Boring Festival transforms the historic center of Haarlem into a vibrant playground for art, music, performance, and theatre. Across Haarlem's most iconic cultural venues, you’ll find pole dancing acts in museums, drag shows in archives, visual art in music halls, and live music in theater foyers. At Boring, anything can happen, and everything does.
The festival invites both experienced cultural adventurers and those who are just beginning to explore their creative side. It’s about discovery, about embracing the unknown, and about letting yourself be surprised by extraordinary stories and spectacular performances across every genre and discipline. Each participating Haarlem institution contributes its own carefully chosen gems, creating a unique, city-wide collaboration.
At its core, Boring Festival is more than a celebration, it’s an artistic act of resistance. It asks: how can art, culture, and nightlife truly become accessible to everyone? Who is still being left out, and how do we change that? In past editions, we’ve explored this through social safety teams, and this year, we continue to expand accessibility for people with physical, visual, or auditory disabilities.
Boring is deeply committed to creating safer spaces within nightlife and the cultural sector. The festival recognizes how rare such environments can be, especially for women, BIPOC, trans, and queer people. There is no room here for sexism, racism, ableism, or queer- and transphobia. You can find more information about this on our ‘Houserules’-page.
Boring Festival is an independent initiative born from within the city of Haarlem, without big investors, but with a big heart. It’s an essential, fun, and heartfelt cultural journey that turns the familiar upside down, challenges norms, and welcomes everyone to take part in an unforgettable, inclusive experience.
