Gerrit Rietveld Academie

Students who wish to be admitted to the Gerrit Rietveld Academy are expected to be receptive and self-reflective for the underlying purpose of discussing ideas and concepts. The academy seeks to stimulate these qualities, hereby challenging students to question those aspects important to the individual. For the academy, traveling abroad is an essential facet of this personal development. Common travels engage students on an interpersonal level, as well as in relation to their environment. This in effect becomes the motive for yielding a creative epiphany. Among other destinations, the academy has organized trips abroad in the past years to China, India, Iran, Nepal, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Italy, and Sweden.

Every year, the Rietveld Academy organizes a number of public events, including:

• Open Day (January): During the Open Day, all of the specialized departments highlight themselves through small exhibitions and other presentations. Teachers and students are present to talk about their departments, and to answer questions. The Open Day is a great opportunity to learn about what the education at the academy is like. The Open Day takes place every year on the last Friday of January.
• Rietveld in the Oude Kerk (January/February): In January, the Gerrit Rietveld Academy stages an annual exhibition with approximately 45 students from various departments, in Amsterdam's Oude Kerk.
• Graduation exhibition (July): Every year, the Rietveld Academy's students who are eligible for graduation present their work during the Rietveld's graduation exhibition. The academy is transformed into an exhibition space, and work can be seen from every department. The graduation exhibition attracts many visitors from outside the academy, including art gallery owners and art collectors. The graduation exhibition is held annually in early July.
• Rietveld UnCut (November): Much like the Open Day and the graduation exhibition, Rietveld UnCut is an occasion where the academy presents itself to outside world, in all its facets. Rietveld UnCut differs from the Open Day and the graduation exhibition in that it actively seeks to interact with the public. Since 2009, Rietveld UnCut has been organized by former students Tarja Szaraniec and Tomas Adolfs, in collaboration with the Flemish cultural centre De Brakke Grond. Under the supervision of guest director and visual artist Maze de Boer, students present their work to the outside world. Rietveld UnCut is held every year in November.

Public Rietveld

Public Rietveld is committed to ensuring the broadest possible interaction between the Gerrit Rietveld Academy and the outside world. That is why Public Rietveld is always looking for interesting forms of collaboration, both within the academy and outside. Its goal is to promote the presentation of the academy's students and teachers to the outside world. Public Rietveld consists of: communication and PR, internet communications, The Rietveld Society, student projects, TV Rietveld, and Radio Rietveld.

The Rietveld Society

The Rietveld Academie is very proud of the Rietveld alumni, and consequently would like to know how all alumni have been doing since graduation. That is why the academy would like to extend a warm invitation to all Rietveld alumni to become a member of the Alumni Network: The Rietveld Society. Through this network the Rietveld Academie hopes to keep in touch with the alumni and more importantly offer her alumni a platform to stay in touch with old Rietveld friends and other alumni.

Studium Generale

Studium Generale Rietveld Academy is a comprehensive trans-disciplinary theory programme focused on students and teachers from Gerrit Rietveld Academy's every single department, but is also accessible to the outside public. Every year, a number of curators are asked to invite guest speakers to address a specific theme. The goal of Studium Generale Rietveld Academy is to provide insight into how art and design are linked to other domains (from personal to political, from popular to academic) – the connections between our now and our past and future, and between our here and elsewhere. Based on the belief that you can only learn to think independently and critically if you dare to interconnect your knowledge, imagination, and reflection in unorthodox ways, every year Studium Generale Rietveld Academy embarks upon a new and exciting research project that is linked to the current discourse in a variety of ways.

Professorship of Art and Public Space

The Professorship of Art and Public Space at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy promotes research and theoretical reflection on the role of art and design in the public domain. It was created through collaboration between the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, the Sandberg Institute, the University of Amsterdam, the Foundation for Art and Public Space (SKOR), and the Virtual Museum Zuidas. Within the Rietveld Academy and the Sandberg Institute, the professorship supervises a so-called “knowledge circle”, in which research (conducted by teachers affiliated with the academy, as well as by outside experts in the field of art and public space) is coordinated and discussed. In connection with the research conducted in this context, educational projects emerge in which theoretical notions and reflections are further developed with groups of students. In addition, the professorship focuses on extending and strengthening the academy's theoretical education in general.

The Rietveld Research Residency (RRR) is a research opportunity for artists, created by the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in cooperation with, among others, the Fonds BKVB. The artists are given the opportunity to execute a clearly defined research project within a period of 1.5 to 3 years, as part of the educational framework of the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. Interaction with the academy's students and teachers forms an important part of their work. In 2011, visual artist Henri Jacobs and philosopher Ann Meskens are filling this residency at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy.

At the Rietveld Academy, activities and projects are also regularly organized for and by students. One example is Radio Rietveld, which is run entirely by students. Gerry Strawfield is the academy's student organization. Three times a year, Gerry Strawfield organizes a student party, including the Prom during the final exam period. The Gerry Strawfield Prom is often held at a special location; in 2009, for example, it was held at the Beurs van Berlage near Amsterdam's Dam Square.

Current

• Tijmen van Grootheest, Chairman of the Board of Directors
• Jurgen Bey, Director Sandberg Instituut
• Annelies van Eenennaam, Director Finance and Control
• Ben Zegers, Dean Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) & Bachelor of Design (BDES)

Past

• Felix Rottenberg
• Mart Stam
• Sybren Valkema

• Kees van Twist (Chairman), Director Groninger Museum (in function since 2008)
• Irma Boom, Designer (in function since 2003)
• Saskia Bos, Dean School of Art, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York City (in function since 2008)
• Robbert Dijkgraaf, President Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (in function since 2008)
• Eppo Horlings, RA Director of Horatio Assurance Group BV (in function since 2007)
• Rick van der Ploeg, Professor of Economics Oxford University (in function since 2010)