Rising costs force Amsterdam’s Kwaku festival to change

Due to rising costs and regulatory pressure, this year’s Amsterdam Kwaku Summer Festival will be the last in its current form, its organizers have said.

“Kwaku is more than a festival – it is a unique social phenomenon that has traditionally meant a great deal to many people,” the organisation said in a press release, describing the move as a difficult decision.

“Stricter permit conditions, rising costs and increasing organisational complexity make it increasingly difficult to keep the festival affordable and accessible for everyone for whom it is actually intended. The organisation feels compelled to acknowledge that the balance in the current setup can no longer be maintained.”

“A shame”

“It’s a shame,” Zuidoost resident Alexandar Petrovic told DutchNews. “It’s a nice, big festival with great music and good times. There’s no money for that, but there is to buy F-35 fighter jets from the American military?”

Initially started as a football tournament in 1975 in the multicultural Bijlmer neighbourhood of the city’s Zuidoost, Kwaku grew into a festival with more than 120,000 visitors annually.

This year’s edition will go ahead as planned at Amsterdam’s Nelson Mandela Park in the weekends up until August 1 and 2. Featured acts include En Vogue, Kassav, Broederliefde and Dutch jazz legend Trijntje Oosterhuis. 

Kwaku is consulting with local city officials to see if it’s possible to hold a different version of the festival in the coming years instead of closing down completely. Other festivals in the country are also struggling to stay afloat for similar reasons.