The Conservatorium van Amsterdam is delighted to welcome Rita Zipora as Head of Pop Music and Dieuwertje Heuvelings as Head of AEMA (Amsterdam Electronic Music Academy).
Rita Zipora is no stranger to the CvA: for the past three years, she has worked as a lecturer in Industry & Entrepreneurship and as a mentor at the Pop Department. Prior to this, she gained extensive policy experience in the music sector as a board member at BAM! Popauteurs, as a member of the Council for Culture, and on the Supervisory Board of BumaStemra. She was also active as an organiser and moderator at events such as Eurosonic Noorderslag and ADE, contributing to themes such as Fair Pay, Dutch cultural policy, and talent development. As an artist, she released two solo albums and toured the Netherlands and Belgium with her project WOLKEN. In 2016, she completed her master’s degree at the CvA with a thesis on copyright in the digital domain.
Rita on her new position: ‘I look forward to leading this unique programme and to building, together with the team, a safe environment in which students can develop and find their place in the world of today and tomorrow.’
Dieuwertje Heuvelings has extensive experience in both the creative side and the business side of the music industry. She worked at MassiveMusic as A&R, was a playlist editor at Spotify, and held the position of Senior Director A&R & Marketing at Arista Records (Sony Music) in New York. She is currently also a programmer at Down The Rabbit Hole.
Since 2023, Dieuwertje has been affiliated with the CvA as a lecturer in Industry & Entrepreneurship at AEMA. In addition, she has developed numerous panels, programmes, and podcasts about music and creating a fairer, more inclusive playing field within the industry. In 2020, her debut novel Auxiety was published, about the rise of Dutch hip-hop in the streaming era.
Dieuwertje on her new position: ‘My ambition is to help AEMA grow into a place where technical skills, creativity and authenticity empower the makers of the future – together with the fantastic team.’
