Sven Cautaerts
Getting shit done since 2006.
Sven Cautaerts
It all started in 2006, organising public student parties for my fraternity at the VUB. Organising three of the best yearly parties – Cocktail Night, Botsauto TD and ’70, ’80, ’90 TD – made my passion for organising events grow with each edition. Each time having over 1.800 visitors go wild because of your crazy light setup, loads of Special FX, the awesome line up, the inviting bar and smooth cocktails being served,… Getting around the negotiation table with Bacardi, Diageo, Flugel, JetImport and AB InBev for sponsoring… Booking hitters like Pat Krimson, or Mark with a K… It became an adrenaline rush I never wanted to let go.
So in 2010 I changed majors. I quit law school and I started studying Communication Management at Thomas More (Mechelen). During my studies I picked up everything I needed to know on Public Relations, Media Planning, (Online) Marketing, Communication, pitching, the use of InDesign and Illustrator etc.
In 2012 I made my first steps as an entrepreneur by founding the non-profit “BXL Students” (in 2020 rebranded to “Kastar”). An association that still today helps students find the most interesting jobs within the event sector. Payrolling, volunteering, internships… we search for the jobs, our motivated students only have to apply.
https://kastar.eu
I wanted to work during my studies. Put the network I had build up in those couple of years to use. Making use of the connections I had through teachers and social events. This all led me to founding Project 12 in August 2013.
I was getting tons of practical terrain experience. Pulling power cables for a month on Tomorrowland for Racor, putting up fencework at I Love Techno with Rabbit One, distributing marketing material for E-Demonstrations, bartending for Blue Dolphin, catering for Gourmet Invent,… Everything I learned in class, was put into practice on the field.
After my college studies and internships at Blue Dolphin and DDMC, I finally graduated in 2015 with a professional bachelor’s degree in Communication Management – minored in Events & Creation. It took me a while, but I guess working suited me better than being behind the school benches. I continued working as a freelancer, but more on long term engagements for agencies.
For the last 10 years I’ve had the opportunity to work with the big agencies. D-side, The Oval Office, New Balls Please, Wearone.World (Tomorrowland/Dreamville), Fast Forward, Blue Dolphin, Artfood… they got me doing a lot of different jobs:
- General account management
- A-to-Z project management for different types of B2B events, fairs, incentives and teambuildings
- Commercialisation of exposition stands for a retailer fair
- Business Development
- Crew Management
- Participating in pitches and public tenders
By then, Project 12 has launched several other businesses as well:
- The Belgian Bartender School (belgianbartenderschool.be)
- Breezy Sport Mask (breezy.shop)
- Sofa Buddy (sofabuddy.eu)