Uncovering Creatives Special

In the Panel Talk on longevity as a creative entrepreneurs, Sunny Jansen, Brian Elstak en Aukje Dekker will dive in what is needed to have a impactful career as a creative.

This program will be streamed online, join the conversation via zoom. The button will appear on this page.

About the speakers:

Brian Elstak describes himself as a friendly neighbourhood artist. He is a visual artist, illustrator, painter, children’s book writer and connector between all sorts of creatives and storytellers. He is also part of art collective Lowrey Foley McClane (LFMC). His visual style references pop culture and current social affairs in a visual language that young people recognise. As a self-taught artist, Elstak often collaborates with artists and makers across disciplines.

Aukje dekker is an autonomous visual artist, but she’s also the director and co-founder of SEXYLAND. Sociëteit SEXYLAND is a new and temporary club on the NDSM-werf in Amsterdam North. For 365 days it will have a different owner, every day. The owner of the day decides what kind of club they like to have, varying from art exhibitions to sport events, from gangster rap to dinners in stroboscopic light. SEXYLAND is a tabula rasa that can be written in any way possible. Apart from this successful project, she founded the experimental Eddie the Eagle Museum, a museum in which a very wide variety of artistic disciplines are shown, and which is preaching the art of failure. The practice of visual artist Aukje Dekker has developed around the analysis of the human – and inevitably her own – pursuit of value, meaning and authenticity. Her work isn’t limited to one medium, but typically wanders through all forms of contemporary art; photography, painting, installation, video, collage and performance. She graduated with honours from the Rietveld Academy, completed a MFA at the Sandberg Institute and Central St Martins (London).

Sunny Jansen (she/her) is the PR manager of successful fashion label Daily Paper. Until 2020 she was working as a DJ under the name DJ Covergirl Sunny, she played amongst others at Milkshake Festival. In the past she worked as editor or on the PR department of multiple different creative organisations like Maison PR, So PR and PINDAH Magazine and as agent for creatives with Marge x Artists. With all the experience that Sunny has gained in the past years, she can definitely contribute to the panel talk in order to answer the main question on how to build a sustainable career as a creative entrepreneur.

The program will be enriched with some songs by Singer-Songwriter Anna Sylvia, who just released her first EP PARADIGM I.

Amsterdam-based Anna Sylvia blends her clear vocals with electronic textures and synth-heavy beats, resulting in sparse electronic alternative pop music. For this evening Anna has converted her largely electronic set into an intimate acoustic set. She takes you into a world full of adventure, inspired by Scandinavian pop music.