Through a programme of Embedded Art in schools and society, a thirty-year-old Curatorial Programme and an active archive, de Appel brings people together to practise a mutual exchange of knowledge through exhibitions and live activations. We are looking for a new member of the Supervisory Board.

de Appel is a daring institution founded in 1975. It soon became internationally known as an alternative institutional model, born out of artists' need to present performance and video art. Today, de Appel continues to act as a host for artistic and curatorial experimentation.

de Appel is committed to sharing resources with artists, cultural practitioners, school children, teenagers, university students, neighbours, curators, and national and international cultural and educational organisations, producing shared knowledge and aesthetics that challenge our understanding of art. In doing so, de Appel aims to contribute to artistic and socially relevant dialogues with various cultural and social organisations in Amsterdam and beyond. de Appel experiments with pedagogy outside of mainstream educational institutions and acts as a catalyst between academic research on art and culture and its constituencies. Our values include experimentation, innovation, solidarity, collaboration, social impact, affirmative critique and artistic collective freedom. We strive to be a place of collaboration between artists, institutions and communities, where we build regenerative collective models of curating and placemaking.

de Appel was founded 51 years ago and has since built up a solid international network. de Appel is a house where art and critical reflection meet, but also where new ideas in the curatorial field can develop.

de Appel programmes, responds, initiates and listens. Since its foundation, we have done this from various locations around the city. Since 2024, de Appel has been located in Tempel in the Diamantbuurt, in District South. de Appel believes in the indispensability of the voice of art in the contemporary debate, in daring to take a stand, offering time and space for reflection and long-term commitment. de Appel asks artists and designers to think along with the organisation and commissions new work.

de Appel operates with a Supervisory Board and a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is composed of the artistic director and the business director. The Supervisory Board has three roles: a supervisory, advisory and employer role (of the Board of Directors) and fulfills these in a professional and independent manner.

The Supervisory Board ensures that the management performed by the Board of Directors is done according to the mission and programme of the foundation. The Supervisory Board focuses on strategically relevant topics, the long term sustainability of the organization, the realisation of objectives, financial and operational performance.

The Supervisory Board is visibly involved in the organisation, actively collects information and feedback, and is transparent to stakeholders.

The Supervisory Board determines its agenda and priorities, in consultation with the Board of Directors. The Supervisory Board is responsible for its own functioning, conducts critical (self)evaluation and discusses its own functioning annually. The Supervisory Board meets according to an established schedule, at least four times a year. The Supervisory Board is unpaid.

Existing regulations define working methods, tasks and responsibilities; a directors liability insurance is subscribed.

The composition of the Supervisory Board guarantees that the tasks assigned by law, the Governance Code for Culture and other regulations and codes of conduct are performed responsibly and diligently. There is a balance in age, experience, gender and background of the individual members and sufficient complementarity with each other in terms of knowledge, experience and networks.

There is sufficient knowledge of, experience and/or affinity with the mission and activities of the foundation and with supervisory tasks, and there is a good view and understanding of stakeholder interests.

The size of the Supervisory Board is such that the Supervisory Board can fulfil its tasks effectively and responsibly and that each individual member of the Supervisory Board has the opportunity to contribute to it from their specific qualities. The current size of the Supervisory Board is of five members, including a Chair and a Treasurer.

The members can contribute critically and independently to decision-making within the Supervisory Board and have no conflict of interest. They have a broad social interest and affinity with de Appel's mission, ambition and fields of activity. They have a good mix of distance and involvement and possess the following personal qualities: collegial, alert and, if necessary, critical.

Members possess a good understanding of social and political relations, have relevant knowledge and experience and have a broad network, including in the business and funding, as well as in the cultural sectors.

They are able, also in terms of available time, to perform their duties and to attend and prepare for, at least, four Supervisory Board meetings yearly.

There is a currently a vacancy within the Supervisory Board for a member with a profile composed of/or combining knowledge and experience related to the following fields of expertise:

○ Experience with institutional leadership and development in the public/private domain and/or active in community organizing and grassroots advocacy;

○ Knowledge of communication and outreach strategies targeting a broad audience with possible backgrounds in politics, journalism and social activism;

○ Affinity with art & culture and/or museums;

○ Experience with transformation processes in organisations;

○ A strong nationwide network;

○ Governance experience, including as a Supervisory Board member.

You can express your interest by submitting your letter of interest and your cv to vacature@deappel.nl no later than 30 September 2026.

Interviews with a representation of the Supervisory Board and Board of Directors will take place in the first week of October 2026.