The Dutch International Tangoweek has grown in recent years into an important platform for professional tango musicians in the Netherlands. By bringing together artists, creating performance opportunities and developing its own productions, the festival contributes to the visibility, artistic development and structural reinforcement of Argentine tango as cultural heritage.
The festival’s artistic line explicitly focuses on quality and craftsmanship, with room for both established names and new generations of musicians. “We offer not only a stage, but also context and collaboration,” says artistic advisor Wim Warman. “For Dutch musicians, this is the only time in the year when they can work on tango as a fully-fledged musical discipline in a professional environment with international colleagues.”
The festival’s commitment to the development of professional performers is supported by organisations such as the Sena Performers Fund, which has contributed to the realisation of concerts and co-productions for several years. This makes the festival not only a place of presentation, but also of investment in the professional practice of musicians in this niche genre.
The fact that the Dutch International Tango Week is also internationally recognized is evident from the UNESCO patronage that the festival received in both 2019 and 2023. This recognition is not a quality mark, but it does confirm the cultural value of the commitment to the dissemination and preservation of intangible heritage. “The award of patronage indicates that our work fits within an international vision of heritage policy,” says business manager Frank Perquin. “It also helps us to enter into discussions with funds, governments and other partners about the importance of this heritage in a Dutch context.”
With a growing European network of festivals, musicians and institutions, Tango Week plays a role as a hub within the global tango community. By developing new productions and stimulating knowledge exchange, the festival contributes to the anchoring of Argentine tango within the Dutch cultural sector, not only as a dance form, but also emphatically as a serious music movement.
