Creative Ecology · Indicator 2
Experimental venues
What this indicator asks
How many venues in Amsterdam are spaces for experimental, interdisciplinary and progressive work?
57.0/ 100 · Amsterdam
We counted fixed venues in the city that have been open since at least January 2025 and hold regular events at night. Dedicated experimental venues count for more than mixed-programming venues which also host experimental nights. Festivals, series without their own venue, and closed venues are not counted.
Amsterdam has over 20 experimental venues. Many, like Muziekgebouw, BIMHUIS and Orgelpark are concert halls for new music, jazz, improvised music and organ music. An exception is murmur, a small independent listening room in Amsterdam-Noord. Venues such as OT301, OCCII, Vondelbunker and Mediamatic hold regular experimental nights alongside other programming.
The City of Amsterdam has funded more than 150 experimental programming projects in almost three years.
However, an expert said that experimental programming suffers with headliner culture:
“The last few years we’ve noticed that headliner culture has come back. It’s much more difficult to sell tickets, and what loses is the… room they have to program experimentally. And diversity often also goes into that same category. It doesn’t sell tickets, so it goes off the charts first.”