Join us for our regular monthly meeting at ROOM in The Hague.
Share your business experiences and network with our members and other guests. Be sure to bring along your business cards!
Date:Thursday 28 May 2026 Location:IN-PERSON at ROOM Next Door 19:00:Doors open for networking 19:30:Meeting, speaker, questions, followed by networking (till 22:00)
2 drinks and snacks included!
Our topic this month: Bounce Forward: Building resilience and more after adversity
Have you faced unexpected challenges like job loss, divorce, harsh feedback, health issues or a burn-out? While bouncing back is common, what if you could bounce forward? Join this interactive workshop to learn how to build resilience and move beyond recovery to a place of renewed empowerment, strength and insight.
This is what you will get out of this workshop:
The coping mechanisms people adopt when reacting to adversity
4 steps to Bounce Forward
The 5 ways to be kind to yourself
About our speaker:
After having lost her best friend in 2020 to breast cancer,Marjolein van der Krukhas bounced forward and pivoted her innovation business. She now devotes her work to empower seasoned women who are stuck and are longing for more to become their own best friend, and take courageous steps toward a life on their own terms.
She brings together a blend of expertise from 18 years of corporate experience in leadership positions, her training and practice as an ICF-certified Coach, her Certificates in Applied Positive Psychology and Emotional Intelligence and her role as a senior leadership trainer for the School of Leadership.
Please note that this is a women-only event that intends an inclusive definition of women. We are welcoming and respectful of women, including trans women and any others who identify as a woman in a way that is significant to them.
In accordance with GDPR legislation, we are informing you that it is customary for photographs and videos to be taken during our events. If you do not wish to be in any photographs or video footage, or you do not want your name included on our guest list, please indicate this in the comments when registering and/or notify a member of our Events Team (see above).
Please understand that opinions expressed during this event are those of the speaker/presenter, and not of the WBII.
We have great pleasure in inviting you to an evening lecture on Tuesday 26 May, presented by museum director, Martine Gosselink, about the newly opened exhibition from leading Belgian photographer, Stephan Vanfleteren.
In this unique exhibition, contemporary works are displayed alongside the permanent collection – one in each of the sixteen rooms – encouraging visitors to rediscover a fresh perspective of Vermeer, Rembrandt and other masters of the Mauritshuis through Vanfleteren’s distinctive lens.
Martine will share her close collaboration with Vanfleteren over a two-year creative journey. Together, they explored hidden meanings and subtle traces left by the artists’ earlier mistakes – or pentimenti in Italian – and considered how these resonate with the artists’ original visions and our world today. Through his photographs, Vanfleteren captures the essence of selected paintings and themes, using reflection, contrast and symbolism to deepen our understanding of the historic originals.
As always, there will be plenty of time for questions and discussion. It promises to be a thought-provoking evening.
Programme 18:00 Meet in the Brasserie (Plein 29, The Hague) for drinks and light bites 19:00 Lecture followed by Q&A session in the Nassauzaal 20:00 Evening ends
Cost: €30 International & Dutch Friends, €35 Guests, €15 Students
The special exhibition ‘Pentimenti – Stephan Vanfleteren Among the Masters’ will be on display at the Mauritshuis from 23 April to 23 August. Tickets to the museum can be booked by clicking on the ‘tickets’ button via the Mauritshuis website.
To reserve places for the lecture with Martine Gosselink, please send an email to internationalfriends@mauritshuis.nl along with the names of the people for whom you wish to reserve places. Reservation details will be sent to you along with the payment information. Your place will be confirmed upon receipt of your payment. Please RSVP by Wednesday 20 May.
Upcoming Events • Thursday 18 June, 10:30 – Excursion to Lakenhal Museum, Leiden with special lecture and private tour of new exhibition ‘At Home with Jan Steen – 400 Years of Merrymaking’. • Summer Newsletter – This will be emailed in early summer, and will include details of the new season’s events, beginning in September.
We look forward to welcoming you to the lecture ‘Pentimenti: Inspirational Mistakes’ on Tuesday 26 May for what promises to be a fascinating insight into the photography of Stephan Vanfleteren.
From September 11 to October 25, 2026, the twelfth edition of BredaPhoto Festival will take place, the largest photo exhibition in the Benelux. Spread throughout the city of Breda, the festival showcases photography and audiovisual art in surprising locations: from parks and vacant buildings to a former police station and the old women’s prison. The theme is Our Songs Came Through .
