What we do
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is the most upfront, influential and educational gathering for electronic music and its industry. With its conference, festival and educational breeding ground, ADE is able to create not only the biggest yearly industry tent-pole moment, but also a solid foundation for future generations of electronic music professionals. The event exists of a total of more than 1,000 events in nearly 200 locations across its multidisciplinary program of five days and nights. With a record number of 500.000 visitors in 2024, during ADE Amsterdam truly breathes electronic music.
With its activities, the ADE Foundation not only functions as an incubator for the professional industry through exchange and innovation, it also curates cultural crossovers and supports upcoming artists making their next steps in the creative industry.
ADE is organised by the Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to nurturing and elevating electronic music, its culture and its industry worldwide. The organization devotes itself to stimulating development, innovation and talent, gathering the global industry and laying a foundation for future generations.
The ADE Foundation is a small and agile organization, consisting of 7 staff members and over 40 freelancers. We highly value safety and inclusion in our workplace as well in all our collaborations and programs, which are based on a code of conduct (see below). To support upcoming artists and professionals, we work with an independent festival committee.
ADE would not be able to exist without its benefactors, sponsors and partners. With our great variety of activities, in which we highly value art, sharing of knowledge and mentorship – we could never break even without extra funding.
Discover the ADE Program
ADE Pro
The ultimate business and inspiration gathering for electronic music
ADE Lab
Kickstart your electronic music career at ADE Lab
ADE Festival
Explore the festival program, follow your favourite artists & events and get your tickets while they're still available...
ADE Arts & Culture
On the intersect of music & art
Celebrating Electronic Music Culture
ADE acknowledges that its platform is a powerful medium that not only reflects and showcases global developments in electronic music, but also contributes to the perception and position of global dance culture today. ADE started in 1996, when dance music went global. Dance music itself, however, originated as a way of protest the mainstream, social injustice and oppression, and a space to celebrate black, queer and trans culture. Since the 1990s, dance has transcended into a variety of musical genres and subcultures ranging from the experimental leftfield to the commercial mainstream, and to this day it continues to be a powerful way to express, protest, celebrate and unite.
Amsterdam Dance Event aims to provide an equal platform for all electronic music that supports this cultural significance and amplifies the voices of artistic expression, those who fight injustice, unheard talents, and dance lovers alike. ADE celebrates the diversity of dance culture and its professionals, artists and fans in our conference, festival and educational activities.
Mission
To annually organize, program, and curate the world’s most influential club festival and conference in the field of electronic music.
Vision
As a global platform, Amsterdam Dance Event contributes to the development and reach of electronic music culture through its programming and curation roles, by creating space for new talent, facilitating knowledge, and actively promoting a big and diverse offering.
Mission
To annually organize, program, and curate the world’s most influential club festival and conference in the field of electronic music.
Vision
As a global platform, Amsterdam Dance Event contributes to the development and reach of electronic music culture through its programming and curation roles, by creating space for new talent, facilitating knowledge, and actively promoting a big and diverse offering.
Code of conduct
The Amsterdam Dance Event is a not-for-profit foundation which aims to be a thorough representation of the electronic music industry and dance culture, within its (conference) program, staff, partners and audience. It is essential for ADE's position as an industry platform to have its antennae in an extensive set of networks, ranging from the mainstream to the underground, and to continuously represent the groups and communities central to dance culture.
This explicitly includes:
• An equal gender distribution;
• An open-minded and inclusive stance, as well as representation of commonly underrepresented groups and communities that stand at the core of dance music’s success and continue to feed its culture;
• Enabling opportunities and utilizing our stage for talent and diverse perspectives, in particular from underprivileged communities;
• Acknowledging and amplifying the cultural significance of electronic music - including the historical and current influence on it from the POC and LGBTQ+ communities;
• A safe and open atmosphere, both within the working environment as well as surrounding our events;
• A zero-tolerance policy regarding inappropriate behavior, including physical or verbal abuse, harassment, racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism and any form of inappropriate behavior or communication;
• A zero-tolerance policy regarding drug abuse (visit our Celebrate Safe page to read more).
The ADE Foundation acknowledges it still has work to do in reaching its goals, specifically on representation within its core team and equal representation within each and every organized panel. This work is actively brought in practice by utilizing our Code of Conduct as stated below.
Personnel
Applications
All of ADE's job postings are distributed publicly and ADE aims to recruit outside its direct networks. A minimum of four viable candidates are invited to application interviews - half of which should contribute to the (cultural) diversity of the team's formation wherever possible. Additionally, ADE can select candidates that represent a new and relevant network, to broaden the scope of our organization.
In case of similar qualifications for a position, candidates who contribute to our team's (cultural) diversity will be preferred.
Partners
ADE always strives for a strong meaningful link within its partnerships, both for sponsors and culturally/socially oriented partners. Through its partnerships, ADE additionally aims to involve new target audiences in its activities and offer programs that empower underrepresented audiences to share their perspectives. This includes partners focused on gender equality, cultural diversity, the fight against racism, safe partying, physical accessibility and social impact through dance.
It also becomes increasingly important to actively involve the expertise of these socially engaged partners in the actual content and diversity of ADE's conference, festival and art programs. This amplifies the perspectives of underrepresented communities not only through ADE's own efforts but through the expertise of organizations that represent those communities as well.
Program
Conference + Arts & Culture
ADE aims to utilize its platform to show, celebrate and discuss the full width of dance culture and all its aspects. Electronic music is not just a genre, but a cultural phenomenon that plays an important role in social debate and serves as a catalyst for innovation, protest and social reform. Within this framework, ADE serves as the connecting platform.
In addition to the makeup of programs and lineups, said diversity also focuses on the content and composition of panels and talks. ADE acknowledges the historic and continued influence of underrepresented communities on dance culture and carries a responsibility to actively make this influence and these communities an essential part of electronic music's story every year. ADE seeks to do this in close collaboration with members of POC and LGBTQ+ communities. By utilising our stage alongside autonomous programming by professionals, makers, activists and community leaders from these groups, our platform aims to amplify those perspectives and carries out our responsibility to provide as diverse a platform as possible.
ADE strives to provide a 50/50 divide between genders in its independent programming, combined with a significant representation of LGBTQ+ and POC. Said representation is actively urged by ADE to external organisers of events and programmes hosted during ADE.
Audience
ADE devotes itself to appealing to a broad and diverse audience. This is further amplified by a selection of media partners and ADE's own media. A significant aspect of outgoing communications entails the representation of underrepresented groups within the music sector as well as society as a whole.
Fair Practice
Visit our fair practice page (Dutch).
Contact
Please contact [email protected]
if you’ve observed or experienced a violation of this Code of Conduct, so we can assess the situation and take appropriate action. Please also notify local law enforcement if you’ve observed or experienced unacceptable behavior during ADE. For emergencies call 112. For other matters please contact the Amsterdam police department at +31(0)900-8844.
Amsterdam Dance Event is organized by the Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation.