Amsterdam Dance Event partners with VibeLab on first-ever Nighttime Culture Index
The collaboration launching in October measures nightlife's cultural value rather than economic impact across six cities worldwide
Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) and VibeLab have announced a new project to measure the cultural vitality of nightlife around the world.
Named the Nighttime Culture Index (NCI), the first edition launches at ADE this October, coinciding with the festival's 30th anniversary.
The global nighttime economy is estimated to generate US$3 to 4 trillion annually and employ one in ten people, according to the Night Time Economy Report.
Different from an economic study, the NCI measures cultural value, using an interactive public dashboard paired with an annual report. The aim is to give scenes, industry figures and city leaders shared evidence about their nighttime culture.
The first edition covers six cities across six continents: Amsterdam, Lagos, New York, São Paulo, Seoul and Sydney. Each city is assessed across six dimensions of cultural vitality: Diversity & Representation, Creative Ecology, Space & Infrastructure, Community & Belonging, Policy & Civic Health, and Sustainability & Environment.
The NCI is planned as a three-year partnership between ADE and VibeLab, with the same six cities returning each year and at least two more added in both 2027 and 2028.
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"ADE has always been a global destination for the electronic music industry, but there is no business without culture. The Nighttime Culture Index puts culture at the centre of how we understand the value of the night," states Jan-Willem van de Ven, Managing Director of ADE.
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Jane Slingo, VibeLab's Asia Pacific Director, added: "We can measure what the night is worth to the economy, but not what it means to the people who live it. The Nighttime Culture Index gives evidence and a shared language to understand nighttime culture and to defend it."
Each city has a local coordinator sense-checking the data against the culture it measures. The six coordinators come from within the scenes they're assessing, among them club owners, DJs, urban planners, editors, bookers and curators.
If you live in or work culturally in one of the six cities, the NCI wants your input by taking the community survey here.
Amira Waworuntu is Mixmag Asia’s Managing Editor, follow her on Instagram.
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