Mara van der Kleij (NL)

Mara is originally from the east of Holland (Enschede) but has been living and working in Amsterdam since 1990. Equipped with a Masters degree in Earth Sciences and Arts, she has been part of the Sustainability Team of the City of Amsterdam for the last eight years. Serving as an advisor and project leader, her main focus is on making sustainability happen in the cultural sector (festivals, theatres, concert halls, museums). She has coordinated the new municipal ‘sustainable event policy’ that will take effect in 2018, and believes that sustainable event management can be a powerful tool leading to concrete action on themes as waste, water use, energy and transport. Next to this, Mara also works on projects focussing on circularity in the local agri-food chain and stronger urban-regional (economical) exchange on food and organic waste.