Press release 04/16/2021 | 2:30 p.m.
Mr S. (Stef) Avezaat and Ms EN (Ellen) Schindler were appointed as members of the Culture Council. The Cabinet approved this on the proposal of Minister Van Engelshoven for Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The designation will take effect on May 1, 2021, for a term of four years.
Stef Avezaat has a background as a maker, director, business leader, and entrepreneur in the worlds of theater, dance, and audiovisual production. Since 2003 he has held the position of Director / Director of Schouwburg De Lawei in Drachten, Smallingerland. Until 2019 he was also the Director of the Northern Theater. He is currently a member of ‘Inspiraad’ at Stichting Toerisme Regiomarketing Zuidoost Friesland and co-founder of the Friesland Youth Cultural Fund, which has been transferred to Frisian Youth Fund Sport & Culture, which until recently was a member of its Board of Directors. Between 2017 and 2019 he was a member of the Dance Sector Advisory Committee of the Culture Council. He studied social pedagogy at the University of Amsterdam.
After being educated at the Willem de Kooning Academy and the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication, Ellen Schindler turned her strength and love of culture into a professional career. Since 2018, she has been a partner / CEO of De Zwarte Hond, an international design agency for architecture, urban development and strategy, with offices in Rotterdam, Groningen and Cologne and here she is responsible for strategy, business development, branding, public relations, communications, academic and internationalization. Until 2018, she was CEO of Kossmanndejong Gallery Architects, an international design agency for museum design. Schindler previously served on various committees at the NL Creative Industries Fund, and is currently a board member of Connie Janssen Dunst. In 2016, he was a member of the Culture Council’s Business Agenda and Spatial Design Committee.
The Culture Council is the legal advisory body to the government and parliament in the field of art, culture and media. The Board provides requested and unwanted advice on policy issues and grant applications. The council usually issues advice at the request of the Minister of Education, Culture and Science.
