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What we do

What we do

Holland Festival is the largest international performing arts festival of the Netherlands and one of the oldest festivals of Europe. The festival was established in 1947 and will celebrate its 78-year anniversary in 2025. It takes places every year, In June, in and around Amsterdam, at various locations, both indoors and outdoors, both large-scale and intimate, both online and offline.

Artistic renewal, innovation and experimentation are the core values of Holland Festival. The festival presents groundbreaking shows by creators from all over the world and new developments in the performing arts. These shows aren't available anywhere else in the Netherlands: from theatre, dance, music, musical theatre and opera to multidisciplinary forms, and crossovers with visual art, digital art, photography and film. Since the establishment of the festival in 1947, its guiding principles have been: artistic renewal, innovation and experimentation. The festival thus manages to engage a large, new and inquisitive audience. In addition, it collaborates with many partners in and outside Amsterdam, organises talks, debates, masterclasses, exhibitions and presentations, meet-and-greets with the artists, tours of the front and backstage surroundings, online streaming - all providing in-depth, in-breadth and contextual food for thought, as well as entertainment (or partying/fun).

Artist-driven
Holland Festival is artist-driven. It places the creators centrally and presents performing arts to make you see, feel or experience other perspectives. Through the participation of many (inter)national artists, the festival takes you on an adventure, it surprises you and encourages you to think. The festival has worked with associate artists since 2019. They present their work and explore ways of giving the programme greater depth and of creating a sustainable connection between the artists and the city.

Associate artists
Since 2019, the festival has been working with associate artists. They show their own work and explore opportunities for in-depth programming and a long-lasting connection between the artists and the city. In addition to their work, the festival highlights themes significant to them, as well as artists related to them. The associate artist for the 78th edition of the Holland Festival is the American choreographer Trajal Harrell (Douglas, Georgia, United States, 1973). Previous associate artists include Christiane Jatahy in 2024, ANOHNI in 2023, Angélique Kidjo and Nicolas Stemann in 2022, Gisèle Vienne and Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2021, Bill T. Jones in 2020 and Faustin Linyekula and William Kentridge in 2019.

Emily Ansenk, director of Holland Festival: 'Trajal Harrell is a groundbreaking, charismatic choreographer of the current age, who has been building a one-of-a-kind oeuvre for more than 20 years. Harrell challenges the spectator’s perspective - he invites us on a journey in which he touches on the great themes of the human condition through dance. He’s a favourite maker and performer at the Holland Festival. This year we will see him creating a highly unique project in Amsterdam together with his dancers, titled Welcome to Asbestos Hall.'