Welcome Frank to the team!

We’re pleased to present to you, Frank Kimenai!

He is joining KEA as a Senior Consultant & Researcher to bring his expertise in music, sustainability and the intersection of the CCI’s, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Let’s get to know him a little bit better!

Tell us more about your background and your interests at work 

I am a Dutch guy in his forties, currently living in the beautiful city of Rotterdam. My background mainly lies in the music industry. I have started several initiatives and companies, most notably the Incubate festival in Tilburg, which was a big festival focusing on forward-thinking music, art, and other cultural disciplines. Next to that, I founded and ran a booking and management agency for about a decade. In that capacity, I worked with a large number of artists from all over the globe and represented a number of Dutch ones as a manager.

In the last seven years, I have mainly worked as a freelance adviser to all sorts of administrations (from EU to local), art funds, institutes, and companies. Throughout these years, I became more and more involved in the policy processes that shape the sector. I’ve always been interested in how decisions are made and what mechanisms can be put into place to improve conditions for workers in the sector, but also how to reduce our negative impact on the environment we are a part of. I guess this last one comes from my formal background as an ecologist.

Additionally, since 2021, I have been doing a PhD research at the Erasmus University Rotterdam on the resilience of music ecosystems. I am interested in how the music sector increasingly behaves as a complex system and how we can future-proof it by strengthening its resilience through the adoption of ecological principles. I aim to finish this research by the end of this year.

Even though I like to say that I currently work “on” music and the CCI’s, and not necessarily “in” them, I still am very close to the artists that are at the foundation of everything. I find this extremely important, as it helps me do my job better, and vice versa, my knowledge can help them realize their ideas. Currently, I am helping out queer hip-hop duo Lionstorm and the amazing Grauzone festival in The Hague.

Your mission at KEA and what you want to bring to the table 

My mission at KEA will be two-fold. First and foremost, I will apply my knowledge and experience in my work as a researcher and consultant. KEA is firmly rooted in the music sector, so there’s an overlap with that specific knowledge. However, my experience is broader than that. I find it especially interesting to work on the intersection of the CCI’s, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

Secondly, I will help Arthur, KEA’s managing director, develop the company further toward the future. I will focus on some of the internal processes but also on positioning the company further and more strongly in the European CCI’s through creating new collaborations and further developing our network.

Tell us something you love to do outside of work! 

I have been running a country music radio show called The High Horse for about five years now, which is an amazing way to get to know the weird and exciting world of this genre. Next to that, I am a record collector, an aspiring amateur cook, and I try to maintain a CrossFit discipline. The last thing I want to mention here is that I am putting my ecology background back into action now, as I am currently transforming my parents’ farmland into a forest, together with my siblings.