Mission
The Holland Festival showcases the transformative power of the performing arts. Each June, we present an international, multidisciplinary programme featuring leading creators from around the world. The festival offers large-scale and artistically pioneering work that would otherwise not be seen in the Netherlands, and succeeds in moving, connecting, and inspiring reflection among a broad and diverse audience.
Vision
The Holland Festival seeks to connect people and cultures, and to raise awareness of the social and political realities in which we live. We present new artistic forms and developments that resonate with the questions of our time.
The question 'What is really happening?', introduced by associate artist ANOHNI in 2023, serves as an important guiding principle. Together with inspiring artists and associate artists, we explore what is truly taking place in the world.
Since its founding in 1947, the festival has aimed to bring cultures together. In an era of polarisation and intolerance, this power to connect is more urgent than ever. Art that offers new perspectives broadens our horizons, enhances empathy, and invites reflection. The Holland Festival encourages audiences to view the world through someone else’s eyes and to experience what is regarded as outstanding art elsewhere, in order to stimulate interpersonal and intercultural understanding and to embrace what distinguishes us.
Associate artists
Since 2019, the festival has been working with associate artists. They show their own work and explore opportunities for in-depth programming and a long-lasting connection between the artists and the city. In addition to their work, the festival highlights themes significant to them, as well as artists related to them.
The associate artist for the 79th edition of the Holland Festival is the Icelandic composer, musician and singer Hildur Guðnadóttir (Reykjavík, 1982). Previous associate artists include Trajal Harrell in 2025, Christiane Jatahy in 2024, ANOHNI in 2023, Angélique Kidjo and Nicolas Stemann in 2022, Gisèle Vienne and Ryuichi Sakamoto in 2021, Bill T. Jones in 2020 and Faustin Linyekula and William Kentridge in 2019.
Emily Ansenk, director of Holland Festival: 'With Hildur Guðnadóttir we welcome an artist who brings together sound, emotion and imagination in a unique way. Her work gets under the skin, touches a wide audience and is at the same time uncompromising and innovative. We look forward to stretching the boundaries of music and performance with her further.'
Want to know more about the history of the Holland Festival? Click here.