Emily Ansenk is an art historian and is the director of the Holland Festival since 2019. From 2008 to 2019 she was the director of the Kunsthal Rotterdam. And previously the founder and director of the private Frisia (later Scheringa) Museum in Spanbroek in the Dutch province of North Holland (1996-2008). As director of the Holland Festival, Ansenk is responsible for its policy, strategy, artistic direction, programming, organisation, and finance.
Holland Festival is the largest international performing arts festival in the Netherlands and one of the oldest festivals in Europe. The festival was established in 1947 and celebrated its 75-year anniversary in June 2022. Artistic renewal, innovation and experimentation are core values of the Holland Festival. The festival presents ground-breaking shows by creators from all over the world and new developments in the performing arts.
Ansenk is a member of various art committees and juries, such as the Sacha Tanja Medal jury. She chairs the Henri Winkelman Award jury and is a vice chair of the Supervisory Board of the National Maritime Museum. She is also on the board of the Job Dura Charity Foundation and the Ron Mandos Young Blood Foundation for emerging artists. In 2016 she participated in the Getty Leadership Programme at Claremont University in Los Angeles and participated in Tafel Next sessions for supervisors and commissioners at DeNieuweCommissaris.
