Amsterdam dance music conference and festival draws nearly half a million visitors

EventsNews

Amsterdam hosted the Amsterdam Dance Event in October, a five-day music conference and festival, drawing roughly 450,000 visitors. The conference was held without any restrictions for the first time since the coronavirus crisis started, with approximately 1,000 events held in more than 200 locations.

The conference, advertised as the largest for the dance music business, focused on a range of issues including mental health, inclusivity and effects of new technologies, among other. Mayor of Amsterdam Femke Halsema previously pointed out that nightlife has positive effects on the mental health of young people.

More than 2,500 speakers and artists took part in the Amsterdam Dance Event, where two start-up companies were awarded EUR 100,000 in seed funding – Un:hurd music marketing and SYNKii online music teaching platform.

Nightlife in Amsterdam generates approximately EUR 63 million annually and creates roughly 5,000 jobs. Night Mayor of Amsterdam Ramon de Lima, in charge of developing the city’s nightlife, noted that he is responsible for making nightlife in Amsterdam as safe, inclusive, diverse and vibrant as possible.

He pointed out that people meet and get inspiration from nightlife, stressing that it “has great value culturally, but also socially and economically, and that’s something the city is interested in.”

De Lima noted that Amsterdam “values night culture and wants to protect it,” concluding that it is “a great foundation to build policies that protect nightlife and create an environment where nightlife in Amsterdam can bloom.”

(Photo credit: Amsterdam Dance Event 2021)