IBB Fest: a festival by students, for everyone

Saturday, September 6. The IBB staff is woken up by hammering and shouting instead of the usual noise of loud housemates and fighting cats. ‘A little more to the left, no, the other left!’ The construction of the IBB Fest has been in full swing for several days. Although attendants don't need to do anything other than enjoy performances by the likes of Beats by Bunker, Boka de Banjul, Whiff and Mr. Polska, a great deal of preparation goes into the festival, whose organisation is taken care of by a team of current and former IBB residents. Residents can also volunteer behind the bar or help with the construction.

The fields are full of fences as I meet with three organisers on Thursday, and shovels and lorries are driving back and forth. The student complex has already been partially transformed into a festival site, and the organisers are busy setting up the two stages. There is still work to be done, but the weather forecast for Saturday looks promising.

The IBB Fest started 15 years ago as a barbecue that got out of hand. In the years that followed, the set-up became more professional, the number of visitors grew, and the line-up was filled with mainstream artists. The festival went bankrupt in 2017, and new organisers were hard to come by after that, but it managed to make a successful comeback in 2024. Since then, the organisers have kept busy: they started preparing for the next edition almost as soon as the 2024 one was over. This year, the programme included 14 performances, as well as theatre, dance and visual arts activities. An afterparty in De Helling brought the festival to a close.

Driek, Thijs and Silke are part of IBB Fest's organising committee. Photo: DUB

More prepared
Three members of the team trickle into the housing administration office, one by one. A brief pause. They are doing well, but the past few nights have been very short, says Silke, who is in charge of communications and PR for the festival. ‘We're taking a more relaxed approach compared to last year. We have an additional day for set-up and someone working on logistics, which makes things less stressful.’ Still, enthusiasm and stress go hand in hand. Thijs, this year's vice-chair, explains: ‘The municipality conducts a safety inspection two hours before the festival starts. If they find anything out of order, the festival is cancelled immediately. That's a tense moment.’

The committee members sitting in front of me, Silke, Driek (head of production) and Thijs, are either current or former IBB residents. All three were involved in last year's relaunch, which was attended by 3,000 people. They had to reinvent a lot of things. ‘We went into it completely blind. Nothing went wrong for the visitors, but we had to put out quite a few fires behind the scenes. We even worked through the night on a permit application. So many things were new to us.’ Many things have improved this year. ‘For example, we now have a map and gloves, which we didn't have last year.’

Up-and-coming artists
The set-up is complete, and the festival grounds have been cordoned off with fences. At 3:00 pm., the 030 stage opens with Zoë Mors, a talented singer who lives at IBB. The lineup includes many local and emerging artists. There was even a competition for bands that wanted to secure a spot in the line-up, titled IBBattle of the Bands. In addition, beginning DJs had the chance to play at the afterparty by submitting a set. The programme also had room for conservatory students and students of the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), who were both onstage and offstage in various activities. Bands with Utrecht roots were present too, including house band Utrecht Straatherres, Pino & Cozo and Bloc Bloc Bloc.

IBB Fest is not only aimed at IBB residents and students, but also targets people from the surrounding area. ‘Anyone aged 18 or over is welcome,’ the organisers say. By holding it during the day, inviting mainly bands and saving the harder techno and house for the afterparty, the organisers ensure that all locals can enjoy the festival. ‘We get a lot of positive reactions from the neighbourhood,’ says Silke. ‘People from Sterrenwijk drop by to ask how things are going. It's good for neighbourhood cohesion.’ Strict noise standards were adopted during the festival to prevent nuisance, but the organisers also sent a letter to local residents in advance to be on the safe side.

Skunc perfoming at IBB Festival.

Rising costs
The fact that the festival is free is music to the ears of many. The organisers had to pull out all the stops to make this happen. The local council has an initiative fund for events and other purposes, but this is being phased out slightly each year, while the cost of permits has doubled in the past year. Driek: ‘Next year, these costs are likely to double again, which means a fourfold increase over two years. And then there are the parking spaces that people will have to pay for next year. That's not really viable for us.’

This year, the team devoted a significant amount of time to fundraising and sponsorship, as well as launching a crowdfunding campaign. ‘It's becoming increasingly difficult for small festival organisers to do such things. Large festivals such as Soenda simply add a few euros to the ticket price.’ They say that the municipality's attitude sometimes seems somewhat contradictory. ‘We get a lot of complimentary words, including from the alderman, who thinks our initiative is fantastic, but at the same time, it is becoming increasingly expensive to do this. That's a shame, especially because we support local talent.’

The site becomes more and more crowded as the evening advances. Skinc's energetic beats attract a large audience. Mr. Polska follows on the main stage, whipping up the crowd with classics such as Niemand and more recent songs, including Polska Jumpstyle. The festival draws to a close as the Utrecht-based band Straatherres blows away the main stage with cheerful rhythms and trumpets. Meanwhile, the 030 stage closes with an experimental set full of electronics by Anushka Chkheidze. Most people are far from done partying, though, so the festival continues at the afterparty in De Helling, which goes on until 4:30 in the morning.

The team is happy with how everything turned out. There was a bit of chaos with crowds at the entrance to the site, but other than that, this year was another great success. Driek had to stay until the end of the afterparty and was back early the next morning to help dismantle the site. ‘You don't do this for your health,’ he says. They laugh when asked if this was their last year in the organisation. ‘I wasn't going to continue, but I'm already getting the itch,’ says Thijs. Driek can already picture it: ‘Yeah, we'll be back again next year.’