The countdown has begun! In 2024 the musical 40-45 from Studio100 will come to the Netherlands! An impressive and innovative performance with a beautiful story. For this project, the contribution was small and yet large: finding a suitable place.

In 2019 Studio100 came with a request: we are looking for a place for the musical 40-45 in the Netherlands. A challenging assignment, because it requires a very large and high hall, without pillars, in an easily accessible location, with a good catchment area. They are not readily available. One was too small, the other too far away and the next had too many obstacles in the hall. Eventually we came to the Midden-Nederland Hallen in Barneveld. Here, the facilities are already present for receiving the public, excellent accessibility and a nice central location. And that led to the fantastic news that the performance will premiere in 20234!

After years of working on this project, it has been announced that Puy du Fou may be coming to Meppel! Of course, many steps still need to be taken and this requires careful further elaboration. But very proud of the result achieved so far.

At the start of the project, there were of course quite a few issues: is there sufficient marketspace, can a suitable location/plot be found, is it an interesting project for Puy du Fou, which stories would best suit a Dutch park? But step by step we got a little further. With highs and lows: from getting completely soaked during a possible site visit to a fantastic visit in the park in France.

Carolien was a guest in a podcast about lego for the LEGO Group… What is the relationship with her work and enthusiasm for the leisure sector?

The conversation started with Lego and logically the acquisition of the Legoland Discovery Center to The Hague. But the National Monument Oranjehotel was also discussed and the special stories that are told there. At the end it was still about Puy du Fou, which "is not yet in the Netherlands...". At the time of recording it was not yet known that they might come to Meppel. And they also talked about dispersion, undiscovered places, memories and souvenirs.

Listen to the episode here.

Why do young Germans come to the Oranjehotel National Monument?

The research we conducted showed that real stories are important to captivate young people, just like authentic places. The museum scores very high on that. They are very digitally oriented, so using video or animation works well. And prior to the visit, using the right online platforms is of great importance. And for the German guest a full translation is nice, because English is not yet easy for everyone.

Blooloop wrote a nice article about it: read more.

Leisure Link, in collaboration with Sweco, has been commissioned to draw up a new events policy for the city of Apeldoorn. We are very proud to have won this tender. It is a challenging assignment, because the new events policy must contain various domains (citymarketing, economy, culture, sports, social), have a concrete effect in subsidy frameworks and must also be completed before the end of the summer. And as an extra element: involving as many stakeholders and residents as possible during summer holiday! Leisure Link is happy to take on this challenge and the collaboration with Sweco.