the foundation

mission

The aim of the Collecting Stories Foundation is to realize non-commercial, culturally driven projects and to make the assignments available to filmmakers and/or exhibitors in order to provide a broad audience with a substantive message. The foundation is not a production house but expressly functions as a way station for stories, after which they are sent out into the world on the right track to the right target group. The foundation always strives to find the right form for a story.
The strength of the foundation lies in the attention and creating reach for candid stories of people who do not seek publicity, but do have something to say. Our mission is to give their stories the platform they deserve. In addition to initiating its own projects, in which collaboration is sought with a broad group of stakeholders, the foundation actively helps realize creative projects by and with passionate young and more experienced filmmakers.
The foundation wants to be a platform, offering guidance and facilitating, including knowledge and equipment, with the ultimate goal of high-quality production, without compromising the valuable manufacturing process.
By collecting, producing, showing and sharing special stories, Collecting Stories aims to surprise, fascinate, provide food for thought, increase social awareness, provide comfort, connect, activate and inspire.

board

The Collecting Stories Foundation was founded in 2019 and is led by a board and management who are jointly responsible for the entire organization. We introduce the board to you:
Team member
Patrick Swart
chairman
Patrick (1968) is a very experienced (interim) manager/director in media and information intensive organizations. As a boardroom consultant and CEO, he managed hundreds of professionals within a multitude of publishing houses and related media companies.
Patrick specializes in guiding strategy processes, change processes & cultural change where the application of innovative technology and innovation are central. Within the foundation, Patrick is chairman of the board and advisor to the management.
Team member
Sanne de Jong
treasurer
Sanne (1989) has a marketing and organization agency. She is a creative jack-of-all-trades with seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm and energy.
Within the foundation, Sanne, as a board member, mainly works as an advisor and manager of the (social) media channels and is at the forefront of the organization and facility management of events and festivals.
Team member
Roelof Fruithof
secretary
Roelof (1981) is an entrepreneur with a social, free and creative heart. He is the owner of a unique mobile open-air cinema and initiator and organizer of festivals.
Within the foundation, Roelof, as a board member, mainly works as a creative concept thinker and as a link between the foundation and its broad (social) cultural network.
Team member
Ellen Berkhout
boardmember
Ellen (1969) graduated in cultural anthropology with a specialization in oral history. She worked in education for several years before she became an independent entrepreneur in 2020, focusing on writing anniversary books and biographies for companies and private individuals, among other things.
Within the foundation, Ellen is mainly concerned with translating ideas and concepts into concrete project plans.
Team member
Cees Bakker
boardmember
Cees (1960) is a historian and curator at the Westfries Museum in Hoorn. He is invaluable in the composition, design and design of the museum’s most diverse exhibitions and digital exhibitions and projects.
As a board member within the foundation, Cees is mainly concerned with the spirit of the times and the structure in which the stories are given a place within the foundation’s projects.

management

The management is appointed by the board and employed by the organization. The director is responsible for the daily affairs of the organization.
Team member
Menno van Wees
director
Menno (1967) is a visual thinker, cultural entrepreneur and filmmaker. His specialty is the translation from word to image; the visualization of stories. After a wonderful mix of training (interior design, industrial design, fashion) and travel, he started a unique mobile open-air cinema in 1999, based on the traveling cinemas he had encountered in the villages of Nepal and India. The basis for this venture was to make the screening of films available to a wider audience. Showing films at an unexpected location creates a different experience; you bring the stories to the visitor. This applies in particular to audiences who do not naturally go to a regular cinema or art house.
During this period he met a large number of filmmakers, visual artists, producers, directors and distributors and he increasingly felt the need to make his own visual productions instead of just showing. Menno has spent the past 12 years mainly on the production of short films, documentaries, exhibitions and other audiovisual projects.
Within Collecting Stories, Menno uses his experience, expertise and network to achieve the goals of the foundation. As director, he is the first point of contact and project director of various projects.