ADE: Values & Commitments

As a world-leading platform and a non-profit Cultural ANBI Foundation (Public Benefit Organization), the core mission of the ADE Foundation is to organize, program, and curate the most influential club festival and conference in the electronic music scene. Through this mission, we aim to elevate new talent, foster fair and open discussion, and further develop a diverse and inclusive community that reflects the evolving landscape of electronic music. Our values guide everything we do, from programming and partnerships to our approach to sustainability and social impact.

Amsterdam Dance Event is a proudly independent foundation and will always remain so. As an independent non-profit, our mission focuses solely on nurturing electronic music culture, education, artistic freedom and discussion, and community-driven development.

Each October, electronic music takes center stage in Amsterdam. The Amsterdam Dance Event is a global gathering that unites artists, industry professionals, and audiences from around the world. With over two decades of history, the ADE Foundation has nurtured the genre's growth from underground beginnings to its position as a global cultural and economic force. As the world’s leading event in electronic music, we continue to celebrate the genre's artistic, technological, and cultural innovations, while laying the foundation for future generations of creators and professionals.

The ADE Festival operates as a decentralized event model, where venues, promoters, and organizers independently curate and host their events under the umbrella of ADE’s infrastructure, branding and support. ADE provides a unified platform and coordinating role, but has no direct financial or structural relationship with any stakeholders or investors behind these independent festival events.

How ADE Festival Operates:

‣ Decentralized organization: ADE Festival functions as a decentralized event spread across Amsterdam, meaning events occur simultaneously at diverse venues like clubs, warehouses, concert halls, and unique spaces.

‣ Program model: ADE does not directly organize any individual events but collaborates closely with established venues, promoters, labels, and event organizers to uphold the required standards necessary to ensure the safety and wellbeing of ADE’s visitors in Amsterdam and on the dancefloor.

‣ ADE’s facilitator role: ADE provides centralized branding, a unified event calendar, and comprehensive promotional support in order to enable event organizers to host successful ADE events.


ADE's Values & Commitments page contains:

‣ ADE Reflections and Standpoint | 2025 update

‣ Social Impact: Local Responsibility

‣ Social Impact: Global Responsibility

‣ Commitment to a Sustainable Future

‣ Equality, Inclusion, and Accessibility for All

‣ Safety On and Off the Dancefloor

ADE’s Values & Commitments page has been updated to reflect the critical issues emerging from recent developments coming forth from the series of acquisitions by American investment giant KKR in 2024.

The ADE Foundation deeply believes in the power of music to unite people and foster compassion. ADE is acutely aware that many conflict and crisis situations are unfolding worldwide, each deserving attention and humanitarian aid, and our mission extends to supporting those affected by all forms of conflict, war, genocide and other humanitarian crises. We are profoundly saddened by the ongoing war situations in several global territories, which have caused immense suffering to countless civilians. As a community rooted in the inclusive and transformative culture of electronic music, we feel a strong responsibility to address these humanitarian crises.

The series of acquisitions in the live events space and electronic music sector by American investment giant KKR in 2024 and 2024 has recently raised significant concerns within the electronic music community. KKR’s documented investment ties to industries, including defense companies in Israel are ethically controversial given current global contexts. While ADE has no relations with stakeholders and investors behind festival events whatsoever, we view these changes as profoundly impactful. ADE unequivocally condemns funding or supporting war, genocide, and related ethical abuses. The concerns risen by the electronic music community painfully reveals a broader tension that in recent years has formed between grassroots, authentic and creative festival culture, and the aggressive profit-driven models of large-scale investment capital. These acquisitions highlight a crucial development: festival organizations are increasingly becoming targets of large-scale investment firms whose primary motive is profit maximization, often at odds with the intrinsic values of festivals and artists themselves. This growing discrepancy raises essential questions: how do organizers, artists, and the surrounding music sector navigate relationships, even indirectly, linked to ethically complex scenarios such as investments connected to conflicts or human rights abuses? Does the live events ecosystem fit in a venture capital industry without undermining its cultural integrity, or does it inevitably lead to conflict? And how can live events brands stay true to their authentic roots when the financial discrepancy between them and investment giants makes festival brands increasingly vulnerable in economically uncertain conditions?

