The story of Dikkemik.frl
2 December 2024“Friesland’s creative community is much bigger than you think!”
Creative people are generally social animals. Sanne Vlutters and Riemer van der Wijk are no different. They both work in the communications field and are former colleagues. When they realised that being “former colleagues” meant that joint Friday afternoon drinks became a thing of the past, they decided to organise one themselves. For all creatives from the North, that is. Now that the fourth edition is a fact, it was time to have a chat with Riemer.
Riemer: ‘Whether your click is private or business, decades old or brand new – in all cases there is “Dikke Mik” (a “great time”). And that’s what the event is all about: bringing people together. ‘During the Friday afternoon drinks, we talk about the business, but more importantly it is an opportunity to catch up informally,’ he says. Each edition of the drinks are dedicated to a different theme, for which Sanne and Riemer enlist three speakers. Riemer: ‘They come from the North, but also from the rest of the Netherlands.’
Dikke Mik’s base is jeu de boules bar BOEL in Leeuwarden, the former Zalen Schaaf. Riemer: ‘With a group of 40-60 people, the atmosphere is relaxed, you have time for each other and you can play a game of boules. We notice that this combination brings people together. Colleagues meet here, students come to ask questions and some visitors have been here from the beginning.’ According to Riemer, this contributes to another goal of Dikke Mik, which is to keep talent in the region: ‘It’s a shame that a lot of talent leaves for the Randstad to pursue a career there. You see that it can also be done here, and we want to contribute to that image.’ This is one of the reasons why Dikke Mik chose the .frl domain: ‘I am “in oprjochte Fries” and Sanne is Tukker. But she also quickly agreed to choose .frl: she too feels at home in Fryslân. And I think that is only logical. Because let’s be honest: the province does something to you!’
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