NIGHT CULTURE NIEUW-WEST is a new collaborative experience between all the clubs located in the area of Nieuw-West. This is an important occasion to celebrate the first steps and achievement of a series of round tables that we are holding to exchange ideas and experiences, to build a community of night in our neighborhood. All the initiatives are a tribute to Night Culture. We close our eyes, dim the lights and turn up the volume for this occasion. It will allow us to honour the music, artists and all the people working in the field, while also trying to offer another viewpoint on this industry.

If you are interested in the topic, you are a club-goer, or love music or produce it, if you have a club or organize events, please join us and reserve a spot to find out more about Night Culture in Nieuw-West!

The party will be held at New Metropolis Nieuw-West.
(Burgemeester Rendorpstraat 1, 1064 EL)

Timeline headed by Souhayla Ou-Oumar
18:30 Welcome to Night Culture Nieuw-West

With Guillio Chedi and Isaac Carrino from Urban Activity Partners

18:45 A story from a club-goer

With Willow Sommer

19:00 - 20:00 Panel conversation

With Sandra Doevendans, Freek Wallagh and Ella Overkleeft

20:00 - 22:00 Party tribute to Night Culture

With Amandla and Bianka Betancourt

More about the project

In 2021, Amsterdam became the first city to formulate a vision of Night Culture with the Night Culture Implementation Agenda 2023-2026. However, we realised that the club community in Nieuw-West needs more support from local authorities.

We are challenging ourselves to be and produce change, especially in the way night culture is perceived by both the municipality and the residents of Amsterdam. Awareness is also an essential topic for clubs, as well as designing an accessible and safer space where we can all feel welcome, and comfortable, and in which we can experience all our unique shades. In addition, our roundtables are focused on the critical importance of permits: reclaiming spaces for the nightlife industry is the only way in which Night Culture can possibly exist.

If you are part of the community and interested in contributing, please write to us at [email protected].

In this program

Sandra Doevendans is a member of the executive board of Amsterdam Nieuw-West. Her responsibility in Nieuw-West’s district are Arts and Culture, (Public) Housing, Economic Affairs, Spatial Planning, Sustainability, Energy Transition and Circular Economy, Sports and Physical Activity, Monuments, Heritage and Events. She is an expert by experience in the field of debts and has authored the book ‘Schone Lei’ on this subject. Sandra has been actively involved for years as a key figure in the city to counteract polarization, recognizing the importance of continuing to focus on connecting the people in the city.

Freek Wallagh is the current Night Mayor of Amsterdam. As a (performing) poet, event organiser and political scientist, he has been advocating for nightlife communities for years. A true Amsterdammer, he has been working in local nightlife since the age of 15, starting his career as an interviewer and writer in the Red Light District.

Ella Overkleeft, with 15 years of experience in the Cultural and Creative Industries, Ella has made impact with projects in the field of arts, culture and social innovation all over Europe. She is the co-founder of The Night Mayor Foundation in Amsterdam and worked as a Senior Project Manager at Trans Europe Halles the biggest network of independent cultural spaces in Europe. Ella is as much an activist as a spiritualist, and with a set of strong beliefs and a holistic approach, she aims to push things forward by stimulating human interaction and connection. Her latest project is the creation of Rural Radicals: a cultural enterprise dedicated to empowering and enriching non-urban creative spaces and communities.

Souhayla Ou-Oumar is a professional jack-of-all-trades who puts learning – most importantly, learning from each other – at the centre of her practice. She works as an educator in Amsterdam West. Over the past years Souhayla’s love for movement and connection has brought forth another passion; she is a known face in the Amsterdam nightlife community –as a host at De School, Amsterdam Dance Event, Boiler room and many more. Her heart for culture has additionally taken the shape of working as a production manager for United Identitites, moderating various panel talks for resident advisor and foam related to nightlife and providing Doorhost trainings.
Willow Sommer, aspiring writer and poet, working on improving environmental governance and fascinated by the way words can shape and describe our experience here on earth.

Bianka Betancourt, with ever-evolving, loopy and texturised rhythms, Bianka takes you on a journey that reflects her emotions and inner world. Growing up in Venezuela created the perfect environment to develop a love for music. From an early age, she was exposed to a variety of sounds, which helped shape her palette. The main goal of Bianka is to create a space where you can let go of everything, submerge into the moment and feel the sound waves sinking into your skin.

Amandla, born and raised in Amsterdam, Amandla has always had a teenage day-dream to swing her sway and express herself through music. Growing up, music was a central part of her life, and she began listening to a diverse range of sounds from a very young age trough her parents. Her musical interests and tastes continued to evolve as she grew up, moving from Hip-Hop to Hyperpop before finally finding her passion in House and other electronic music genres.

Urban Activity Partners, a startup founded this year by Guillio Chedi and Isaac Carrino. They devise and create social initiatives and interactions for and by the community.

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Thanks for your interest in our program. We like to think New Metropolis Nieuw-West as an open and safe space and we do our best to make it so. Please, let us know if you have any requests to make your participation as comfortable as possible. Also, we would like to inform you that pictures will be taken during this event for reporting and/or promotion purposes. If you do not want to be recognizably depicted in photographs, you can make this known to us, both by emailing [email protected] or when you arrive at our venue.