Curator, Art Editorial Department

The ITGWO art editorial team curates a day and night program featuring installations, objects, projections, and performances in public spaces on Vlieland, which will be presented throughout the festival. Based on a theme that changes annually, national and international artists are invited to create new work. For the upcoming edition, the theme is Traces, and we are working with, among others, Gabey Tjon a Tham, Children of the Light, Sébastien Robert, Ghita Skali, Sophia Bulgakova, and Susanne Khalil Yusef. Some of these works were initially developed for the 2021 edition, which was canceled due to COVID-19, and have been supplemented with a number of new works. Nearly all of the works are site-specific.

ITGWO is currently seeking a Part-time Curator for approximately 8 hours per week
Due to the departure of one of our editorial staff members, we are seeking a talented curator to join our three-person art editorial team.

Art is uniquely capable of telling different stories, questioning, and reflecting on the world around us. That is why we are specifically looking for a team member with a bicultural background who can strengthen our team to create a festival that reflects our society and broadens perspectives within both the program content and our organization.

What are your responsibilities as curator of the art team?
As curator, you work with the rest of the editorial team to develop an annual theme, collaboratively compile a list of artists, and engage with them. The art team operates within a fixed budget, secures additional funding through grant applications, and oversees the production and presentation process.

Throughout the year, we work an average of one day a week (Wednesdays) at our office in Amsterdam Noord on this program, which forms a key part of the festival on Vlieland at the end of the summer. The exact number of hours per week varies depending on the time of year. All festival staff work one or two days a week. The festival has no director or hierarchical structure; it is a flat organization. The goal is to create a festival together.

Into The Great Wide Open 2022
The program for the upcoming edition is already largely in the works, but we believe it is important to give a new curator the time and space to find their place within the art team and the organization and to get to know the island. Therefore, the position is open immediately.

What do we ask of you?
You have proven experience, talent, and ambition in the field of curating art programs and enjoy working at the intersection of art, culture, and social developments.

What do we offer you?
We offer a place in a strong and fun team that takes great pleasure in developing the annual program, with room for your own input and vision. ITGWO explores, questions, and loves to think outside the box. All ITGWO staff members work on a freelance contract basis with a corresponding project fee.

Interested?
Email your cover letter and resume by Tuesday, May 3, to kunst@intothegreatwideopen.nl. You can also email any questions to this address. Interviews will take place on Wednesday, May 11.

About Into The Great Wide Open:
The Wadden Sea has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2008. Into The Great Wide Open was founded that same year. For a natural area to be designated a World Heritage Site, it must possess a number of unique characteristics. The Wadden Sea embodies three of them: it is young and pristine, wonderfully dynamic, and exceptionally diverse. These are characteristics that are directly reflected in Into The Great Wide Open, the pop culture festival that could only have emerged on Vlieland, one of the crown jewels of the Wadden.

s does something other festivals don’t: it programs visual art, film, literature, technology, and music in countless forms at ever-changing locations and under varying conditions. ITGWO is a thriving cultural ANBI, thanks in part to the strong entrepreneurial spirit its creators demonstrate through a flat organizational structure. In addition, the organizers strive to set a good example. For the youngest attendees through challenging activities, but also by collaborating with New Faces and Cement to involve people who face barriers to the labor market in the festival. ITGWO also partners with Lab Vlieland and Innofest to drive, program, and share technical, social, and sustainable innovations with the local community.

In the near and distant future, ITGWO intends to continue investing in young people. This will be achieved by expanding the children’s workshop De Kolder, deepening partnerships with educational institutions and schools at the national, regional, and local levels, and by strengthening De Jeugd. De Jeugd is a team of about fifteen teenagers who work alongside the organization throughout the year and, during the festival itself, organize, program, and promote a counter-festival.

Furthermore, the future of Into The Great Wide Open lies not only in commissioning unique works of art and performances, but also in creating comprehensive programs.

ITGWO will also challenge and support Lab Vlieland in making the festival circular in 2022 and minimizing its ecological footprint within the World Heritage Site—a place that, in addition to being a cradle of nature, has also become a space where the creative sector can grow and flourish in all its forms.