ROTTERDAM.- As of 1 November 2013 Ina Klaassen will take up the post of Business Manager and Deputy Director of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. She is currently Director of the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. Before that she was, among other things, Deputy Director of the City of Rotterdam’s Art and Culture Department, where she gained a great deal of experience that will be of immense value to the museum.

In her new position, Ina Klaassen will be Sector Head of Operational Management and Deputy Director, in which capacities she will support and strengthen the museum strategically and substantively.

Ina Klaassen (1969) said, ‘The specific dynamic of the museum and the creativity with which Boijmans continually seeks ways to invest in the future greatly appeal to me. I think the position of Business Manager is fascinating because it has both an internal and external dimension and revolves around the creation of conditions that facilitate the functioning of every aspect of the museum. In the past few years the museum has experienced major developments in programming, public awareness and operational management. The programming addresses a wider audience; the relationship with the city and the citizens of Rotterdam has been strengthened. At the same time the severe cutbacks in cultural funding have changed the landscape in which the museum operates. The museum is experiencing the consequences in the 2013-2016 Culture Plan. On the other hand, the Collection Building presents important development opportunities for the future. I hope that my experience with this development can be a valuable addition.’

Ina Klaassen was partly responsible for carrying out the City of Rotterdam’s culture policy for the development and completion of a number of large building projects in Rotterdam, among them the new builds for Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Las Palmas, and Lantaren-Venster. The development of the Collection Building in Museumpark, which will open in 2017, is a splendid new building project with which she will be closely involved in her role in the museum.

Ina Klaassen succeeds Patty Wageman, who became the museum’s Sector Head of Collection and Research after the untimely death of Jonieke van Es last November.