“Oh, I’m home again.” That’s something we often hear from young people when they enter Dynamo. Manager Nancy van Loon explains how the building contributes to the development of young talent.

Under the motto ‘inspire, learn, work’, Dynamo offers young people opportunities to grow and create a future perspective in music, dance, sports, and culture.
“If there’s anything dynamic and ever-changing, it’s youth. I’m glad the building moves along with that. Even after ten years, it still provides the conditions for young people to develop successfully. Such a large building, in this location in the city, shows that young people matter. And that’s exactly how they experience it themselves. It gives them a thrill to be able to work on their passion here. That’s when the energy for talent development starts to flow. Eindhoven, Dynamo and diederendirrix can be proud of that. No other city in the Netherlands has a place like this.”

 

“Before Dynamo moved into this building in 2005, it mainly focused on marginalized youth. That’s why the building is vandal-proof, transparent, and without frills. Now we are here for everyone,” Nancy van Loon explains. “The beauty of the building is that different groups move through it side by side. No single group claims the space, and when people want to collaborate, they naturally find each other. Hiphoppers, gabbers, metalheads, and even young mothers feel comfortable in the building. One ongoing discussion is the red colour of the atrium, but in the absence of a better alternative, even the metalheads have accepted it.”

“The beauty of the building is that different groups move through it side by side.”

At first, Dynamo had to get used to the new building. How could they reach as many new visitors as possible? How could the spaces best be programmed? The first three years were marked by production and logistical experiments. During that time, ticket sales were also moved from inside the hall to outside.

“Gradually we realised that Dynamo is not a music venue that simply has to fill its halls. No, our core task is talent development. For us, it is extremely important that young people become active. The building helps with that. Without the large hall, there wouldn’t be 300 volunteers wanting to book a band or train for a dance performance. The Ruggeds, who used to train in the Heuvelgalerie, came to us one day asking if they could use our hall. Now they run a successful urban dance studio and perform both nationally and internationally. Fresku also started here.”

“Gradually we realised that Dynamo is not a music venue that simply has to fill its halls. Our core task is talent development. For us, it is extremely important that young people become active.”

Inmiddels bereikt Dynamo 90.000 jongeren per jaar. Per dag stappen er 300 jongeren door de deur. Ook financieel is het een gezond model en gemeenten zien het economische belang van talentontwikkeling. “Zonder dit flexibele gebouw waren we niet op dit punt beland. Na tien jaar is Dynamo een sterk merk. We willen het concept verder uitbouwen zodat het ook geschikt is voor andere steden. We wijzen er wel op dat het gebouw een belangrijke voorwaarde is. Wil je als stad effect sorteren met je jongerenwerk, dan moeten het gebouw en de voorzieningen in orde zijn. Jongeren wegmoffelen? Dan doet Dynamo niet mee.”