With BANGS, we do not decide for you what is valuable.

Arts funding is problematic in itself: it prioritises incessant production over community building, and its value is dictated by bureaucrats. That means, publicly financed art needs to be explainable and valuable to those who would rather invest in war than art. At the centre of publicly funded art is the public bureaucrat themselves, who will use you as an example of the value of arts funding. The product of arts funding is arts funding. Not art. It’s like how they keep renovating the city streets. They need to spend that money, in order not to lose it. But in today’s political climate, they lost it anyway.

Instead of relying on state support and thus state prohibitions, we have each other’s support. Help out by volunteering, offering space, or gifting a performance or a workshop. Also, by simply being present.

All the shows are free but we welcome and encourage any donations. This year, the donations we collect go to support mutual aid in Palestine and Lebanon, without relying on the NGO complex to send aid. Last year, we raised nearly 6,000 euro in four days. How much could it be this year?

We have sent money to Palestine since the first edition of BANGS two years ago. There is no reason to change that. Gaza has experienced over 1000 days of genocide. Israel cannot exist while Palestine still exists: A settler state is founded on genocide – the erasure of native peoples from the face of the Earth – and it will only cease being perceived as a settler state once that process is done. Look at the U.S.: Most people do not think about it as a settler state built on the massacre of indigenous peoples. Not because it is not, but because the genocidal founding of the country lies in the past and was so effective that the country has become recognised as legitimate, and with time, normalised – despite indigenous peoples still resisting the U.S. Empire.

BANGS will not contribute to the normalisation of genocide. Gaza is under increased siege even after the ceasefire agreement and remains the largest open air prison of the world. This is more true than ever, now that the US-headed so-called “Board of Peace” is planning on taking control of the strip. Israel has not calmed its aggression but expanded its scope. Not only by going to war with Iran and increasing annexations in the West Bank, but also by expanding its occupation further into Lebanon.

What has happened for the last few years in Palestine has also been taking place in Southern Lebanon. Israel is indiscriminately bombing apartment blocks, seizing land, and killing civilians, despite a ceasefire agreement. More than four thousand people have been killed in recent months. More than 700,000 people displaced. Attention has shifted away from Israel’s aggression as media coverage has lessened, but the effects of war, occupation, and organised famine will outlast all their images.

Meanwhile, European powers remain silent, or meek at best. But it does not matter: We are not shocked. We are not impressed. We will do the work that needs to be done and we will do it our way. Whoever is relying on European leaders to be the spokespeople of morality missed a bunch of memos, didn’t come to the action meeting, and forgot to a read a history book. The militarisation of the world does not only take place in occupied territories, but also around us in Amsterdam. Hell, weapons manufacturer Thales is moving to Amsterdam. But soon they will learn that Amsterdam has no respect for war profiteers and fascists.

Soon, we will announce the specific organisations for which we will raise donations. Reach out if you know of any good ones. And read this page to find other ways to get involved ahead of the festival.

So now, BANGS. BANGS is a community festival. We do things together. We do not gatekeep, we do not control what art is, why it is valuable. We come together in solidarity, mutual aid, and care. We come to help make this city so corrupted by gentrification a bit more alive again. To infuse it with magic. And BANGS is an anarchist festival. And as such, BANGS does not actually care about art. It does not care if you make good art. It does not care if your art doesn’t do anything. It’s not actually about art. It’s about living and resisting and dreaming. It’s about learning to be different, and to hold that difference until the next year. It’s about infusing YOU with that magic that you put into the city. And BANGS is about enjoyment, and pleasure, and shock, and tears of laughter. Because BANGS is also just that – a festival.

This year, we will show everyone that no matter how grim it gets, you won’t get us to stop grinning. The city is ours. It belongs to us. It belongs to Palestine, to Lebanon, to Muslims, to Anti-Zionists, to Arabs, to Queers, to refugees, to anarchists, to Black folk, to the Mad, the Crip, the Wild, the clown, the drag, to anyone who says