundation – as visualized and expressed in the ‘Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living’.

The QfWf chooses as its course in tipping times the good life by developing world citizenship. To this end, artistic programs are cocreated by paying attention to the cultural-historical contexts of stories, rituals and symbolism from wisdom traditions on the one hand; on the other hand, by bringing into the globalizing society transcultural values, like hospitality, emapthy and humanity through music, visual arts and other intercultural expressions.

The need for an intercultural art of living

Being able to deal effectively and ethically with our differences is a delicate matter in our current times.

The objective of the foundation calls for an intercultural art of living as an answer to the fear of ‘the strange other’ and appeal of ‘the multicultural society’ by means of:

  • historical awareness of the (inter)cultural roots of wisdom traditions;
  • interest in other cultures and wisdom traditions and
  • living encouters and cross-pollination between cultures

Dealing with differences

Dealing with differences has been raised as a social issue in the international debate by Samuel P. Huntington’s terrifying perspective on the Clash of Civilizations (1996). Since then, there has been a heated political debate in many lands with multicultural populations, and the debate on social media is getting ever louder and more troubled ….The geopolitical landslides affect all of us as co-inhabitants of our shared planet Earth.
That is why the QfWf addresses this issue as a layered and multidimensional question, an ethical issue of a practical, social and political nature:

How do we deal with, and how do we want to deal with ‘the strange other’?
That strange other can be the foreigner, the outcast, the fringe figure, the refugee and the privileged citizen …How do we not exclude ‘others’ ― the ‘stranger’ and people of a seemingly different nature ― but to see them as part of us, as ‘the strange other(s)’ in ourselves?

The QfWf wants to play a role in tilting the debate

Diagram met de 17 duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelen door de V.N. op 25 September 2015 aangenomen als deel van de 2030 Agenda
Diagram met de 17 duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelen

The QfWf wants to help turn the polarized debate about migration, refugees and religious strife from a problem for ‘political experts’, to a relevant issue for all of us as world citizens, making an ethical appeal to everyone, from the current administration to our neighbours on the street.

In order to tilt the debate, the QfWf sees it as a call to recalibrate the awareness of who ‘we’ are as citizens of the cosmopolis: nomads with intercultural identities, transcending differences in culture, race, religion, ethnicity, gender,….

By stimulating the recognition of the beauty of our differences and shared commonality, instead of a fear of ‘otherness’, through artistic and (inter-)cultural expressions, the QfWf seeks to create space both in and between people and establish meaningful connections between cultures!

Hospitality, respect and inclusion and other shared values of humanity are what truly connect people as sisters and brothers ― opening a common playing field for all!

6, 7: The Board of the QfWf

bestuur@questforwisdom.org

8: Remuneration policy for the QfWf Board

The members of the board do not receive any remuneration for their work. They are, however, entitled to reimbursement of costs incurred in the performance of their duties, such as, for example, a travel allowance.

Board members cannot dispose of the assets of the institution separately. There is a separate bank account in the name of the QfWf. In addition, an annual financial overview is drawn up by the treasurer of the QfWf. This overview is discussed and adopted during an annual board meeting (at which at least 3 members of the board are present).

9: Report of the Activities Performed

The grant applied for in 2025 by an alliance of 8 organisations to the municipality of Amsterdam was unfortunately not awarded. However, this application did provide a spin-off for a new collaboration and for exposure, such as at the event in Pakhuis de Zwijger in Amsterdam on 19 March 2026 during the week celebrating 60 years of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, established by the UN after the Sharpeville massacre of 21 March 1960.

In 2021 as well as in 2024 the QfWf received funding, due to the cultural and social relevance of her activities. The first subsidy was given for developing an intercultural storytelling programme during the Corona lockdown which was presented on a specially designed website Animal Wisdom including an educative offer with a series of ebooks.

The second subsidy in 2024 addressed the theme of Global Citizenship and resulted in the fusion of the three Quests as the Golden Ratio Quest around a yearly theme of the intercultural art of living.  Hereby, the QfWf has restructured its working method around the three Quest for Wisdom goals: through the Wisdom Web; Quest 2 ― Golden Ratio of Educative Materials; and Quest 3 ― Meet, by means of Annual Meeting Days, Workshops, Masterclasses, Newsletter ‘Spinning web’ and the Video channel.

From 2024 onwards the three Quests are integrated focussing on the enhancement of world citizenship by developing every year an intercultural artistic and educative programme which is presented on the Yearly Meeting Day as well as on the digital platform The Golden Ratio.

Awarding Cultural ANBI-status
Toekenning Culturele ANBI-status

Since its foundation in 2016 the QfWf celebrated on 6 July 2018 that it has been recognized by the Tax Authorities as a Algemeen Nut Beogende Cultural Instelling (cultural ANBI-status) with its objective and activities with retroactive effect since 1 January 2018.

See below the reports of QfWf-policy for activities in chronological order:

Annual Reports of the QfWf

Update 2025-02

QfWf: Cultural ANBI status Read More »