(HOW) DOES
BANGS WORK?
Amsterdam BANGS Festival 2026 is taking place between the 1st and 4th of October,
All over the city, in the streets, people’s homes, squats, squares, municipality hall, ferry, supermarket, parks,
or any other (in)adequate and BANGING place!
All over the city, in the streets, people’s homes, squats, squares, municipality hall, ferry, supermarket, parks,
or any other (in)adequate and BANGING place!
Something BANGING can be: anything. Something soft, small, mad, ludicrious, magical, big, unrehearsed, uncomplete, something filling the ears, the eyes, the heart, the body or the soul. Something neither dictated by the ARTS, nor by what the city commands. Instead, something that needs to BANG out! Fantasise, rehearse (or not), let imagination be your guide! Oh yea, if you have no inspiration, you can also check out our last year’s festival programme. Or read books. Or take a walk. Or ask someone else. Or imagine ways to abolish white supremacy, gender and capitalism. Or look up crazy political actions from history. Or mythical performances. Or make some food.
Fill in our BANGING Open Call form, the volunteer form (up soon!), and spread the word! Check out the How Can I Help? tab on the website! There are many more ways to get involved ahead of time.
We can help you place your event in one of the locations we are in touch with or you can organize your own location! The location can be anywhere EXCEPT if the location asks for a ticketed entrance! BANGS have no tickets!
BANG it alone, make it around, make it happen! Ask your friend, your neighbour, your family, comrade or lover… BANG it together!
Want to do a more secret or riskier BANG? Great! We can help think along and provide some advice. Legally and practically. Let us know (briefly) in the open call form. Please do.
During BANGS, everyone is a volunteer, we all organise, we all enjoy, we all perform, we all celebrate, we all clean up! Within everyone’s means and capacities of course.
At every location, there will be a SPACE WIZARD. The Space Wizard is responsible for getting together all volunteers of an event (including the performers/hosts, builders, technicians, etc.) to coordinate and self-organise the evening, and be responsible for collecting money for the fundraiser.
The festival is entirely donation based. We will ask every performer whether they prefer taking donations for themselves or to support the benefit (or both) – no judgment, no questions asked! This year, the money we will raise as a benefit will be sent to support mutual aid funds in Palestine and Lebanon.
Do you come from afar? Money is not something you carry along? We try to collect some money for such costs. However, we can’t guarantee a full refund, or maybe any refund at all. Some people are organising a fundraiser for themselves to travel to the festival. Others will hitchhike, and some others are sharing travel student OV cards that allow free travel (if you’re in the Netherlands). Don’t count on us for travel at a discount, but don’t discount asking for help.
To give you some perspective, our budget for last year’s BANGS was EUR 546,80. Most of that money was spent, on poster printing, website hosting (much more expensive since this year), and food. If you need accommodation, this is something we can arrange more easily for free in our networks. Let us know about all this in the open call and volunteer forms, and ask any rich friends to donate to the festival (and later to the fundraiser!).
To give you some perspective, our budget for last year’s BANGS was EUR 546,80. Most of that money was spent, on poster printing, website hosting (much more expensive since this year), and food. If you need accommodation, this is something we can arrange more easily for free in our networks. Let us know about all this in the open call and volunteer forms, and ask any rich friends to donate to the festival (and later to the fundraiser!).
Let’s Make it a BANGING Festival!
SHAKE UP THE CITY. SHAKE UP OURSELVES.