Ruud Berends is the co-founder and Head of Agenda of IFF in London, European representative of Canadian Music Week in Toronto, Canada and advisor for Westway Lab in Guimaraes Portugal and SoAlive Music Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria.
From 2002 till 2018 Ruud was project manager of the various Dutch Music Export organisations and executive producer of the Dutch Impact Parties for Buma Cultuur. From 2002 – March 2023 he worked for Buma Cultuur & ESNS as Head of Conference, ETEP & CEETEP, international marketing and sales.
In a previous life Ruud was co-founder of youth venue Débarak in Zutphen and co-founder and co-owner of International Booking Agency Paperclip who broke the new and alternative scene into the eye of the mainstream throughout the 80’s and early 90’s. The agency took loads of bands on tour all over Europe, too many to mention – but Soundgarden, Nirvana and Mudhoney and their contemporaries were all part of the hustle.
