Mitch van Veldhoven on City of Imagineers

In addition to being 'eindbaas' at creative agency Goedzooi, Mitch van Veldhoven is also the chairman of City of Imagineers. An association for and by creative people in Breda, which - according to Mitch - perfectly demonstrates what we excel at here: being open to one another and not being afraid to try something new.

What is it like to work in Breda?
“Warm! Breda is a city of connection, of ‘everyone knows everyone’. You can quickly make contact and there’s always someone willing to help you out - and vice versa. People here are also supportive of each other. By that, I also mean that they are willing to not always play it safe, but to embrace the experiment. That creates opportunities, especially for the creative industry.

This mix of sympathy and courage means that you can develop and grow very quickly as a creative here. We’ve certainly shown that with Goedzooi.”

Mitch is often found at the Performatry, the social innovation lab of BUas. “That connection with the students, the young talent, is something we value highly here. It’s still very much ‘lick up, kick down’ in this industry. We prefer to do it the other way around in Breda."

What role does the City of Imagineers play in the city?
“We ensure that creative Breda can connect even better. And by that, I really mean everyone who is involved in creativity and sees themselves as creative. This could be a photographer, designer, or copywriter, but also an architect, for example.

Think of it as a satay skewer that pierces through the creative industry and brings like-minded people together, both young and old. To brainstorm together, inspire each other, and create collaboratively. From this, the coolest things emerge. This ‘doing together’ also allows us to give a voice to the creative industry in Breda and advocate for our sector.

So, is it going well?
“We are on the right track. Events like the FIC festival provide a wonderful platform to show the business world how creativity can take you further. We can rock that platform because we do it together. You can’t achieve something like this on your own.”

What challenges do you still see?
“There are so many amazing creative companies here. But we still remain too much under the radar. I especially see this among students, who seem convinced that ‘it’ just isn’t to be found here in Breda in terms of creativity. Such a misconception.

For us, this was the reason to create Imagineers by Night . Creative Breda then swings its doors wide open to showcase what this city has to offer. Show and tell - and afterwards a nice party, because that is also City of Imagineers.”

City of Imagineers
Gasthuisvelden 11
4811 VX Breda
cityofimagineers.nl