Director Emily Pethick steps down summer 2025

“It's been an immense honour and privilege to work for one of the greatest artist residency programmes in the world. I have enormously valued the opportunity to work with so many incredible artists, and with a team who hold so much knowledge and expertise.” – Emily Pethick

The Supervisory Board announces that Emily Pethick, after seven years of committed leadership, will step down as general director of the Rijksakademie at the end of her term in summer 2025. Her departure follows an intense period during which she successfully led the organisation through some challenging years, including the Corona crisis, global conflicts and many changes in the social sphere, all of which affected the Rijksakademie. With immense dedication, she not only maintained stability, but also increased the organisation's public role.

Under her leadership, Rijksakademie residents and alumni have continued to thrive. Furthermore, new programmes were initiated, including the launch of the social practice workshop, an extensive public programme and the Tech Fellowship Programme. The Raad voor Cultuur praised the clear and forward-looking policy she helped shape, which played a key role in securing important BIS funding for the period 2025–2028.

Having reached this milestone, she feels the right time has come to hand over the organisation to a new director. She aims to return to her background of working in curating, writing and consulting.

The Supervisory Board expresses its deep gratitude for the enormous contribution she has made over the past years.

Emily Pethick: “In the Rijksakademie and beyond, residents and alumni achieve extraordinary things, and I am proud of how we continue to create a unique environment in which they can expand their horizons. I am grateful to the Rijksakademie’s artists, team, supporters, friends and board for all the collaboration and support in this period.”

The Supervisory Board will look for a successor and has asked Patricia de Weichs de Wenne, interim Director of Internal Affairs, to stay on longer during this transition period. This will allow a careful handover to take place.