Zaanstad Best Practices

Name of the project:
Creative Board, Kunstcentrum, Vrij Glas, Designers in Broedplaats De Bij, Stichting Gedachtegoederen and the Kreatief Pakhuis.

Name of the initiator and excecuting party:
Isabella de Jong (director of Kunstcentrum and chairperson of Zaanse Creative Board), Durk Valkema and Anna Carlgren (Vrij Glas). Reinder Bakker (Stichting Gedachtengoederen) and Jenske Dijkhuis (provider of the location for Broedplaats De Bij), both members of Zaanse Creative Board

Theme:
The theme shared by the creative stakeholders is: supporting and producing art and creative entrepreneurship.

Goals (e.g. policy, research or other):
The main goal of Kreatief Pakhuis is to manufacture furniture, but also to facilitate business excursions, meetings and festive family events. It is also possible to combine the services with activities such as making mosaics, glass engravings, scale models, puzzles and furniture. In addition, the organisation also rents temporary spaces to furniture makers, visual artists and clothing manufacturers that do not have their own workspaces.
Vrij Glas is an artists’ collective and also makes it possible for other types of visual artists, designers and architects to delve deeper into working with glass as a material.
The purpose of the Kunstcentrum is to connect, to discover artists, and the art lending service makes it possible for customers to hire artworks temporarily that they would not normally be able to afford. And they can return the art once they have had enough of it.
The purpose of the Zaanse Creative Board is to support Zaanstad Municipality in the development of a policy for the creative industry. The ZCB is an unorthodox think tank that advises the city council on a solicited and unsolicited basis. It is not possible for the municipality to change the creative sector on its own. You need the sector itself to help bring about effective change. Who knows better what they need than the entrepreneurs themselves? One of the important roles of the ZCB is to gauge policy based on the signals from the creative community.
Stichting Gedachtegoederen is an association of ten young entrepreneurs that work under one roof to convert their ideas into tangible exhibitions, products and objects. An inspiring manifestation of creative conceptions. An encounter of fantasy and reality in which the diversity is established through a merger of different disciplines into a shared space.

Start of the project (if applicable end of the project):
Kreatief Pakhuis was established in January 2009. Vrij Glas in 1962. Het Kunstcentrum has been around for more than 35 years (established around 1975). The ZCB was set up in 2010 with a project period of two years. The project will be assessed with a view to possible extension in 2011.

Place of excecution:
Zaanstad

Executive summary of the project:
The initiatives focus on creative entrepreneurship, and the creation and support of art. The initiatives of Kreatief Pakhuis and Vrij Glas place a heavy emphasis on craftsmanship, given the fact that they are furniture makers and glassblowers respectively. Stichting Gedachtegoederen and the designers / artists in Broedplaats de Bij are involved in design, execution and graphics. Het Kunstcentrum helps visual artists by creating a buying, selling, lending and commissioning public for the artists involved. The Zaanse Creative Board (municipal) is more involved in themes such as accommodation, financing, networking, marketing and image.

Why is your project considered as a best-practice:
Each initiative, in its own way, is a platform, workplace or shop that enables creative entrepreneurs to develop, promote and sell their work.

What could be improved during the excution of the project:
The awareness of the project could be enhanced.

Best response to the project:
In the case of Kreatief Pakhuis, most of the reactions come from people who meet there and who tell others how nice it is; as a result of which it has become a flourishing business. The best reactions at Vrij Glas was that the founder of the Vrij Glas (Free Glass) movement in the Netherlands, Sybren Valkema (Durk Valkema’s father) won awards and even created an award in his own name, the so-called “Sybren Valkema Honorary Prize”, which had been given to him by the glass museum in Ebeltoft.

Memorable moment and/or participant to the project and why:
Iwan of the Kreatief Pakhuis feels the best moment was the fair in Zaandijk, shortly after the organisation was established. During the fair, he placed some furniture outside to promote his warehouse and was promptly asked whether he would also consider renting out his warehouse for meetings. At first he said, no, because he had never considered that possibility until then. But since then, he has been inundated with bookings for meetings and business excursions.

Tips and tricks for those who want to follow your lead:
Be creative, be open and support creativity.

Links to websites and/or social media (Youtube, Slideshare, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook etc):
Kreatief Pakhuis: KreatiefPakhuis.nl
Vrij Glas: Vrij Glas
Kunstcentrum: Kunstcentrum
Zaanse Creative Board: Zaanse Creative Board
Broedplaats De Bij: De Bij
Stichting Gedachtegoederen: GedachteGoederen.nl

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