On the 19th of July, after years of campaigning, the Groningen City Council approved the possibility of looking into financing the Nachtraad (Night Council) of Groningen.
The Night Council aims to diversify Groningen’s party scene while pushing for a safer and more inclusive atmosphere.
“It’s time to start taking the night seriously,” said Merlijn Poolman, Groningen’s current night mayor and founder of the Night Council. A position he has held since 2018, Poolman’s role as night mayor is to serve as a representative of businesses, culture, and attendees involved in the city’s nightlife.
“Groningen takes the nights for granted, whereas other cities with way less interesting nightlife invest more time and means into it.”
Formal recognition
In addition to formal recognition by the Groningen City Council, the passage of the motion last week will allow the Night Council to potentially receive the necessary funding to raise awareness on issues such as sexual harassment, substance abuse, and aggressive behavior in Groningen. The Night Council has already been carrying out its awareness campaign, but they most likely won’t receive funding for those activities until 2024.
However, the City Council’s approval is a huge step in improving Groningen’s bustling nightlife. “Other cities in the Netherlands already have quite some amount of funding for their councils: in Rotterdam, in Haarlem, in Amsterdam,” said Poolman. “If Groningen wants to take itself seriously as a night city, this is an important next step to take.”
What is the Nachtraad?
Poolman was inspired to create such a council after attending a conference in Brussels about nightlife in Europe as Groningen’s night mayor. He said that the Berlin Club Commission was the blueprint he followed to bring something similar to the northern city.
He founded the project in 2019 and it now contains a board with six members. The Night Council’s main vision is spearheaded by three key points: coziness (gezelligheid), diversity, and safety.
“One of the main goals was to make nightlife a sacred place,” said Poolman.
This includes training bar staff on how to deal with sexual harassment, how to act when someone has had too much to drink (or sniff), and finding a way to ensure Groningen’s nightlife continues to be diverse by providing a multitude of different events and atmospheres.
What is next for the Night Council?
At the moment, the council works on a fully voluntary basis, meaning that they receive little compensation for their work and do not have the necessary budget to reach all of their goals.
Poolman believes this is due to the manner in which the local government views the nightlife, hence why the Night Council aims to become the official institution for nightlife in Groningen.
“The government often approaches the night from a different perspective. Usually, the government looks more at the part of the problems. We also want to solve those problems but we have a different approach, we want to mainly develop it (nightlife) and they mainly want to solve issues.”
Despite working closely with the local government, the Night Council does not wish to become an official government body, rather working side-by-side with the City Council and entrepreneurs who make their business in Groningen’s buzzing night scene.
Nocturnal vision
“Then the essence [of the Night Council] would get lost because the government itself, they don’t go out. They don’t party till 6 in the morning, they don’t know what’s really going on,” said Poolman. “We’d like to feed them that information by staying independent.”
This support translates to the other motions the Night Council aims to implement. Chief among them is the creation of a ‘nocturnal vision’, which allows the council to follow goals and objectives rather than “randomly solving problems.”
Another objective is to form the ‘night city hall’, a safe space where people who suffered from sexual harassment, substance abuse or need a place to get away from the hectic nightlife can go and get the help they require.
The area would provide those who need a breather with professionals working in the mental health sector as well as medical staff and security at the door to ensure whoever enters gets the help they need.
“There’s also a lot of enthusiasm for that initiative and it would really be fitting our goals,” said Poolman. “Groningen would be the first in the world to have that kind of space.”
Image courtesy of Merlijn Poolman.
