{"id":8288,"date":"2026-05-07T14:23:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:23:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=8288"},"modified":"2026-05-07T14:31:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T12:31:35","slug":"the-heart-of-the-nieuwmarkt-neighbourhood-koen-vollaers-on-the-april-festivities-and-doing-business-in-the-nieuwmarkt-neighbourhood","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/?podcast=het-hart-van-de-nieuwmarktbuurt-koen-vollaers-over-de-aprilfeesten-en-ondernemen-in-de-nieuwmarktbuurt","title":{"rendered":"The Heart of the Nieuwmarkt Neighbourhood \u2013 Koen Vollaers on the April Festivities and Entrepreneurship in the Nieuwmarkt Neighbourhood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In this episode of \"Het Hart van de Nieuwmarktbuurt\" (The Heart of the Nieuwmarkt Neighbourhood), Irma and Jim talk to Koen Vollaers, entrepreneur, atmosphere creator and the man behind the Aprilfeesten (April Festivals), which are celebrating their 36th edition this year.<\/p>\n<p>We hear how a man from Breda ended up in a boarded-up Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood full of junkies and street vendors, why he reconquered Nieuwmarkt square with theatre props, and how one legendary evening at the Westergasfabriek changed the entire Amsterdam hospitality industry forever.<\/p>\n<p>An episode about giving rather than taking, about thinking micro in a hectic world, and about the wisdom that it's okay to be happy for a while, even in tough times.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":8290,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"class_list":["post-8288","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/8288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nieuwmarktbuurt.amsterdam\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}