Patrick van der Klooster (Rotterdam, 1970) studied social and economic history at the University of Utrecht. He worked at the urban planning consultancy of Riek Bakker and at management consultancy De Beuk. He was also secretary of the national Council for Culture in The Hague, where he supervised counsel on the national architecture policy and on government subsidies for architectural institutions. In that function, he was project manager of the Dutch Cultural Policy 2001-2005. Since 2005, he has been the director of AIR, the Architecture Institute Rotterdam. Patrick van der Klooster is in great demand as a speaker, moderator and jury member. He is also, among other things, the vice-chairman of the Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds South Holland.