Een heftige maand voor de Amsterdamse club De School eindigt met de ultieme domper: eerder vandaag kondigde eigenaar Jochem Wertheim aan dat de club na de crisis niet meer open gaat. De tekorten lopen zo snel op dat het niet langer verantwoord is de organisatie te blijven runnen. Daarmee eindigt een stormachtige maand in de sluiting van een geliefde club, die voor veel Nederlandse dj's een thuishonk was. Een verzameling reacties.

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from actually being rejected at the door when i was 19 for being too young to enter (rip karenn allnighter) - to my very first set during my 22nd birthday (📷) playing in de school always gave me an extra sense of freedom to play fully ME. to closing de nieuw muzieklokaal with a personal record 6,5h set, to many extended sets for a very open crowd. to my own curated night with luc, to many b2b’s in that fucking epic clubroom. to meeting my closest friends and having adventure times full on running through the hallways, a sense of feeling home in a club. this club gave me so much more than i could ever wish for and put me in situations which upgraded me mentally and gave me trust for being the artist I am. many memories forever imprinted in my brain ❤️ thank you de school dancers and each one of the amazing staff team. they worked their ass off. a very painful and strange way to end this chapter. past months have been a very extreme whirlwind for many of us, let’s stick to the saying that endings will bring new (positive) beginnings. how weird / illogical it may feel - this whole fucking year has been illogical

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FUCK!!!! De School is no more... It makes me mad and very very sad... I've had the most memorable nights here. De School became an actual school for me, where during its first years I played as Makam in the basement. Being a home to a distinctly unique atmosphere, an ambiance we haven't seen before in The Netherlands. It was intimate, free, tuff, raw and obviously an abundance of sexiness. I immediately noticed that this space would allow me to experiment and venture into new musical realms, do crazy things, which resulted in even more crazier nights... After some years I did my first TALISMANN dj set, something I've never done before... De School, and people like Luc, gave me their trust, so I dared to go even deeper within my experimentations. Perfecting my techniques and experience, which became the foundation for a number of absolutely legendary nights. It's hard to explain for me, I felt completely connected with the audience, we were all one. The energy turned into a flow, where I didn't need to think about what track I would play next, it just happened. It was so open and free, that it really shaped the way in how I wanted to express TALISMANN. A blind trust emerged, where I could switch the BPM from 160 to 130 in a single track and back again, infusing moments where there was no beat at all... moments where people could rest a bit and let the magic of the moment deeply sink in. Maybe not everyone understood what I was doing, but many of them did and I want to really thank you all if you're reading this. I've seen many clubs around the globe, but this one truly was a gem. THANK YOU SCHOOL, THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO EVER WORKED THERE, THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO EVER RAVED WITH ME! To conclude... love is the answer, let's never forget that. With love, Guy/Makam/TALISMANN

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We’ve lost a place where many people found a home to express themselves, to be free, to learn, to interact and to lose yourself a bit from reality. De School was a special place and will be missed a lot. Yes, this club is an ecosystem operating within a troubled and sick system of institutional racism that we all know as society. What can you expect? Some serious mistakes were made, people got hurt, there is pain involved and a part of the scene started to disconnect while feeling De School was disconnecting itself from them as well. This shouldn’t have happened and maybe the remorse came too late and the damage was already done. De School has to take the blame to a certain extent, but we should also blame ourselves. Because this problem existed 4 years ago as well (and before) and we all understand this bit by bit. We should learn and realize together that breaking down is not the most constructive way to go. And if that tearing down happens, we should also take the responsibility to mend it. Now it seems like the external pressure to reform and the financial pressure caused by the health-crisis we’re in were simply too overwhelming. But this shouldn’t mean that we should stop investigating what is corrupted or rotten. Above all, I’m feeling sad about all that has happened. De School became an important place for me. A place where I had the opportunity to grow and express myself as a musician the last few years. To me and many others, it was one of the best clubs around. It was enriching the city. The staff I have been in contact with had the best intentions and worked hard to make De School a better place. Yes, it was a bubble. Yes, we all missed some turns. Yes, we all needed to reflect and speak out earlier. Fear should not rule. Now we are finally talking and our visions and the urge to create a better future for all of us seems to be identical. Let’s look our demons in the eyes. Again, this is on all of us. Reality is more complex than right or wrong, awake or numb, with or against us. The whole is more than the sum of its parts. So look at yourself as well.

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