Sense of Place
Sense of Place is a cultural development organization that gives new vitality to the region along the Wadden coast by enhancing the unique qualities of this area with the help of visual art and design projects. Together with residents and the landscape, we tell the story of the North through these projects. The history of the area and residents, the landscape and the future.
As a ‘development organisation’, Sense of Place stimulates, produces and makes visual art and design projects available in the outlying area along the Wadden coast. We are currently focusing on the Netherlands. The projects may also expand to the German and Danish Wadden coast in the future. We connect our projects with each other via a route.
Sense of Place visualizes the unique values of nature, landscape and cultural history of the special UNESCO World Heritage Wadden area to a wider audience. This will give the region an economic and social impulse at the same time. Sense of Place sometimes initiate projects but more often it supports initiatives from the local communities.
The projects respect the culture and nature of the area and tell the story of the location and the landscape. They thus give the place extra appeal and meaning: a Sense of Place.
Artists, landscape architects, researchers, residents, users, social organisations, entrepreneurs, nature conservation organizations and governments are brought into contact with each other to jointly shape cultural landscape development in an innovative way.
How it all started
Many new initiatives start with the dream of a single person – a vision, if you will. This person is in tune with the times and the first to spot opportunities, look beyond the obvious, and able to convince others of their vision. Joop Mulder dreamt of transforming the island of Terschelling into a platform, and over a 35-year period he developed the OEROL festival into what it is today: an international phenomenon that is of great significance to the island. The dream has continued, and the name of the dream is ‘Sense of Place’
About the organisation
Sense of Place is a foundation with a governance model. A network organization that, in response to a question/request/task, looks for a connection and/or the right persons or organizations to implement it. There is also the possibility to initiate projects ourselves and we also work on commission.
Board (unpaid)
Valerie van Leersum (chairman), Wendy Gooren (vice-chairman/treasurer), Anke Bijlsma, Marc van Vliet, Ruud Reutelingsperger (secretary) and Esther Kokmeijer.
Sense of Place works with a large group of freelancers and hires them at competitive rates.