Josien Paulides to Step Down as Business Director of the Nieuwe InstituutJosien Paulides to Step Down as Business Director of the Nieuwe Instituut

Under the leadership of Josien Paulides, the Nieuwe Instituut has taken significant financial and organisational steps since March 2019, such as the Disclosing Architecture project dedicated to the management and accessibility of the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, and the establishment of the Network Archives Design and Digital Culture (NADD), which brings together a number of organisations committed to the preservation of design archives.

Together with Aric Chen, the institute’s General and Artistic Director, Paulides has steered the organisation through the challenges of the pandemic. After the pandemic, the institute recovered quickly. The number of visitors in 2023 is the highest since the Nieuwe Instituut was founded in 2013.

Josien Paulides: “I say goodbye to the Nieuwe Instituut with a heavy heart, but also with great pride for all the projects that are being and have been carried out in Rotterdam and internationally. Over the past few years, I have become deeply involved with the mission and vision of the institute, with Rotterdam, and with the design world. I am leaving behind a wonderful place that is able to combine heritage with contemporary and future issues. It’s a unique place, and you will definitely meet me there as a visitor.”

Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director: “We are very sad to see Josien go, but are grateful to her for the energy, ambition, dedication, positivity and sharp thinking she has brought to the institute over the past five years. The organisation is on a good trajectory and we look forward to building on the strong foundations she has helped to establish. We wish her every success in her new role.”

Judith van Kranendonk, Chair of the Supervisory Board: "We wholeheartedly congratulate Josien on this well-deserved step in her career, and the Museum Catharijneconvent on gaining such a remarkable director. Her boundless energy, enthusiasm, dedication, and professionalism will be greatly missed. Josien has brought much good to the Nieuwe Instituut over the last five years. She has made a lasting contribution to the content-related and organisational growth of our institute. We are very grateful to her for that.”

Josien Paulides will continue to finalise ongoing projects and ensure a smooth transition until her departure at the end of February 2024. The vacancy for her successor will shortly be published on the Nieuwe Instituut website.

Nieuwe Instituut is the Netherlands’ national museum and institute for architecture, design and digital culture. Based in Rotterdam, the institute’s mission is to embrace the power and potential of new thinking, exploring past, present and future ideas in order to imagine, test and enact a better tomorrow. Encouraging visitors of all ages to question, rethink and contribute, the institute’s exhibitions, public programmes, research, and wide-reaching national and international initiatives provide a testing ground for collaboration with leading designers, thinkers and diverse audiences, critically addressing the urgent questions of our times. In addition to housing the National Collection for Dutch Architecture and Urban Planning, the institute manages the 1933 Sonneveld House, a leading example of Dutch Functionalist architecture, as part of its campus in Rotterdam’s Museumpark.

Museum Catharijneconvent is the national museum for Christian art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands, located in the heart of Utrecht in a beautiful medieval convent building. The museum has a unique collection of art and cultural objects and creates inspiring and thought-provoking exhibitions such as Fashion for God, Gospel, The House of Sinterklaas, and The Most Beautiful Nativity Scene in the Netherlands. It is also a network museum and knowledge centre, where collaboration with partners and knowledge development are the cornerstones.

A portrait photo of Josien Paulides can be downloaded here.
Fotocredit: Josien Paulides. Photo Marwan Magroun.

For more information, please contact Taco de Neef, Nieuwe Instituut, 06-28474541, t.deneef@nieuweinstituut.nl