No bells and whistles at Pinkpop

‘I was so afraid that Jan would ask if I had ever been to Pinkpop once. But he didn’t!’ In his third year of study, Niek Murray was offered – through school – the opportunity to do a work placement at Pinkpop. ‘I really had to think about that,’ Niek admits, ‘I never went to Pinkpop; I went to Dynamo Open Air and Lowlands. But Pinkpop? No…’ In the end, he did sit down and talk with Jan Smeets. Jan Smeets was Pinkpop. ‘We clicked right away,’ says Niek, ‘and now – 20 years later – I still work there with immense pleasure!’

Pinkpop is a team effort

When Jan Smeets indicated after 50 years of Pinkpop that he wanted to take a step back, it made sense in itself for Niek to take over the baton. ‘But it is not just me,’ says Niek, ‘because Pinkpop is a team effort and we want to convey that to the outside world.’ So now there are three festival managers. Apart from Niek there is Sierk Janssen, with a background in Facility Management, who also once started as a ‘hekkensjouwer’ fencing crew member, as Niek calls it. And then there is Tirsa Creusen, who even as a child fantasised about a job at Pinkpop.

A bit bumpy

‘I had a clear goal in mind, but the road towards it was a bit bumpy,’ Tirsa laughs. ‘I started with a study programme in Facility Management in Heerlen, because they had an Events specialisation, but that was not for me, so then I wanted to find a job.’ Tirsa’s parents, who took her to Pinkpop at a young age, inspired her again, this time to finish a degree after all. ‘I decided to take a broader approach and opted for Media in Breda. This study programme was a better fit for me, even if I was not always a good fit in the study programme,’ Tirsa confesses.

Literally in the field

‘At that time I was already quite active in the festival world, which sometimes made me skip classes, because I was running a production for a couple of days, so that sometimes clashed. I do get it, from the school’s point of view, but this hands-on experience – literally in the field – is so important. Working experience hours is what we call it. They should put more of that into the curricula of years 1 and 2. In my studies, I myself was super focused on the professional field and I want to offer students that opportunity now too. We work together a lot with mbo schools (secondary vocational education) in the region and the placement students from higher education institutes also participate hands-on. That's where you ultimately learn the most.'

Something else

‘I loved my placements at Kunstbende and Pinkpop so much that I had trouble finding my feet back at school,' says Tirsa. 'I made it even harder on myself by graduating with a record company in Amsterdam, something I could never see myself working for later,' she laughs, 'I really wanted to try something else too, out of my comfort zone. Absolutely no regrets, but I did drop out prematurely, because even before graduating I was able to get a job at Pinkpop! Maarten van Bussel, who supervised me, helped me to complete it well anyway. So wonderful when someone takes a constructive and helpful approach!'

Dragging stuff around at Bommelpop

Niek’s journey was very different. ‘I am from Zaltbommel and as a little boy I used to help drag stuff around at the local Bommelpop festival. I was interested in becoming a sound engineer, but those courses didn't exist back then. The Rockacademie had just started, I played in bands and that study programme seemed really cool to me, but as a musician I wasn't good enough for it'. Niek ultimately ended up at NHTV through a friend. ‘The first day in school was the first time I went to NHTV,’ he laughs. ‘I studied Vrijetijdskunde, which mixed with Tourism in the beginning, and I found myself in a class with 35 girls!’

Enthralled by Pinkpop

‘After my third-year placement I was really enthralled by Pinkpop, because I also graduated there,’ Niek continues. ‘In my research I analysed the safety plan of Pinkpop and those of other organisations, and used the best parts to create a new plan. We still use this plan, of course it is fine-tuned regularly, it is a good tool to outline conceivable scenarios and the consequences and actions needed. And that is necessary, because Pinkpop is getting bigger and bigger.’

Local festival

‘I sometimes say jokingly, it is a village festival that has grown oversized,’ Niek laughs. ‘I even moved from Eindhoven to Limburg for it, the involvement and community spirit of people in the region is great. Of course, it also actually started as a local festival.' 'And you can still see that reflected today,’ explains Tirsa. ‘Associations or clubs run the bar, they get an amount of money for that, which they invest in their canteen or something else, for example. This is how we contribute to (voluntary) social activities in the region.'

CEO at a big company

'There are people working here who in normal life are CEOs at a big company, for Pinkpop they are happy to take a few weeks off,' says Niek. 'Yes, that's nice,' responds Tirsa, 'the average age of the crew in the warehouse is 70+ I think, really unique. We even have one without a mobile phone, which is quite a challenge. But we make grateful use of the experience of people who have worked in warehouse management or logistics for years. They enjoy doing it and are extremely loyal. Pinkpop feels like one big family!'

Pinkpop stands on solid foundations

'It is sometimes difficult when you want to make change. There are so many people who have been working there for so long.' 'True,' says Niek, 'and then we ask Jan Smeets for advice, to hear how he would approach it. We don't want to innovate for the sake of innovating. Pinkpop's concept stands on solid foundations, it hasn't lasted 50 years for nothing. We sell tickets because we feature big names, and that will remain, but we have also talked about offering more experiential elements on the grounds. That has to suit us though, so it won't be bells and carnival whistles.'

Dancing in silence

'In 2019, we did a silent disco pilot,' says Niek. 'Suddenly there were 6,000 festival-goers with headphones on dancing silently in a tent. We want to organise more things like this. And then we mainly look at what we like ourselves. But yes, it has to remain affordable and I am quite worried about the rising production costs. I am not lying when I say that we spent about two months discussing the ticket price for the 2023 edition. We do want to keep the festival widely accessible.'

Interview: Maaike Dukker-’t Hart