As of 21 December 2016 Titia Vellenga took over from Thomas Leysen as chair of the board of the Friends of CODART Foundation.

Thomas Leysen served as chair of the board of the Friends of CODART Foundation for six years. Under his chairmanship, the Friends of CODART Foundation developed into a professional organization, building up an expanding network of private collectors, art dealers, and auction houses as Patrons, Patrons for Life, and Business Sponsors. Mr. Leysen also inspired us to launch the annual Patrons Salon and the annual Friends Newsletter. CODART is truly grateful to Thomas Leysen for his heartfelt commitment to CODART and we are delighted that he has agreed to serve on the General Board of CODART, on which he has had a seat since 2013, for another term. In his own words: “CODART is such a useful, efficient, and friendly organization. It was therefore a great pleasure for me to give it an extra boost, together with my colleagues on the Board of the FoCF and with the Patrons we were able to enlist. I am delighted that Titia has agreed to take over as Chair and am confident that she will steer the Foundation to further success.”

His successor, Titia Vellenga, was until recently the Global Board Representative of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF), the world’s leading fair for art and antiques. Ms. Vellenga’s background is in art history and the museum world. After studying art history at Leiden University, she worked as Public Relations and Marketing Manager at the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam and for the art fairs TEFAF Maastricht and PAN Amsterdam. It was thanks to Titia Vellenga that CODART and TEFAF were able to accomplish a number of interesting collaborative projects, such as a special CODART-TEFAF issue of the eZine.

Ms Vellenga accepted her nomination with great pleasure: “During the twenty years that I have been working in this field, the collaboration between museums and other parties in the art world has become much closer, quite simply because they need each other. Without the support of the Friends, CODART would scarcely be able to pursue the wide range of activities it has taken on. It is a privilege and a challenge to continue Thomas’s wonderful work and to serve as the liaison between CODART’s members and the CODART Friends.”

We look forward to preserving and enriching our partnership in the years to come!