Our role as a neutral foundation hosting a decentralized festival moment and an industry discussion platform is not to censor or prohibit, but to start an open dialogue, ensuring transparency, accountability, and ethical reflection. As a pivotal entity in the electronic music landscape, ADE has an agenda-setting responsibility in our ADE Pro conference. Given this responsibility, we are taking the following actions:

1 ‣ We recognize the importance of discussing critical issues and ADE Pro’s responsibility in contributing to urgent discussion. Therefore, we are committed to providing space at ADE’s conferences for artists, industry professionals, and stakeholders to openly discuss the impacts of venture capital and investor-driven models on the cultural landscape.

2 ‣ We support and encourage everyone to express their voices in a respectful manner. During the five days and nights of ADE Festival, we will embrace and facilitate all forms of expression, fundraising, and peaceful protest related to humanitarian causes. ADE welcomes submissions among its programming partners that intend to do so; as long activities take place in a respectful manner and in line with governments rules and permits.

Electronic music is a movement born out of a desire for freedom, expression, and unity. As an independent foundation, ADE proactively commits to fostering dialogue around these challenging topics. By leveraging our unique position, we encourage voices across the sector to speak out, discuss openly, and navigate these complex realities. The conversation is necessary and more urgent than ever if we aim to actively shape the electronic music community's future.

Amsterdam Dance Event is deeply connected to its local community, and we are committed to using our platform to drive positive social change. We recognize that electronic music has the power to bring people together, spark important conversations, and challenge societal norms.

In collaboration with organisations like Music Moves, we host events that focus on audiences with distance to the dancefloor, such as Liberated People, which supports survivors of sexual assault, and Movement, which creates space for asylum seekers and migrants to connect through music. Additionally, our collaborations with local organizations such as OSCAM and Danspaleis allow us to reach diverse communities across Amsterdam, including neighborhoods like Amsterdam-Zuidoost.

At our conferences, we address critical issues such as mental health, inclusion and more. Initiatives like a longstanding collaboration with Shesaid.so with a shared commitment to promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the music industry through mentor tracks and workshops allow ADE to extend our efforts by partnering with established organisations. Sessions like the LGBTQIA+ Networking event and panels on mental health ensure we create space for underrepresented voices in both onstage and backstage roles. By curating a mindful program that invites non-traditional ADE attendees, we aim to make the event more inclusive and accessible. Through ADE Green, our specialist program part of the ADE Pro Conference, we have long focused on local responsibilities such as redesigning festivals to be accessible for all (in collaboration with HandicapNL), working with local governments to foster sustainable innovation on event grounds, supporting mental health in the demanding music industry, supporting artistic activists, and more.

Similarly, ADE's musical and cultural offering is home to many local initiatives with an impactful agenda. Projects such as Rooted In Culture and To Dance Is To Be Free focus on the freedom of expression, emancipation and creativity in Amsterdam's club scene. In addition, ADE has hosted free events to make its offering more accessible to new visitors and those that are unable to purchase tickets, with artistic daytime events at Westerkerk, De School, Het HEM, record stores and more, as well as nighttime festival events throughout the city. In addition, ADE has organised the free-to-attend ADE Hangover for a number of years on ADE's Sunday, that offers a wide variety of events and activities in collaboration with its program partners, at no charge.

Key Highlights:
• Music Moves: Empowering marginalized groups through music. Events like Liberated People (support for sexual assault survivors) and ADAMMIX.
• Collaborations with OSCAM and local programs in Amsterdam-Zuidoost.
• Conference topics on mental health, diversity, and inclusion to foster a more inclusive music industry, including hands-on workshops and mentor programs in collaboration with Shesaid.so and more.
• Programming focused on reaching underrepresented groups and first-time ADE attendees, such as the wide variety of free-to-attend events alongside Music Moves events for people with distance to the dancefloor (i.e. deaf people, newcomers in our country, homeless people, the elderly and more), and accessibility programs in cooperation with HandicapNL.

ADE’s influence extends far beyond Amsterdam and the Netherlands. As a global platform, the ADE Foundation is dedicated to fostering international collaborations and addressing pressing global issues. The power of music is to unite people and create positive change worldwide.

