What is ADE?
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is the most upfront, influential and educational gathering for electronic music and its industry. With its conference, festival and educational breeding ground, ADE is able to create not only the biggest yearly industry tent-pole moment, but also a solid foundation for future generations of electronic music professionals. The event exists of a total of more than 1,000 events in nearly 200 locations across its multidisciplinary program of five days and nights. With a record number of 500.000 visitors in 2024, during ADE Amsterdam truly breathes electronic music.
ADE is organised by the Amsterdam Dance Event Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to nurturing electronic music, its culture and its industry worldwide. The organisation devotes itself to stimulating development, innovation and talent, gathering the global industry and laying a foundation for future generations.
Electronic Music Gathers Here
Amsterdam Dance Event has grown from a small music conference in 1996 to the biggest electronical music event worldwide. The heart of the program still is the ADE Conference, which is roughly to be divided in ADE Pro (for the professional in dance culture) and ADE Lab (for the upcoming artist and your professional). Within the conference program there are various topics and sub conferences covering a wide array of topics such as sustainability, technological developments, programs for start-ups, mentoring programs for young talents and programs devoted to safety or self expression.
ADE Festival consists of all the music events (over 1000 yearly) organized by more than 200 clubs and cultural institutions. This means the Foundation does not organise the individual events itself, but rather invites external events to join the yearly festival. Every year ADE is hosted by very established as well as unknown and surprising locations, covering not only every part of the city, but a great variety of electronical music as well. The festival also includes our disciplinary crossovers curated by our Arts & Culture program.