Structure
Jurriaan Cooiman
Culturescapes
Name of the candidate: Jurriaan Cooiman
Job title: Founder / Director
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Citizenship/origin: Swiss (original Dutch)
Artistic/geographical experience: All disciplines and worldwide
Name of the organisation / festival: Culturescapes
Membership category: Individual festival
Country of your organisation / festival: Switzerland
Festival art disciplines: Multidisciplinary
Annual turnover: €1,5 million
Number of visitors per edition: 40.000
Motivation: As
a self-made festival-maker for 30 years in a foreign country, focusing
each edition on a specific country, city, or region and growing from
nothing (I was not asked to start it at all, I invented it from scratch)
to a biennial with more than 40.000 visitors per edition and networking
with more than 40 institutions all over Switzerland and beyond, you
could say I have gained some experience. From having the idea, to
learning by doing in all art forms, to programming, collaborating,
communicating, leading teams, fundraising, and above all, being with and
finding artists and their themes as the core of my interest. The
conclusion of major contracts with countries such as Turkey in 2008,
China in 2010, Israel in 2011, Moscow in 2012 (!) or several Balkan
countries in 2013 has created a wide range of views on cultural policies
and the often instrumental use of art and culture for a national
agenda.
The change to a biennial festival created space and time for more reflection between editions, the European cycle Island, Greece, and Poland from 2015 to 2019 was the first result. The change in focus to the biospheres of the Amazon in 2021 and the Sahara in 2023 and 2025 sharpened the questions of global amplitude: climate change, inequality, borders, and the future of our societies.
Having participated in
the first Atelier for young festival managers in 2006 and as an active
member of EFA since 2007, I also know the network well and am happy to
contribute to its development. The changes in our world are happening at
high speed: AI, conflicts and wars, devastation of poorer regions. At
the same time, we see that the programmes of cultural institutions have a
hard time keeping up with this speed. One reaction is not to change and
to produce more of the same. It is time for more awareness and
responsibility at all levels of the cultural sector. Inclusion,
diversity, solidarity, healing, and care are key to being present. Here
and now. I try to do that wherever I am and would be honoured to bring
that to the EFA board.