Initiatives like Bridges for Music bring together musicians from different continents, using electronic music as a tool for education and social empowerment. Our partnerships with festivals like Homecoming in Lagos, Nigeria, help bridge cultural gaps, celebrating diversity in music and fostering cross-continental connections.

Through the ADE Conference, we address global concerns and urgent world issues, from supporting Ukraine’s people, to, discussing the origins and continued role of electronic music as a protest movement and instrument for social change and how this was expressed in territories like Georgia in world-famous club Bassiani. ADE Pro uses its platform to discuss the role of electronic music in social activism all over the world. ADE also promotes cultural exchange with global sessions in cities such as Mumbai, Aruba and more, demonstrating our commitment to the international electronic music community.

Key Highlights:
• Bridges for Music: Empowering through cross-continental collaboration.
• International partnerships, including Homecoming festival in Lagos, Nigeria.
• ADE Conference discussions on global issues, such as support for Ukraine and women’s empowerment in Brazil.
• ADE’s Global Sessions: Cultural exchange and connection in cities like Mumbai and Buenos Aires.

Sustainability is at the heart of our efforts to create a more responsible future for the music industry. ADE Green, our dedicated sustainability program, focuses on finding innovative solutions to reduce the environmental impact of festivals and events. As part of the Green Deal Circular Festivals, we have committed to making ADE as environmentally friendly as possible, with initiatives such as Plastic Promise and promoting carbon-neutral events.

Through collaborations with partners like GVB and NS, we also offer sustainable transportation options a part of our partner ecosystem, encouraging the use of public transport during ADE to reduce our carbon footprint. Behind the scenes, we use electric vehicles wherever possible, and prioritize local suppliers to minimize unnecessary emissions and ensure efficient logistics. ADE's production teams follow sustainable practices by reducing single-use materials, opting for reusable designs, and offering vegan and vegetarian catering for both staff and attendees where possible. By striving to lower the environmental impact of every aspect of ADE, we aim for a more sustainable future for the Amsterdam Dance Event itself and to set a standard for sustainability in the music industry.

Key Highlights:
• ADE Green: Dedicated program for sustainability in the music industry.
• Plastic Promise: Partner initiative to reduce plastic use at events.
• Collaborations with GVB and NS to promote eco-friendly transportation.
• Electric transport and local suppliers for event logistics.
• 80% vegan/vegetarian catering during the conference to reduce the carbon footprint.
• Committed to circular festival models as part of the Green Deal initiative.

Music should be a space for everyone, and our commitment to equality and inclusion is reflected in our programs and partnerships, which prioritize diversity and accessibility for all.

Through collaborations like Music Moves we work to ensure that ADE provides opportunities for emerging artists, underrepresented groups, and first-time attendees. We have also initiated the ADE Festival Committee to ensure that our programming meets the highest standards of inclusivity, from offering tickets to newcomers to creating more equitable opportunities for artists and professionals from diverse backgrounds. In partnership with HandicapNL, we continue to work toward making ADE an accessible experience for all attendees, ensuring that every event and venue is welcoming to those with disabilities.

Key Highlights:
• Music Moves: Offering platforms for new and underrepresented voices in electronic music.
• Collaboration with HandicapNL to ensure accessibility for all.
• Efforts to provide tickets and support for first-time attendees and newcomers.

The safety and well-being of ADE's attendees are paramount. We believe that music festivals should be safe spaces where everyone feels welcome, respected, and supported. Through our Celebrate Safe campaign, we provide resources and information on staying safe during the event, including harm reduction tips and support for mental health. This initiative entails a citywide Out of Home campaign before and during ADE, containing high traffic city pillars and out of home networks throughout the city to celebrate safe during ADE in close collaboration with the city government.

We also actively promote campaigns like I Love My Ears, which raises awareness about protecting hearing during loud music events, and our Are You Feeling Unsafe? initiative, which encourages festival-goers to speak up and seek help if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable at any time during the event.

Key Highlights:
• Celebrate Safe campaign: Focused on harm reduction and safety during the festival.
• I Love My Ears: A campaign to protect attendees’ hearing at loud music events.
• Are You Feeling Unsafe?: A campaign to encourage reporting of unsafe situations and create a supportive environment for all.