To avoid financial problems, Museum Kranenburgh in Bergen aan Zee has dismissed artistic director Colin Huizing. Current business director Adriana González Hulshof will take over Huizing’s duties and has been appointed general manager. The museum has that a press release announced.
Increased wage and energy costs have forced the museum to make this decision, says Puck Huitsing, chairman of the Supervisory Board. “Huizing did a fantastic job, but looking ahead to the near future, a two-person management no longer seemed feasible.”
The 2022 annual report published in June already stated that Kranenburgh’s management consulted with various parties on how to overcome cost increases. Last year, personnel costs amounted to 836,000 euros, more than 10 percent higher than budgeted.
Huitsing calls Kranenburgh (55,000 visitors last year) “a medium-sized museum with ambition”. “When we received extra subsidy a few years ago, our future looked bright and we decided for the first time to have a two-person management team. And then came corona, the Russian invasion and the energy crisis.”
The Supervisory Board chose business director González and not artistic director Huizing for two reasons, says Huitsing. “González has more baggage than just understanding finances. And for a museum, a certain business stability is essential. You can hire good curators to put together exhibitions and collaborate with other museums.”
Huizing (1965) was a freelance exhibition maker for various museums when he joined Kranenburgh as artistic director on July 1 last year. “It’s annoying, there’s no other way,” is all he wants to say about his forced departure. “We have agreed that the museum will do the talking.”