Many festival organizers are struggling with inconsistent, often changing policies

Several smaller festivals have said that they are struggling with organizing their events due to changing national and local policies. They expressed this sentiment to ANP, which spoke to various festivals, the Association of Event Merchants (VVEM) and the Association of Dutch Music Venues and Festivals (VNPF).

“In our case, the municipality was positive at first,” said Arjen Kroezen of the canceled Psy-Fi festival in Oldenzaal. “Until negative sentiment came from the local area, which led to the municipality making a complete u-turn, and it was then decided that it didn’t fit in their destination plan.”

This was shared at a very late stage of development. “Which meant we were in a time crunch and had to pull the plug.”

The director of the VNPF, Berend Schans, said this situation is not unique. “We think it is a shame, but we understand it.” He thinks that festivals should be organized so that they don’t bother other people, which means that festivals must adapt.

Tineke Alberts of the BouleVaart festival in Krommenie often had to deal with changing policies. In addition to an event permit, the organizers must now also present an environmental permit and acoustic study. “Everything has made the organization of the festival harder. I don’t think we will be doing it again."

Noëlle ter Woerds of the canceled Werfpop festival in Leiden said that the organization “puts in a lot of effort.” She added that they find it challenging to draw up the volume of necessary safety plans. She also said the norms differ between the 25 different safety and security regions, and that festivals are also forced to make up for police shortages. “Some are starting to give up.”

Utrecht and Amsterdam are working on a new events policy. Utrecht is contemplating whether to work with location profiles at specific sites, which would then have extra rules attached to them. The municipality is considering banning large events in parks in the winter due to the potential damage it can do to the soil.

This will affect the Sneeuwbal Winterfestival in Transwijk Park, scheduled for January. “If it turns out that the City Council votes in favor of location profiles, then we will not feel a great deal of enthusiasm to host the Snowball in April, for example” said Nikki Kloet from entertainment organizer The Zoo Events. “After all, we are a winter festival.”

Organizing festivals is costing more and more time and energy, said Willem Westermann, the executive secretary of the VVEM Willem Westermann. He thinks paying more attention to sustainability is a good cause, but municipalities can be more empathetic with festivals.

“This could help us get to perpetual agreements. It's nice when you are not confronted with surprises every year.”