The Future of Cultural Centers: Pieternel Thijssen, LocHal Library

*This event is occurring as a live webinar. Registrants will be emailed a link to access the program.*

The Future of Cultural Centers Dialogue Series

As the world rapidly changes around us, old frameworks for the development of cultural centers look less and less relevant. Continuing the success of the 2020 "Future of Cultural Centers" dialogue series, this year AIA New York will look at cultural institutions that take a mixed-use approach to programming and space and a more holistic view at the human experience. We will touch on opportunities and challenges around these hybrid organizations, questioning what would happen if we were to take this unprecedented time to explore new missions, visions, and models to help address existing institutional deficits. What will 21st-century arts and community spaces be like? Join us for this Spring line-up of conversations as cultural forecaster and museum expert David van der Leer, Principal of DVDL, speaks with professionals from around the US and beyond.

In this week's installment, Van der Leer will be joined in conversation by Pieternel Thijssen, Manager of Social Programming for Lochal. LocHal is a world-class urban living room designed by Amsterdam-based studio Civic Architects. Occupying a former glass and steel locomotive shed of the Dutch National Railways in Tilburg, the Netherlands, LocHal houses the Central Brabant Province Library, the nonprofit arts organization Kunstloc Brabant, a coworking startup called Seats2Meet, Brabant C, a regional investment fund for culture and the creative industry, a number of labs, and more. LocHal is a space for both young and old to read, learn, study, meet, gather, and learn new skills. It is a place for testing, creating, exhibiting, and presenting the latest innovations.

Speakers:
Pieternel Thijssen, Manager of Social Programming, LocHal Public Library of Midden-Brabant (Tilburg, Netherlands)
David van der Leer, Principal, DVDL

Pieternel Thijssen is the Manager of Social Programming for the Public Library of Midden-Brabant, the Netherlands. The library of Midden-Brabant plays an essential role in connecting people to their local community and in supporting and facilitating people in their personal growth. The LocHal Library, the city library of Tilburg, has made a huge step toward fulfilling the role of the social library. Thijssen was project manager for the LocHal and Manager of Innovation. She is both a librarian with a master’s degree in business information and a visionary when it comes to public libraries and the added value they should have in society. 

David van der Leer is a consultant, curator, educator, moderator, researcher, strategist, and writer. He is the principal of DVDL, a consulting and forecasting agency,where he advises institutions, government agencies, corporations, and individuals in reinventing the institutions of yesterday and building the most inspirational institutions of tomorrow. Along with his consulting work, David van der Leer is a professor at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation where he teaches a course called (Re)Programming Museums.

Explore all events in the series and register for upcoming programs here.