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For the past twenty years, I've had the honour of working with public broadcasters, governments, commercial businesses and committed communities — building, leading and counseling the organisations and teams behind some of the most demanding cultural projects, events and live broadcasts, to craft the conditions for success and meet the moment that matters most.
Sietse Bakker advises, builds and runs organisations at the intersection of culture, events and broadcasting, together with great teams, often under intense public scrutiny and political pressure.
Crafting the narrative, telling the story. Building the organisation, leading extraordinary teams. Aligning stakeholders to create coalitions. Managing the crisis when everything is at stake. And ultimately: delivering. For the past two decades, he has done exactly that.
Currently, Sietse advises broadcasters and creative companies, nationally and internationally. He is based in the Netherlands.
After successfully completing Gymnasium-level high school, Sietse briefly attended the University of Amsterdam, studying Communications Science, before successfully passing his propaedeutic exam at the INHOLLAND University of Applied Sciences. In 2021, he completed the executive programme ‘The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports’ at Harvard Business School.
Leading the city's 750th anniversary programme on behalf of the municipality. Repositioned the brief, introduced a tentpole strategy, and built public participation through co-creation. Overseeing the nationally broadcast opening and closing shows, a free highway festival for +200k visitors, and a coalition of roughly 300 stakeholders across the cultural, civic and commercial sectors.
De facto Managing Director of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest for Dutch public broadcasters NPO, NOS and AVROTROS. Defined the bid strategy that secured the highest host city contribution in the contest's history. Scaled a core team into a 1,600-strong production and delivered the first major international live event with an audience amidst the ongoing COVID pandemic — on time, on budget.
A decade at the European Broadcasting Union — international oversight of the full Eurovision Song Contest event organisation across logistics, partner collaboration, security, digital and communications. Set the digital strategy, unlocked new revenue streams, introduced knowledge-management and accreditation tools, and laid the foundations for incident and crisis protocols.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Are you looking for a seasoned expert in building, leading and counseling the most demanding projects, events and live broadcasts, to craft the conditions for success and meet the moment that matters most? Let's talk.
Photos by Nathan Reinds, Jordy Brada, Ben Houdijk and Sightline.
