Launching cultural INTROWEEK MBO

On the initiative of the cultural coordinators of ROC Amsterdam and Flevoland and Mediacollege Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Platform Cultuureducatie MBO organises, together with the Amsterdam Museum, Stichting Museumnacht Amsterdam, MOCCA expertise centre for cultural education and CJP, the first cultural introduction week especially for MBO students in Amsterdam. The cultural INTROWEEK MBO will be festively launched on Tuesday 3 September 2024 at the Amsterdam Museum in the presence of Amsterdam alderman for mbo Sofyan Mbarki.

From Monday 2 to Friday 6 September 2024, the first edition of this cultural INTROWEEK MBO will be organised. All MBO students -not only first-year students- are welcome to visit participating cultural institutions with their teachers during this week. In total, about 2,000 students will visit 32 cultural partners during this first edition. In addition to the organising parties, IDFA, Rijksmuseum, FOAM, STRAAT Museum and Amaze, for example, are also taking part. Carré and the OBA also have special offers for the cultural INTROWEEK MBO.

With the cultural INTROWEEK MBO, initiators want to introduce MBO students to the cultural offering in Amsterdam in a low-threshold way, and of course to each other. Jillis Slingerland, initiator and founder of the Amsterdam Platform Cultuureducatie MBO: "Art and culture are of and for everyone, and therefore also for the MBO. It is the great connector for the city. It should be accessible to everyone." Slingerland says he hopes the cultural INTROWEEK MBO will be organised annually. "We hope that in 2025 the complete cultural offerings of Amsterdam will participate and all 40,000 mbo students of Amsterdam and its surroundings will be welcomed to the city. And it would be great if our initiative is also adopted by other cities."

Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum, Amsterdam's official city museum, was founded in 1926. The museum manages the collection of the city of Amsterdam, consisting of more than 100,000 objects. The museum's main location, the monumental Civic Orphanage on Kalverstraat in the historic city centre, is currently being renovated so that the Amsterdam Museum can continue to fully perform its museum duties in the future. Until 2028, the Amsterdam Museum will find its temporary home at Amstel 51, where it will display its masterpieces and organise exhibitions and events. In addition, the city museum organises exhibitions and events at Huis Willet-Holthuysen and at various partners throughout the city.

By co-initiating the cultural INTROWEEK MBO, Amsterdam Museum hopes to increase the involvement of MBO students in their museum. Gonca Yalçıner, head of education and participation Amsterdam Museum: "We see that not everyone knows our museum yet and we think this is very important. Through the cultural introduction week, MBO students get to know our museum together with their teacher. They then also see that the museum is a place to which you can contribute yourself, like the students who created the educational programme." The educational programme for mbo students at the Amsterdam Museum, called Untold Restored, was developed by a group of mbo students themselves. The educational programme during the introduction week consists of a card game and an augmented reality (AR) tour.

The Amsterdam Platform for Cultural Education MBO

The Amsterdam Platform Cultuureducatie MBO consists of culture coordinators from all Amsterdam mbo colleges and a number of Amsterdam's iconic cultural institutions including the Concertgebouw, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Van Gogh Museum, Stedelijk Museum, Rijksmuseum, ITA and Nationale Opera & Ballet. Together with LKCA, CJP and MOCCA, the platform connects the city's cultural offerings with Amsterdam's mbo.