The twelfth edition of BredaPhoto Festival is about solace and resilience. What do you need to pick yourself up again after a difficult event? How do you turn worries about the world we live in into hope? Sometimes you find strength in rituals, spirituality, and art, by caring for one another with friends, family, or allies. Or you recharge your batteries alone in the silence of nature. Under the title Our Songs Came Through , BredaPhoto brings together impressive photographs, video art, and immersive installations, from leading makers to young talents. Sometimes the visitor even becomes part of the work. BredaPhoto tells stories that touch you, of people in different parts of the world who may be closer to you than you expect. The festival brings together work by more than thirty photographers and artists, often being shown in the Netherlands for the first time, and sometimes created especially for the festival.
For example, Palestinian artist Noor Abed is creating the video installation we walk in our sleep especially for this edition. Together with family, friends, and neighbors, she connects old traditions with contemporary life in Palestine. Through movement and choreography, she poetically portrays a spatial and political vision of her homeland. The project is commissioned by BredaPhoto and the Matter of Art Biennial with support from the Mondriaan Fund and the Han Nefkens Foundation.
Awoiska van der Molen ‘s monochrome landscape photographs arise from the desire to penetrate deep into the essence of the isolated natural world.
For The Living Mountain, she collaborated with composer Thomas Larcher to convey the experience of Larcher’s native soil—the mountains in Tyrol (Austria)—in a composition of music and imagery.
Huda Abdulmughni documents the celebration of Nowruz Sayadeen, the Iranian New Year, on the island of Qeshm. She shows how the residents of this fishing community find togetherness, comfort, and resilience in tradition, community, and nature.
An Exploration of Resilience and Resistance by Kali Spitzer is an ongoing project that began in 2014. Through the timeless lens of tintype photography, she portrays her community of Indigenous and mixed-race people in Canada, aiming to create more visibility for their stories.
In Uprooted,Puck Verkade takes the audience into a dreamlike installation in which human destruction ultimately gives way to new life and caring coexistence with plants and animals.
The program is further enriched by FOTODOK, Stichting Forhanna, and new partner Institut Pour la Photographie in Lille, who are bringing additional exhibitions to the festival in close collaboration with the BredaPhoto team.
More than exhibitions
In addition to the exhibitions, the BredaPhoto Festival offers much more to see and do. There is an extensive in-depth program consisting of guided tours, performances, artist talks, Zen meditations, film screenings, workshops, and various activities for children. Furthermore, a city-wide program is being developed in collaboration with Breda partners such as the Stedelijk Museum Breda, the City Archives, the Chassé Theater, and the Nieuwe Veste. BredaPhoto also thinks of those who cannot attend the festival: with a suitcase full of beautiful images, staff and volunteers visit care homes in the region and the hospital in Breda to engage in conversation about comfort and resilience, based on the universal stories of this edition.
Tickets for the festival will be available from June 1, 2026. Keep an eye on the website BredaPhoto.nl for this and for news.
The BredaPhoto Festival can only take place thanks to the support of many funds, sponsors, friends, and volunteers. We thank in particular the Municipality of Breda, the Province of North Brabant, Brabant C, the Mondriaan Fund, and the private individuals who support us financially and as volunteers.
From 8 to 31 May 2026, the Las Américas Film Festival returns to Filmhuis Den Haag for its second edition with an eclectic programme of films and events exploring this year’s theme: ‘Origins / Origines’.
With a special focus on Indigenous stories, roots and belonging, the festival presents a compelling selection of recent feature films from Latin America and the Caribbean, alongside two short film programmes and a curated selection of classics. Together, these works offer intimate perspectives on identity, history and community, inviting audiences to reflect on what connects us across cultures and generations.
Beyond the screen, the festival expands into conversation and exchange through Q&As, panel discussions, and workshops, creating space for dialogue among filmmakers, audiences, and cultural voices. Accessible and inclusive, the programme welcomes
Las Américas Film Festival Friday 8 May – Sunday 31 May 2026 Filmhuis The Hague
Burnout is becoming one of the most common yet misunderstood challenges of our time – especially for internationals navigating life, work, and identity in a new country.
This global online Summit brings together 23 international experts to explore burnout from a more human and holistic perspective.
Topics include women’s health, ADHD and neurodivergence, the role of nature, relationships and parenting, and mental health.
Whether you’re experiencing burnout yourself or supporting others, this Summit offers practical tools, fresh perspectives, and a space to better understand what’s really going on beneath the surface.
There is a free ticket option for live attendance.
Vassia is an international speaker specialising in perfectionism and burnout recovery, supporting ambitious professionals and entrepreneurs to quiet the inner critic, replace trauma-driven patterns, and build sustainable success without sacrificing well-being.
Her work combines science-based, trauma-informed strategies with a compassionate, practical approach to help people thrive in both work and life.
She is the founder of AntiLoneliness, an international mental health collective, and The Therapy Business Circle, a community for mental health professionals growing their practices in a sustainable, values-aligned way.
