Unfortunately, more and more people are living in their own bubble, causing us to grow further apart. All the while we share an ancient past where we come together in houses of worship to honor, learn, celebrate, talk, sacrifice and mourn. Now is the time to come together again to restore solidarity and laughter to our city. We resolutely choose a path of charity, compassion and vulnerability, making our community closer.

The Spirit of Amsterdam was founded by Stefan Beek, Robert-Jan Glas and San Jonker. Stefan and Robert-Jan have in recent years contributed to cultural entrepreneurship in the social domain with various initiatives of their own, such as Music Moves, Homebass, Paulientje and House of Hope. San Jonker joined as the third initiator and brings experience from the cultural sector, business and working with churches in the form of the main programming of the European Cultural Capital '18 (transformation 31 churches) and the Thomas Church in Amsterdam, among others. The Spirit of Amsterdam works closely with the 10,000 HOURS Foundation as a founding partner.

A flexible shell of professionals supports the development of The Spirit of Amsterdam in the areas of operations, marketing, communications and fiscal legal matters. We couldn't do this without Ids van der Poel, Bobby Kwakkernaat, Max Peters, Dylan Vreeke - Eventix, Marjolein Aarten, Walter Zantinge, Roeland Jansen, Jay Sunsmith, Jessica Hartley, Daniel Berends, Brigitte Vonck and Robbert Nieuwenhuijs.

The Council of Wise Men is the conscience of The Spirit and contributes ideas on philosophy, strategy and networking. Council members: including Duncan Stutterheim, Kathleen Ferrier, Tim Vreugdenhil, Nadia Bouras, Gary Feingold, Mehmet Yamali, Marjorie Boston, Guido Kloek.

The programming for the 2024 edition of the festival came about largely through our Open Call. In January 2024 cultural makers from city and country were challenged to propose programs that fit within the spirit of the festival. Our selection committee, consisting of Akib Khan, Hadassah de Boer, Marjorie Boston and Rikko Voorberg, assisted The Spirit's team in selecting the best plans. Of the 160 plans, more than 25 programs received a spot at the festival.