Anna Knaup (NL)
Anna Knaup co-founded Amsterdam Dance Event in 1995 while working for Stichting Conamus, alongside starting with Anna Agency. She officially founded Anna Agency in 1995, one of Holland’s first dedicated DJ booking agencies, which has since grown into one of the leading agencies worldwide. Historically, dance industry juggernauts by the likes of Armand van Helden, Erick Morillo, DJ Sneak, Derrick May, Laurent Garnier, Romanthony, Stacey Pullen, Todd Terry and many more have featured on the Anna Agency roster. Today, Anna Agency represents internationally acclaimed artists such as Hardwell, Blasterjaxx, Mike Williams, Maddix, Sunnery James & Ryan Marciano, Kris Kross Amsterdam, Yves V, Tujamo, Radical Redemption, and many others.
In addition to founding Anna Agency, Knaup launched Sorted Management in 2012, where she has managed the career of DJ Hardwell and other notable artists such as Blasterjaxx, Dannic, Dyro, Kungs, Mike Williams, and Zonderling. Being Hardwell’s longtime manager, she guided the superstar DJ in winning multiple prestigious International Music Production & Performance Awards, including the award for #1 DJ in the World by DJ MAG in 2013 & 2014. She helped create two 3-hour solo show world tours named I AM Hardwell and I AM Hardwell – UNITED WE ARE (following the DJ’s first solo album in 2015) and co-created his two very personal documentaries (2015 & 2017). On March 27th, 2022, after a 3.5-year sabbatical, Anna Knaup was on the forefront of Hardwell’s comeback show at Miami's Ultra Music Festival where he delivered a surprise closing set after which he announced a massive 24-date world tour.
Alongside DJ Hardwell, Knaup also co-founded the United We Are Foundation, a charity project aimed at educating children in various global communities. Between 2015 and 2020, the foundation helped enroll over one million children in educational programs across India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Myanmar. Funds were raised through the organization of two mega shows in Mumbai, India named ‘World’s Biggest Guestlist Festival’ that were headlined by Hardwell with respectively 70,000+ visitors in 2015 and over 100,000 visitors in 2017.
She has been recognized in Billboard's annual list of influential people in dance music and received the Gouden Harp award in 2023 for her contributions to the Dutch music industry. As General Manager for the Amsterdam Dance Event, while working for Stichting Conamus (now BUMA Cultuur), she changed the format of Amsterdam’s annual dance music conference week from 1996 onwards into what it is still is today.