“I didn't want to miss this enrichment.”
Interview
Frédérique ter Brugge Director Amsterdam Light Festival
Frédérique ter Brugge is director of the Amsterdam Light Festival, which illuminates the capital with art every winter. The festival is a hopeful event that offers light in dark days and takes visitors into the world of imagination. Frédérique studied Art and Architectural History at VU Amsterdam after having built up a career for many years. “I didn't want to miss this enrichment.”
“What am I passionate about?” In the conversation, Frédérique regularly comes back to this. It is the driving force in her career and the driving force during her studies. She completed both her bachelor's degree in Art History and her master's degree in Architectural History cum laude. “During my master's, I found an unknown drawing of the historical chamber I was researching. I published something about it with the Rijksmuseum. So cool!”
“During my master's, I found an unknown drawing of the historical chamber I was researching. I published something about it with the Rijksmuseum. So cool!”
Art in public space
For a moment, Frédérique thought 'I'm going to be a researcher'. She didn't. She may be too much of an extravert for that. Through coincidences she encountered the Amsterdam Light Festival and was offered the job of head of marketing & partnerships. “Art in public space and contact with stakeholders in the city, I could really express myself here.” Within six months, Frédérique was the director of this festival, which attracts many visitors every year. Also visitors for whom art is not obvious.
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All Images ALF: Janus van den Eijnden
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All images ALF: Janus van den Eijnden
"Visitors have an opinion about the artwork. That starts a dialogue."
Let your imagination work
During the corona winters, many young people, for example, discovered the festival because there was nothing else to do. Frédérique and her team also involve primary school children and elderly people in the festival with projects. “We take visitors out of the everyday, out of their familiar thinking patterns. Open your mind and let your imagination work! Visitors have an opinion about the artwork. That starts a dialogue.”
Not a linear path
Frédérique's path to the ALF was not linear. She attended the Hotel Management School in Maastricht and ended up at ABN AMRO through a trainee program. She liked the bank so much that she stayed for nine years to focus mainly on (youth) marketing. Robeco and Gorilla Park followed, until Frédérique moved to London with her husband for a few years and ended up in the art world. Back in the Netherlands she wondered, ‘what am I really excited about?’
Relief and aha-moment
Her answer was creativity, design, unique ideas, art. She had already mastered art in practice. Now she wanted a professional deepening with the bachelor's degree in Art History. She combined her studies with her own art dealership and family. “I immediately found it a relief and enrichment. Often, I had an aha-moment. The teachers and fellow students were very inspiring. I formed a group of senior students, students who had not started their studies directly from their parents' homes. Usually somewhere in their twenties, while I was already older. We are still in contact and sometimes see each other at exhibition openings.”
"The teachers and fellow students were very inspiring."
Grasp the elusive
In her daily work, Frédérique regularly falls back on what she learned during her studies. “The academic thinking, the fundamental thinking about choices, the quick analysis of problem situations. I still apply these academic skills. For example, it helped me during the lockdowns of the two previous winters. The measures were constantly changing, so we had to adapt every time. We had to keep going, in whatever form! I had to keep a grip on the elusive.”
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Portrait: Yvonne Compier
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All images ALF: Janus van den Eijnden
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All images ALF: Janus van den Eijnden
Jury edition 12
At the beginning of November, the jury meeting for the next edition of ALF took place. That edition is about digital technology. In addition to the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) museum from Boston, Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and an internationally renowned light designer, VU Amsterdam is also represented because Emma Beauxis Aussalet, Assistant Professor of Ethical Computing, is helping with a great deal of substantive knowledge about the subject.
The Boardroom
Last year, Frédérique participated in The Boardroom, a special series of master classes for VU students. At first, she was going to give a lecture, but it became more than a lecture. Seven master's students who participated in The Boardroom investigated the sustainability of festivals in Europe. And how these festivals communicate about their sustainability. “It turned out that ALF is already doing quite well. All art is a co-creation and that is why we can talk to the artists about the sustainability of the artwork. We build with them from scratch and save the work. We now have a collection of a hundred light artworks.”
Today I love you
Via the boardroom programme, Frédérique’s interest in the VU has been rekindled. “For example, we have placed a light artwork at the Amsterdam UMC with Today I love you on it. The bond with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has become stronger. And that is now also visible to others. I think that's very nice.”
"The bond with Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam has become stronger. And that is now also visible to others. I think that's very nice.”
Amsterdam Light Festival
The 11th Amsterdam Light Festival will take place in December and January with the theme Imagine Beyond. Visitors will walk and/or sail through the city past twenty light artworks co-created with the artists. The festival also organises an education programme for primary school children and a social project for the elderly.
magazine for humanities alumni december 2022