Utrecht, 19 February 2025 - Two well-known icons of the city of Utrecht, the Centraal Museum Utrecht and Royal Jaarbeurs, are joining forces to strengthen their ties and give the city of Utrecht a warm heart. Both organisations are deeply rooted in Utrecht's history. Centraal Museum Utrecht, the oldest urban museum in the Netherlands, and Royal Jaarbeurs, which has organised and facilitated a variety of events and exhibitions for more than 105 years, have a rich and shared history in the city.
Utrecht the city for (international) events, exhibitions and conferences
With immediate effect, Centraal Museum Utrecht and Royal Jaarbeurs will intensify their cooperation to position Utrecht as the international city for events, exhibitions and congresses. "Our organisations inspire thousands of people every day, with fairs in Jaarbeurs, performances in the Beatrix Theatre and exhibitions in the Central Museum. In doing so, we attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the city of Utrecht every year. We believe we can strengthen each other even further in this," said Bart Rutten, Artistic Director of Centraal Museum.
Contributing to the cultural and social life of Utrecht
As a partner of Centraal Museum, Jaarbeurs contributes to Centraal Museum's exhibition programme, marketing campaigns and education projects. In addition, the two icons will launch a joint activation programme, including discount actions during exhibitions such as the Vakantiebeurs, KreaDoe and the Camping & Caravan Jaarbeurs and creative projects such as the poster competition for students, organised in collaboration with the Utrecht School of the Arts. With this cooperation, both organisations not only aim to increase each other's visibility and pool their expertise, but also to make an important contribution to the cultural and social life of Utrecht.
Jeroen van Hooff, CEO Jaarbeurs: "Strengthening our cooperation with Centraal Museum opens new doors and offers unprecedented opportunities. How can we as Jaarbeurs be an extension of Centraal Museum? By working together, we can explore new opportunities. My wish is to make the Jaarbeursboulevard an iconic place where millions of passers-by, between Central Station and the Jaarbeurs, want to take a picture. Central Museum has the knowledge and creativity to think along with this."
Bart Rutten: "Central Museum's mission statement is: building a liveable culture together. In this, the word together is indispensable to us. Jaarbeurs and the museum will cooperate in various areas to let as many people as possible experience what Utrecht has to offer. For example, I look forward to soon treating the city to a gigantic mural in the station area, inspired by a work of art from the museum collection."
About Centraal Museum
Through exhibitions and activities, Centraal Museum aims to strengthen Utrecht culturally and at the heart of society. Centraal Museum Utrecht's collection consists of ancient, modern and contemporary art, fashion, design and city history. The museum has the largest Rietveld collection in the world and an extensive collection of Utrecht caravaggists. Famous Dutch artists such as Vincent van Gogh and Marlene Dumas are part of the collection. The museum has also been collecting and presenting fashion by Viktor and Rolf, Jan Taminiau and Iris van Herpen, among others, for over a hundred years. In addition, a museum houses a reconstruction of Dick Bruna's original studio.
About Royal Jaarbeurs
Royal Jaarbeurs based in Utrecht organises and facilitates national and international exhibitions, conferences and events since 1917. Live and online. The Utrecht event location is suitable for a variety of activities. From meetings, workshops and training courses to conferences, business events, award ceremonies, shows and large-scale events and exhibitions. Jaarbeurs focuses in particular on the Agri & food, Construction & Installation and Care markets.
