ABOUT THE PRESENTATION

“Business partnerships in European Capital of Culture. Lessons learned”

Watch the presentation

Business and culture are connected in many levels. In Leeuwarden-Friesland, European capital of culture 2018, it was proved that they enhance each other. Strengthening the city and region and its inhabitants, especially if it’s not a capital, is difficult but necessary.

Companies can benefit greatly from this. In the forum John Bonnema gave practical examples of successful collaborations between events, projects, the foundation and business community.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

John Bonnema is the managing director of Leeuwarden-Fryslân 2018, European Capital of Culture (LF2018), Netherlands. Since 2014 he has been working for the independent foundation responsible for the execution of the Bid Book. At LF2018 he is responsible for the business side of the project such as finance and HR, sponsorship and partnerships, funding, legal affairs, program and project management including risk management, governance, monitoring and evaluation, as well as planning and control cycle. Before that, he worked at the international accountancy and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as a certified public auditor and management consultant for 17 years. He was also a member of the board of various festivals and music venues.