Biography of Martin Berendse
Dutchman Martin J. Berendse was born in 1963.
He, his wife Petra Blok and their three children Dim (1994), Gijs (1995) and Bibi (2000) live in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).
He served the Community of the Northern Borough of Amsterdam as member of the Borough Council and Vice-chairman of the Board of Public Education.
Marketing and performing arts
After reading Dutch Law at the University of Utrecht, he joined the office of the University Board between 1984 and 1986. He was consultant for the management - and PR - divisions of the advertising group FHV/BBDO (Amsterdam). In 1990, he moved into the performing arts sector, serving successively as director of Festival a/d Werf in Utrecht, the Netherlands Theatre Network and the Rotterdam-based repertory theatre company “RO Theater”.
Culture and Media policy
Joining the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science in the Hague in 1998, his posts there included: Head of the Office for Culture Policy, Director of the Arts Department and deputy Director-General for Culture and Media.
Archives
In 2007, he was appointed Director of The National Archives of The Netherlands (Nationaal Archief) and - after completing the training required by law - was also made National Archivist of the Netherlands on 1 May 2009. He has served the International Council on Archives as its interim Vice-President Finance.