Jerry Straub and Ilona Rooderkerk join as new chairman and additional member of the Supervisory Board of Oerol Festival Terschelling.
After a successful edition of Oerol Festival 2023, the organization is preparing for the 43rd edition in 2024 and for the new arts plan period. This is done with a new chairman, Jerry Straub, and Ilana Rooderkerk who has joined as an additional member of the Supervisory Board. Both Straub and Rooderkerk bring expertise that aligns with the substantive course that Oerol increasingly pursues.
In recent years, Oerol, with Seerp Leistra as chairman of the Supervisory Board, has managed to navigate through the difficult corona years. At the same time, Oerol’s profile has been sharpened by taking a stance on climate and sustainability and by working on accessibility and diversity. Now that Seerp Leistra’s term has expired, members have been sought who, with their knowledge and network, can further advance Oerol in addressing the question of how the location arts festival rooted in the North can lead in sustainable production, be broadly and intergenerationally accessible, and share urgent issues of climate justice, equal opportunities, and new perspectives with makers and audiences.
Jerry Straub: ‘Oerol addresses current societal themes that resonate with me. The theater festival, with all its facets, invites to see, experience, and maintain ongoing awareness differently. I am looking forward immensely to the journey with the festival and of course to Terschelling.’ Straub is chairman of the Supervisory Board of Amsterdam Youth Theater School, chairman of the Red Cross Amsterdam-Amstelland, chairman of the Cobra Museum of Modern Art, and member of the Social Inspiration Council, a sounding board for the National Coordinator against Discrimination and Racism (NCDR). He knows the business world, (semi-)government, and the not-for-profit sector and works as director-manager for the Community Center Buitenveldert in Amsterdam South. Jerry Straub also trains supervisors and is active in executive search.
Ilana Rooderkerk is faction leader of D66 Amsterdam. She is also a supervisor at Theater De Krakeling. Previously, she worked as a spokesperson at various ministries in The Hague. Before that, she worked as an actress. Due to her commitment to the social safety of women, she received the Els Borst Inspiration Award last year. Rooderkerk: ‘I am committed to further sustainability and diversity, so that people of different ages, genders, and cultural backgrounds see themselves represented. But above all: that everyone can continue to enjoy all the beauty that the festival on Terschelling has to offer!’
The Supervisory Board of Oerol Festival also consists of (in alphabetical order) Baukje Jensma, Dick Visser, Mirella Muroni, Ton Schroor, and Trix van Vleuten. Director/CEO is Siart Smit.
Oerol Festival Terschelling will take place in 2024 from Friday 7 June to Sunday 16 June.
