Values of Culture & Creativity
Strategy
Strategy as a verb is on my business card. In other words, constantly adapting and changing and that is only possible if you know what you stand for, what your core is. I do both: questions about the core, which help formulate and think along about the strategy to be followed. Years of experience with artists and cultural institutions, with urban and national cultural policies and with European projects help to quickly establish connections between different strategic levels and develop new directions.
To research
I can draw on my broad experience in formulating research themes and questions. Practical and policy experience help in choosing the relevant topics. An extensive network provides varied input.
To write
Clear and legible writing is important to me. To achieve that I separate main and side issues and develop the core message. I quickly get to know unknown topics and view them from the strategic importance of the client.
Subjects
Where art and society meet, I feel at home (if we separate these concepts for the sake of convenience). Society can benefit greatly from art and artists, and artists and institutions can also learn from other sectors. The structurally unequal position of artists in the labor market is close to my heart. Not only do I find the availability of more possible types of financing important, but also learning to deal with it.
Training & Knowledge
Long ago I studied Political Science at the University of Amsterdam. That taught me a lot about different interests and agendas of people, organizations and movements. A Master of Journalism in New York taught me to write better, but also to get (even more) a feeling for cultural differences. In my working life I followed all kinds of courses, such as organizational advice, quality assurance, innovation and knowledge management. And I like to read about all kinds of topics such as organizational development, the platform economy, (cultural) entrepreneurship, financing and much more.
Work
I started my working life in the voluntary sector, as a writer and consultant on the role and deployment of volunteers in organizations (think of volunteers in healthcare, sports, nature & environment, welfare, playgrounds and also culture). I wrote books about organizing the deployment of volunteers, about project management, about cultural diversity, about quality assurance for voluntary organizations and gave advice on this. And I also had managerial duties. The last organization where I worked in that sector was called the Volunteer Management Foundation, later incorporated into what is now called Movisie.
I have been working in the cultural sector since 2001, at an organization that first had the name Voorzieningsfonds Voor Kunstenaars, then Kunstenaars & CO and now Cultuur + Ondernemen. There we supported artists (and later also institutions) in becoming independent and more entrepreneurial and early on we recognized the value of professional artists for all kinds of groups and organizations in society, in healthcare and welfare, but also within government, organizations and companies. Helping finance new developments was important from the start. I set up knowledge management there and successively managed the Knowledge & Information, Knowledge & Communication and Knowledge & Innovation departments. We worked on new products and services, European projects and contributed to the strategy of the organization.
Since 2015 I have been working for myself under the name Values of Culture & Creativity. I work for and with artists, institutions, intermediaries and governments. On developing financing facilities, on social connections of art, on the formulation of value and strategy. And I write, irregularly, a Newsletter about what strikes me in the cultural sector and beyond, about what changes or not (but should). I believe in the power of art(ists), for people and for the future of our society, especially for those groups that (cannot) participate enough. And in my opinion, exercising the power of art on a much larger scale would greatly strengthen society’s support for art and culture.