Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) 
Welcome to this home page of the Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON). The circle was founded on April 13, 1998, and has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Our primary aim is to "Promote and stimulate the highest quality in academic level tour guide activity in The Netherlands and Flanders." In practice, the Circle strives to enhance the professional quality and the communicative skills of tour guides, by giving courses and master classes in didactic and communication techniques, marketing skills, and by organizing meetings, conferences, lectures, and other activities on a regular basis, and in some cases through giving its support, financial and otherwise, to relevant activities organized by others. Members of the Circle are kept informed of these activities through announcements through emails and on a separate section of this home page.
The Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) considers a great tour guide a person who is a deeply knowledgeable expert in the field of history, art history, archaeology, architecture, or another field of related expertise, and who is able to express this knowledge in an articulate, multi-faceted, enticing, exhilaring and fun way. In the day-to-day work our tour guides express both a lust for life and an enthusiasm for all of these artistic fields of human endeavour.
The Board
The board of the CATON consists of the following members:
• Drs Kees Kaldenbach (chairman) , kalden@xs4all.nl
• Drs. Michel Didier (vice-chairman), m.didier@hetnet.nl
• vacancy (treasurer)
Annual Membership
Membership of the Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) is affordable. The price of one year's CATON membership is € 25. To join the Society, please contact Drs Kees Kaldenbach (chairman), kalden@xs4all.nl, and you will receive information on how to pay for your membership.
Membership Requirements
The Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) is open to members who can prove to the satisfaction of the Board:
a) show to have a University level education and b) show proof of having been professionally active as a tour guide for at least two years, and c) show social skills and of customer satisfaction by showing at least 5 written reports from clients, providing full names, dates, email and other contact information and d) show a practical sample during a test tour.
Members of the Circle of Academic Tour Guides of the Netherlands and Flanders (CATON) can and will meet clients anywhere in The Netherlands and in Flanders for a personalized guided tour of art museums and historic centers.
Together we will express our fascination for history. Enjoy yourself and learn about history while strolling and discussing the country's history, art and culture. In doing so, we may touch many bases - spanning not only fine art and architecture but also the city's history and current social issues.
Starting at your hotel Drs Kaldenbach will take you on a wonderful private cultural walking tour of your choice. My guided itinerary offers you accessable informative conversation in English, Dutch, or German (my French and Italian are more limited).
You may also arrange this VIP treatment for business contacts or friends. Our cultural tour organisation office will take care of a unique and memorable experience. Please contact me for time and fees of the tailor-made tour you ar interested in. These tailor made tours are available upon request - please contact me to book a date. Minimum group size: 1 person. Maximum group size is limited to about 10 persons. With a megaphone I can also manage larger groups on the streets.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach is your private "scholar-lecturer on culture tours" *.
*Martha Gellhorn, Travels with Myself and another, p. 182
Endorsements of the work of Drs Kees Kaldenbach
The Rijksmuseum has done Drs. kaldenbach the honor of linking the main Rijksmuseum site to his website. Start at www.rijksmuseum.nl and select Collection. Then choose 'Digital Collaboration' and the 'Digital Vermeer House'.
Drs Kaldenbach conducts museum and town walks for the Netherlands Bureau of Tourism, London and New York City offices. Their clients include important journalists. The travel site www.luxurytraveler.com has devoted a main feature to my tours and walks. Read further client testimonials.
Read a biography.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach has been featured in television and radio documentaries, including BBC2 TV, NTV Japan, Danish TV and Radio Netherlands World Service. In July 2004 he was interviewed about alkmaar artists by Tetsuya Tsuruhara for the leading Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun. In 2004 and 2005 he acted in an advisory role to additional BBC teams. Kaldenbach has written extensively on Vermeer and 17th century alkmaar, on Vincent van Gogh and on other art history topics.
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach is your private "scholar-lecturer on culture tours".
Further information is available on his encyclopedic web site: www.johannesvermeer.info
Contact
information:
Drs. Kees Kaldenbach , kalden@xs4all.nl
Haarlemmermeerstraat 83 hs
1058 JS Amsterdam
The Netherlands
telephone 020 - 669 8119 (from abroad NL +20 - 669 8119)
cell phone 06 - 2868 9775 (from abroad NL +6 - 2868 9775)
Reaction, questions? Read client testimonials.
Open seven days a week.
Member of the VVV Tourist information and the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce (Kamer van Koophandel).
Email responses and bookings to art historian Drs. Kees Kaldenbach.
This page forms part of the 2000+ item Vermeer web site at www.xs4all.nl/~kalden
Launched April 15, 2006. Updated January 1, 2008.
In Dutch: stadswandeling, stadstour, stads rondleiding met gids, rondleidingen alkmaar, rondleiding alkmaar, gids Alkmaar, tour alkmaar, stadswandelingen alkmaar, stadswandeling alkmaar, museumbezoek alkmaar
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