Mijke Loeven will start as director of the BIMHUIS on September 1st, 2017. Huub van Riel, the current artistic director, will retire on that date. For the past 40 years he has been the inspiring artistic leader of the BIMHUIS. In that period the BIMHUIS has grown into a leading venue for jazz and other adventurous music, its reputation and influence reaching far beyond the borders of The Netherlands. Mijke Loeven (1965) has broad experience in the Dutch jazz community. As the director of Jazz International Rotterdam she has hosted concerts at De Doelen, LantarenVenster and the annual Festival Jazz International Rotterdam, which showcases exceptional young talents. She’s also the director of North Sea Round Town, the annual fringe festival preceding the North Sea Jazz Festival with over 300 concerts on 100 locations in Rotterdam. Loeven studied jazz vocals at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. She has produced art shows for radio and television and has been interim manager for, among others, the Music Matters Foundation. Mijke Loeven: “I’m very much looking forward to continuing the legacy of the BIMHUIS together with the staff and everyone else involved. Bimhuis represents quality, adventure and contemporary developments. In that spirit I want to establish new connections between jazz, audiences and society”. BIMHUIS will host farewell celebration for Huub van Riel on 25 November 2017.