The peak of the festivalisation of the Netherlands seems to be behind us. The number of festivals has declined by over 10% in two years. This is according to research by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam into the festival landscape in the Netherlands. Responsible lecturer Harry van Vliet (Crossmedia): "The decline in the number of music festivals was already visible in 2017, but the decline has clearly gained further steam over the past year, including for food festivals."
In the annual Festival Atlas, Van Vliet analyses from the perspective of the HvA lectureship Crossmedia the festival landscape in the fields of music, food, (visual) arts and film. Dance and theatre will be not yet included in the calculations. Festival lovers could choose from 1444 festivals in 2018, comprising 1029 music festivals, 170 food festivals, 150 film festivals and 95 arts festivals. A year earlier, there were 1482. Some festivals have multiple editions in the same year. Visitors could go to a total of 1651 festival editions. Most festivals charge admission (65%), take place outdoors (62%) and are one-day events (57%).
Quarter fewer music festivals in Amsterdam
The number of music festivals has decreased significantly in the past two years: in 2015, there were 1155 music festivals, in 2016 1172, in 2017 1057 and in 2018 1029. This represents a decline of 10 and 12 per cent in 2017 and 2018 respectively compared to 2016. We can speak of a break between the years 2016 and 2017.
The reduction in the number of festivals in North Holland is striking. The decline is so large that North Brabant took over the lead in 2018 as the province with the most music festivals. The decline is well visible in Amsterdam, where the number of music festivals fell by a quarter in 2018 compared to 2016. Utrecht and Eindhoven also show a similar reduction (17 and 16 per cent respectively). This does not apply to Rotterdam and The Hague, for example.
Tighter policy
These differences may indicate the possible influence of municipal policies. "We have not looked into it specifically, but probably in several places it has become more difficult to get a licence because of stricter policies," Van Vliet said.
Another reason for the reduction is that the number of new music festivals has declined in recent years. While there were 184 new music festivals in 2015, there are 'only' 88 in 2018. Yet there is definitely dynamism in the music festival landscape. In 2018, 391 festivals out of 1155 in 2015 are no longer on the festival calendar, a loss of 34 per cent.
Number of new food festivals drastically reduced
The number of food festivals in our country has also been declining since 2017. There were 186 food festivals in 2016, 196 in 2017 and 170 in 2018, so the number of food festivals in 2018 is down 13 per cent from a year earlier. The decline can be traced to specific provinces: North Holland, Gelderland and South Holland had significantly fewer food festivals in 2018 than in previous years.
Among food festivals, the number of new festivals in particular has declined dramatically over the past three years: from 86 in 2016, to 53 in 2017 and only 25 in 2018. This steady decline is particularly visible in the months of July and September, and in the provinces of South Holland, North Holland, North Brabant, Utrecht and Zeeland.
Amount of film and arts festivals more stable
With 150 film festivals in 2018, the difference with previous years (140 in 2017 and 144 in 2016) is small. However, the number of film festival editions in 2017 and 2018 is significantly less than in 2016. In 2016, 202 film festival editions were counted, compared to 170 in 2017 and 180 in 2018. The number of festivals in the different provinces remained almost the same. Only Gelderland had a peak in 2016.
In 2018, there were 95 art festivals, the vast majority of which (81 per cent) return annually. Noteworthy is the percentage of biennials - biennial editions - of 13 per cent: this is rare among other types of festivals and thus seems to be a typical feature of art festivals. Most art festivals are in North Holland and South Holland, together accounting for half of the total number of art festivals. Art fairs are also and almost exclusively concentrated in these two provinces. Elsewhere, you can only go to North Brabant (Art Breda, Art Eindhoven and Brabant Art Fair) and Limburg (Tefaf).
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