Mare de Groot and Edwin Jacobs appointed as directors arts

Mare de Groot | Director of the performing arts

Mare's work package includes the Maastricht Academy of Performing Arts and the Conservatorium Maastricht. Until 1 September, she will remain director of Student Services and interim director of Marketing and Communication. 

Mare joined Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in June 2015 as director of the Student Service department. Before joining Zuyd, she was business director of Het Laagland, a professional theatre company in Sittard. Prior to that, Mare worked as, among other things, business leader and project leader at various theatre and dance companies, and as a guest lecturer in the production of performing arts. Mare is still active in the dance world as a board member of SALLY Dansgezelschap Maastricht and the Stichting StEP by StEP (Schrit_tmacher). Mare studied, among other things, Cultural Management at the Amsterdam School of the Arts.

From the cultural world to education
About her transition from the cultural world to education, Mare said at the time: "I was consciously looking for a position in an educational organisation. I supervised many college students in the world of theatre and dance. I find it enriching to see future professionals grow. As a manager, I encourage people to keep learning". Now she is happy with the this new challenge: "Despite the satisfaction I experience in my work, the cultural sector has always been attractive. This position gives me the opportunity to combine the worlds of the performing arts with the worlds of education."

Edwin Jacobs | Director of the fine arts

Edwin Jacobs' work package includes the Maastricht Academy of Architecture, Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Maastricht Academy of Media Design and Technology and the School of Interdisciplinary Arts.

Jacobs (The Hague, 1960) is currently director of Dortmunder U, a center for art and creativity and one of the top ten cultural institutions in Germany. As director he is responsible for five institutions in the Dortmunder U, including the Faculty of Arts of the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences And Arts, the Art Society for Media and Contemporary Art and the city campus of the University. Prior to his transfer to Dortmunder U, Edwin Jacobs was, among others, director of the Centraal Museum in Utrecht and Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. He has realized numerous (international) exhibitions and as a result of that he has a large international museum and artist network.

In addition to his work, Edwin is active on various boards and committees, including at Ruhr Kunstmuseen, Nordrhein-Westfalen Kunstmuseen and the Robert Bosch Stiftung Berlin. Prior to that, he acted in various other advisory committees such as the Dutch Council for Culture and the commission for oeuvre prizes of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds. Edwin Jacobs attended the Academy of Fine Arts and the Master in Literature and Media at the Katholieke Hogeschool Tilburg and completed the Pedagogical Academy. He started his career as a teacher in Montessori education and as a teacher at the Vakschool voor vormgeving.

Approachable person
Edwin Jacobs is looking forward to making a contribution to the ambitions of the fine arts academies: offering excellent arts education, far-reaching synergy and, cooperation as well as international orientation. “I see myself as an approachable person and part of the teams that I work with. That also makes clear how I see that we can realize this task, namely by understanding and shaping the future ambition together. To me, this includes: being open to an interesting and exciting art vision that grasps the disciplines and developments, partnerships to go into depth, being open to an international perspective to encourage innovation and experimentation, an active stakeholder policy, as we must move forward, and finally, proud of the region and the city of Maastricht, and being able to intertact with ‘play’ them," says Jacobs.