Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • University Statements
  • Syracuse University Impact
  • |
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • ’Cuse Conversations Podcast
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Finding the Needle in the Haystack

Tuesday, September 6, 2016, By Amy Manley
Share
College of Arts and Sciences
Diethard Struelens

Diethard Struelens G’17

Sitting casually in the expansive Grand Hall of the Whitman School, Diethard Struelens leans in when asked about his background.

“I’ve always said I’m an ordinary guy with extraordinary ambitions.”

Lucky for Syracuse University, those ambitions have landed the international student right in the heart of the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), where he recently began coursework in the Janklow Arts Leadership program this July.

Born in Belgium, Struelens says he was drawn to the arts from an early age. In 2015, he completed his undergraduate degree in classical cello performance and chamber music at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht, Netherlands. But just a few short years prior to graduation, he tried his hand at business—starting his own company to help promote live music and young artists across Holland, Belgium and Germany. He ran the venture for two years before refocusing and completing his own music degree. Still, it was that brief time as the boss that forever changed his outlook on his future career.

“My first business let me discover I really wanted to be an entrepreneur,” Struelens remembers. “Visual arts, performing arts, architecture, graphic design—I have a lot of passion for all of it. But then the goals got bigger.”

So after graduation he did what any young aspiring impresario would do … he hit the Internet.

What Struelens found in his web search was the Whitman School of Management’s Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, which is held each fall. Soon he was making the 3,700-mile trip from Maastricht to New York to begin the rigorous weekend education sessions.

While exploring the autumn views on the Syracuse University campus at the end of the bootcamp program, fate stepped in again. By chance, he wandered into Bowne Hall and struck up a causal conversation with Christine Conroy, program coordinator for the Janklow Arts leadership program.

“You need to meet our director!” Conroy told him.

The very next day, Struelens met with the program’s founding director, Mark Nerenhausen. The rest, as they say, is history.

“We had such a vivid and passionate conversation. There are so many parallels between us,” remarked Struelens. “We starting talking about the Janklow program and I was straightaway interested. I never thought I would go to school again.”

Janklow Students

Struelens gathered with his fellow Janklow classmates and Program Director, Mark Nerenhausen

The Janklow Program, housed in the department of art and music histories in A&S, operates at the intersection of arts administration and social entrepreneurship. Students in the program are able to earn a master’s degree in arts leadership across 15-months of concentrated, interdisciplinary coursework and immersion experiences.

Janklow students are also encouraged to become closely involved in the regional art community as volunteers. For Struelens, that opportunity appeared as a board member of Civic Morning Musicals, an organization that has a long and esteemed history of supporting weekly live classical music performances across Central New York.

“Immediately I found it to be a very interesting organization. I’m now at the core of a nonprofit organization that has been in existence since 1890. And they are still here. And they do it very well,” he says. “They are amazing people who are true ambassadors for music.”

Not one to slow down, Struelens is already laying the groundwork for his next chapter after graduation—a startup business called Artfuse, with goals to help young artists better connect with their audience and begin collaborations with other artists.

The whirlwind aspect of the last year is also not lost on him. He recognizes that there may have been entrepreneurial programs much closer to home. Regardless, he feels strongly that what he has found in Syracuse is his perfect match.

In the Netherlands it would be referred to as “naald in de hooiberg”. Stateside, we call it the “needle in the haystack.”

“I’m not searching for the American experience. I’m looking for the best experience,” Struelens asserts. “This is a very unique program and I’m grateful that I got to discover it.”

 

  • Author
  • Faculty Experts

Amy Manley

  • Mark Nerenhausen

  • Recent
  • Professor Anthony Adornato Trains Journalists in Kosovo Through Fulbright
    Wednesday, August 6, 2025, By Kelly Homan Rodoski
  • Construction Continues at Stadium Place, Center Crosswalk to Close Aug. 8
    Wednesday, August 6, 2025, By Jennifer DeMarchi
  • Whitman School Celebrates Record Fundraising Year, Builds Momentum for Transformation
    Wednesday, August 6, 2025, By News Staff
  • Communication Sciences and Disorders Scholars Earn Grants and National Honors
    Wednesday, August 6, 2025, By News Staff
  • New Award Recognizes Faculty Volunteers for Academic Integrity Service, Impact
    Wednesday, August 6, 2025, By Diane Stirling

More In Arts & Culture

Rethinking Research Through Visual Storytelling

The Department of English in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) is embracing innovative approaches to media engagement. One such method is called videographic criticism, a growing scholarly practice that uses sound and moving images (video) to explore and…

How New Words Enter Our Language: A Linguistics Expert Explains

From “yeet” to “social distancing,” new words and phrases constantly emerge and evolve in American English. But how do these neologisms—newly coined terms—gain acceptance and become part of mainstream dialect? We interviewed Christopher Green, associate professor of linguistics in the…

Art Museum Acquires Indian Scrolls Gifted by SUNY Professor

The University Art Museum has received a monumental gift of more than 80 traditional Indian patachitra scrolls, significantly expanding its collection of South Asian art and material culture. The scrolls were donated by Geraldine Forbes, Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita at…

Architecture Students’ Project Selected for Royal Academy Exhibition

In a prestigious international honor, a project by three students from the School of Architecture has been selected for inclusion in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2025, currently on view in London. The work, titled “Evolving an Urban Ecology,” was…

Vintage Over Digital: Alumnus Dan Cohen’s Voyager CD Bag Merges Music and Fashion

Bucking the trend of streaming music platforms and contrary to what one might expect of a member of his generation, musician Dan Cohen ’25 prefers listening to his favorite artists on compact disc (CD) and record players. His research and…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • X
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2025 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.