In our series Faces of the Plantage, we meet the people who bring color and character to the neighborhood. This time, we talk with Maud Smithuis, Sales & Events Manager at the H’ART Museum.
Who are you, and what gives you energy in your work?
I’m Maud, and I’ve been working at H’ART Museum for over five years. After graduating from the Hotelschool, I found my passion in the world of events – from large public gatherings to fine dining and corporate congresses. What I love most about my work here is that we handle everything ourselves, from the first request to the final execution. We’re a small, close-knit team, and being based in the middle of a museum makes every day feel unique and inspiring.
What is something that local residents might not know about you, but would enjoy hearing?
Many people don’t realize that H’ART Museum is much more than just a museum. We also host events that are open to the neighborhood – like Wijnen in de Tuin, where local wine suppliers present their finest bottles, or Movies at H’ART Museum, when we turn our garden into a cozy outdoor cinema at the end of summer. And our Grand Café? It’s really the living room of the Plantage – the perfect spot for coffee, a relaxed lunch, or a drink with friends.
What is your hidden gem in the Plantage?
Our courtyard garden! Few people know that you’re welcome there even without a museum ticket. It’s a real oasis of calm – even when the terraces out front are packed with sunseekers, you won’t notice any of that in our peaceful garden.
Which special Amsterdammer would you like to meet there?
I’d love to meet Floris Aaldering, finalist of the National Hennessy Hospitality Award and sommelier at Michelin-starred restaurant Showw. It’s incredible how quickly they earned that star. I’d love to talk with him about hospitality in the museum and how we can help more local residents discover our garden – our most beautiful hidden place.
What might people not know about H’ART Museum as an organization?
That we’re surprisingly sustainable. We share heat and cooling with the Hortus: we send our excess warmth to their greenhouses, while using their cooling system to protect our art. And on top of that, we have more than 300 solar panels on our roof.
The previous interviewee, Remi Oerlemans of De Deli Plantage, passed the question to you:
“You’ve transitioned from an old to a new museum concept. How did you make that shift in practice – what was the key factor that kept it all coherent?”
The war in Ukraine made our partnership with the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg impossible. We decided to take a new direction and embrace a new identity. The name H’ART represents a fresh start and an open outlook. With the support of other museums – such as the Van Gogh Museum and the Amsterdam Museum – we were able to keep presenting exhibitions. Today, we collaborate with institutions including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Smithsonian in Washington, the British Museum in London, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
It was a challenging time, but also deeply inspiring. We went through that transition as one team, across all departments – and that’s something I’m still proud of.
Who would you like to pass the baton to, and what question would you ask?
I’d like to pass the baton to Tom Heckmans of RKM Offices. My question for him: You create beautiful workspaces in the heart of the city – how do you make people truly feel at home in an office, the way we try to do at H’ART Museum?