Member of the Supervisory Board

About Rotterdam Festivals

Rotterdam Festivals curates, supports, promotes, and researches festival and cultural offerings that reflect the city’s DNA: raw, international, and entrepreneurial.

Together with creative cultural leaders and festival organizers, we ensure that Rotterdam remains the vibrant metropolis that its residents are proud of and that visitors love to visit.

We conduct research into the wishes and needs of the (target) audience and advise the city government on cultural and festival policy. This is how we bring the city to life—by harnessing its energy, preserving what works, and investing in new offerings. We are here for every resident, every visitor, and every creator. We are here for Rotterdam.

Job Opening: Member & Secretary of the Supervisory Board – Legal Profile

We are looking for a candidate with extensive administrative experience in the private sector, the public or quasi-public sector, and/or cultural and social organizations, along with legal knowledge and expertise and a relevant professional network. An inspiring and constructively critical member with a passion for Rotterdam, festivals, events, art, and culture.

Supervisory Board

The Rotterdam Festivals Foundation operates under a supervisory board model and adheres to the principles of the Cultural Governance Code, the Fair Practice Code, and the Diversity & Inclusion Code. These codes are actively implemented within the organization.

The Supervisory Board brings together expertise from the business sector and public administration. The current members possess specialized knowledge in the fields of marketing and communications, legal and financial affairs, culture, politics and public administration, social issues, and urban development.

The Supervisory Board strives to ensure that its membership reflects the diversity of Rotterdam’s population. For this reason, when candidates are equally qualified, preference is given to women and candidates from culturally and ethnically diverse backgrounds.

The Supervisory Board meets at least four times a year and consists of six members. Members are appointed by the Rotterdam Municipal Executive, upon the foundation’s recommendation, for a term of four years, with the possibility of reappointment for another four years.

Responsibilities

The Supervisory Board is responsible for, among other things:

• Overseeing the general operations of the Rotterdam Festivals Foundation, including its relationships with stakeholders;
• To serve in an evaluative, supervisory, and advisory capacity (both when asked and on one’s own initiative) toward the managing director;
• Reviewing and approving the long-term policy, the annual plan, the budget, the annual report, and the financial statements;
• Appointing and evaluating the director/officer and determining the director/officer’s compensation and other terms of employment;
• Appointing the auditor and determining the auditor’s fee.

Profile – Member of the Supervisory Board

• broadly engaged in society and/or active in the business world;
• an affinity with the social and cultural mission and the role of the Rotterdam Festivals Foundation;
• experience in supervisory roles within social organizations, preferably non-profit;
• an independent, constructively critical approach to forming judgments, weighing interests, and making decisions.

Specific profile – Secretary of the Supervisory Board

• careful, discreet, and reliable;
• has knowledge of governance and administrative processes (including laws and regulations, codes, and rules);
• contributes to the Supervisory Board’s transparent and efficient working methods;
• oversees the archiving of documents and decisions
• is a law graduate with an affinity for and a particular interest in the cultural sector and the (semi)public sector, as well as contract law and/or labor law.

The Supervisory Board is supported by an administrative secretary.

The position is unpaid. There is an opportunity to attend free festivals and events in the city a few times a year, possibly together with other members of the Supervisory Board.

Interested?

Are you interested, or do you have any questions before applying? Please feel free to contact Frans Vreeke, Interim Director, at T010-4332511ordirectie@rotterdamfestivals.nl.

Please send your cover letter and resume by May 16, 2025, to Manon van der Velde, HR Advisor, at:manon@rotterdamfestivals.nl.

The first interview with the Supervisory Board’s selection committee will take place on June 6, 2025, and the second interview on June 16, 2025.