AMSTERDAM TO PULL OUT ALL STOPS FOR JUBILEE YEAR

One year from now will see the start of Amsterdam 750, a jubilee year full of activities. People all over town are working on great plans behind the scenes. On the city’s 748th birthday, the first concrete plans were announced. On 27 October 2024, the celebratory year will start with a fantastic opening concert at the Ziggo Dome. This will be followed by more than 200 activities throughout the year, including musicals, exhibitions, sport events, neighbourhood festivals, story and photography projects, children’s activities and much more besides. On 27 October 2025, Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary, we’ll close off the jubilee year in style. Exact details will be announced mid 2024.

Mayor Halsema: “Amsterdam 750 is more than a party. Especially at times when the solidarity in our city is tested, as it has been over the past weeks due to the situation in Israel and Gaza, I think it’s great and hope-inspiring to see how all of those different associations, foundations, companies, neighbourhoods and individual Amsterdam residents come together to contribute to the jubilee year, in a celebration of what binds us: the love of our quirky city.”

The Amsterdam 750 jubilee year will be kicked off with a spectacular opening concert at the Ziggo Dome on 27 October 2024, paying homage to the past and present of Amsterdam. The Metropole Orkest, ISH Dance Collective, Zo! Gospel Choir and Live in Concert will take visitors on a musical and visual journey through time. There will be new music and famous classics ranging from tearjerkers to dance beats, featuring up-and-coming talent and established artists, interspersed by hip-hop dance and urban sports, classical ballet and spoken word, from understated to explosive and energetic. Ticket sales will start at the end of February. The City of Amsterdam is giving away a quarter of the 15,000 tickets available to residents who have a special involvement with the city or who are unable to buy a ticket.

More than 200 activities: here’s a taste of what’s on offer
Amsterdam’s 750th anniversary will be celebrated with a wide and varied range of activities spread out all over town. These include cultural activities and exhibitions, for example at the Amsterdam Museum, which sets out to rewrite the city’s history from a female perspective, paying tribute to the women of Amsterdam. The Van Gogh Museum is also putting women in the spotlight with the exhibition ‘Ik ben Jo!’, themed around the wife of Theo van Gogh (Vincent’s brother). On 27 October 2024, the City Archives will open a large exhibition focusing on the birth of Amsterdam, i.e. how the city came into being in the Middle Ages. Two grand-scale musicals will give the audience the opportunity to get to know two stories typical of Amsterdam. ‘De Koning van Amsterdam’ by Bos Theaterproducties tells the tale of the illustrious Amsterdam entrepreneur Maup Caransa, with all the highs and lows, his secrets and his strong entrepreneurial spirit. The musical ‘Onze Jordaan’, on the other hand, will regale us with a musical story full of nostalgia, melancholia and remembrance, featuring the timeless repertoire of Johnny Jordaan, Tante Leen and Willy Alberti.

ToekomstTiendaagse
For ten days in June 2025, everything in the city will revolve around the future of Amsterdam. What influence do technological developments have and how do we address the challenges of the 21st century? These are the questions the ToekomstTiendaagse is all about. The programme is being elaborated together with schools, universities, museums, debating centres and businesses. The ToekomstTiendaagse will culminate in a day of major partying, featuring music, dance sport and lots more, at a unique location to be announced at a later stage.

Sport, dance and night culture
In addition to attention being paid to the city’s past and future, there will be all sorts of things to do and experience throughout the jubilee year. For young Amsterdam residents, between ten and fifteen years of age, the biggest street football tournament Amsterdam has ever seen will take place (as originally suggested by the City Council). The Johan Cruyff Foundation will help ensure it will be a tournament that does justice to the legacy of Johan Cruyff. The final will be played at a unique location in the city. In October 2025, we’ll be celebrating fifty years of the Amsterdam Marathon in a special anniversary edition. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a party without SAIL Amsterdam 2025 – the highlight of Amsterdam’s 750-year anniversary celebrations. From 20 to 24 August 2025, impressive ships and their colourful crews will adorn the waterways of Amsterdam. The Dutch National Opera & Ballet is plotting to get the entire city to dance along to ‘Heel Amsterdam danst’. And Amsterdam 750 will be celebrated into the night as well, with a special programme about nightlife culture initiated by night clubs Garage Noord, Kanaal 40 and RadioRadio. The Grote Amsterdam Quiz, which was played at ninety locations in the past weeks, will also be making a comeback next year.

Everyone can participate
Smaller initiatives by foundations, associations and individual Amsterdam residents will also enrich the programme. From a huge toy exchange fair to dancing with the most senior inhabitants of the city at the Danspaleis. From ‘Weesp wijkt uit’ to the ‘Slotervaart maken we samen’ neighbourhood festival. From an oral history project with eighty-year old Amsterdam residents to a visual and audio adventure organised by Jeugdland. It will be possible to apply for funding from the Amsterdam 750 foundation until and including September 2024. In this context, the Stichting Amsterdam 750 is organising information meetings and application rounds. More information is available at www.kadovoordestad.nl.

‘750 streamer’
A city’s birthday calls for festive decorations. The ‘750 streamer’, developed by two Amsterdam-based creative agencies (Liebe Leute and Lowres Creative Studio), symbolises the city’s diversity, as well as for the connection its residents share and − of course − for partying. The streamer will be incorporated in the flags and banners that can be seen all over the city. The design will be made available to anyone wanting to use for festive jubilee year decorations. Local entrepreneurs can also use it to adorn their products, on the condition they donate part of the proceeds to an Amsterdam-specific charity. An online toolkit will be published on amsterdam750.nl in January.

Stay up to date
In the coming period, more and more details about the programme for the jubilee year will be announced on this website. You can also stay up to date on Amsterdam 750 via this website, Instagram and X (@amsterdam750).