City Collective Amsterdam

Services:

Community, Advocacy, Policy Advising

Links:

Year:

2025

Partners:

Municipality of Amsterdam

In 2019, a group of Amsterdam-based creatives from diverse cultural backgrounds joined Mayor Femke Halsema on a city visit to New York. Inspired by the city’s community-driven approaches to nightlife and cultural policy, City Collective Amsterdam (CCA) was founded as a self-organized, independent advisory body to the city. Since then, CCA has grown into a vibrant network advocating for a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable cultural future in Amsterdam.

City Collective Amsterdam gathers cultural practitioners—including artists, musicians, designers, fashion creatives, cultural workers, and activists—who contribute their expertise across the creative sector. The growing collective functions as a bridge between grassroots creative communities and municipal institutions, offering advice, critique, and proposals on key urban and cultural developments.

Focus areas include:

Creative innovation

  • Digital culture & community building

  • Media, storytelling & representation

  • Youth culture & mentorship

Responsible entrepreneurship

  • Cultural infrastructure & creative city-making

  • Ethical business practices

  • Intergenerational knowledge-sharing and skill-building

Policy & politics

  • Equity in cultural policy & funding

  • Intersectional cultural strategy

  • Participatory governance and advocacy

Highlights

  • Organised City Collective Crossover to Rotterdam, fostering dialogue and cultural exchange.

  • Organised several CCA Connect talks, for example on the role of creatives in shifting to more inclusive and sustainable technological practices.

  • Hosted yearly talks with Mayor Femke Halsema about the future of creative Amsterdam.

Approach

CCA operates through organizing events, facilitating dialogue via cross-sector collaborations, creative interventions, and partnerships with civic and cultural stakeholders. We advocate for horizontal decision-making, participatory governance, and creative commoning. Our process is rooted in transparency, lived experience, and a belief in the transformative power of art and culture.

Are you part of a cultural network and interested in connecting? Or would you like to become part of ours? Reach out to us, we would love to collaborate.

Citycollectiveamsterdam@gmail.com