OPEN CALL
Artistic director
De Appel, centre for contemporary art, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, looks to hire an artistic director per 1 October 2022
New director
In 2025, De Appel will celebrate its 50-year anniversary and in 2024 its Curatorial Programme will celebrate its 30-year anniversary. Furthermore, the current location of De Appel will be renovated in the near term and the new artistic plan period is set to commence in 2025. This is just a sample of all the prospects, opportunities and possibilities facing De Appel's new artistic director.
The artistic director is expected to lead De Appel in the years ahead based on a pronounced vision: she/he/they will shape the artistic programme of De Appel. This includes exhibits, audience programmes, educational projects and publications. In addition, the new director provides artistic leadership to the Curatorial Programme and closely collaborates with others when it comes to the management and visibility of the 16,000 objects that comprise De Appel's archive.
The artistic director determines the artistic and commercial course in close collaboration with the business director, the team and in dialogue with the Supervisory Board. Together with De Appel's business director, she/he/they leads the team and is co-responsible for the commercial components of the institution. Together with the curators of the Archive and Education, the new director shapes the artistic course of De Appel.
This appointment is for a period of three years, in accordance with the statutes, with a possible one-off extension at the end of this period for another three years.
De Appel is a non-profit institution with a workforce of 6.4 FTE, an extensive network of freelance colleagues and an annual budget or around EUR 1 million.
Requirements
The artistic director has demonstrable experience as a programme maker and a manager of teams. As a manager, she/he/they is decisive and empathetic. As a programme maker, the artistic director is able to program locally, nationally and internationally.
The new director is a connector, collaborates closely with the team, helps employees be the best they can be by creating an open and stimulating atmosphere at work. The director is stress-resistant, available to work evenings and weekends if necessary and will attend meetings, openings and conferences as the face of De Appel on a regular basis. De Appel is run by a small team and a hands-on mentality is expected of all employees including the director.
The director is expected to live in (greater) Amsterdam by 1 January 2023.
The new director of De Appel
is an experienced manager and programme maker;
has an artistic vision on the programme, Curatorial Programme and business acumen;
takes an inclusive approach (both substantively and when it comes to HR policy);
has an international perspective and is able to connect it to the Amsterdam context;
is aware of developments in contemporary art, culture education, archives and curator courses;
has a network that reflects this knowledge;
is able to propagate and realise his/her vision in a local, national and international context;
is a team player, connector and a generous leader;
has demonstrable work experience at an art institute;
is an experienced fund raiser, has an open-minded entrepreneurial mindset and is able to generate income and donations independently;
has excellent communication skills;
is prepared to relocate to the Amsterdam region.
Procedure
Applications can be submitted to De Appel's Supervisory Board no later than 1 July 2022 via the following email address: vacature [at] deappel.nl and with reference to Artistic Director Vacancy.
Application letters are drafted in English or Dutch and are accompanied by a CV and a motivation explaining how and where the applicant will lead the Appel in the next three to six years.
Candidates selected for the shortlist will be notified early July. The first interview round with a presentation by the candidates is scheduled for late August 2022. The committee hopes to have made its choice early September 2022 and present its appointment proposal to the Supervisory Board. Following a discussion between the final candidate and the Supervisory Board, the new artistic director will be appointed mid-September. The new director will preferably start in October 2022.
Employment conditions
De Appel offers a gross annual salary of EUR 65,000 plus a pension scheme, entitlement to holidays, holiday allowance and relocation compensation.
Policy
De Appel is a presentation institution with an audience programme, a world-renowned curator programme, archive and library. De Appel was founded 47 years ago and has established itself as a proven experimental space for contemporary arts since that time. De Appel has built a solid international network as well with its curator programme founded in 1994. De Appel is a house where art and critical reflection meet as well as new ideas in the curator field and years of unique archive material when it comes to performance art.
De Appel programs, responds, initiates and listens. Since its inception, we have done this from various locations in the city and found a new location in Amsterdam Nieuw-West in 2017. De Appel believes in the indispensability of the voice of art in the contemporary debate, dares to take a position, demands time to reflect and work on a theme for an extended period of time. De Appel asks artists and designers to think along with the organisation and preferably gives them assignments to develop new work in order to contribute to local anchoring and (inter)national resonance.
De Appel's three pillars – the audience programme, the Archive and the Curatorial Programme - live in relation to each other, are also developed in relation to each other and the director-administrator develops a vision on these three elements of De Appel, their future and substantive focus.
For more information, please contact De Appel's Supervisory Board at vacature [at] deappel.nl.