ROTTERDAM, 4 March 2026 – North Sea Round Town has opened its 2026 Open Call, inviting makers and organisers to pitch music-driven projects for this summer’s festival. If you have an idea that could bring something fresh to Rotterdam, applications are open from 4 March until 1 April 2026.
This is aimed at people who want to do more than slot neatly into an existing programme. North Sea Round Town is looking for projects that surprise audiences, challenge expectations, and add something new to the city’s musical energy.
What kind of projects NSRT wants
The call is open to innovative musical or music-related ideas. That could mean a concert, performance, dance battle, exhibition, workshop, jam session, or music film, as long as the project is musically relevant and fits the spirit of the festival.
In other words, this is not only for bands or standard live sets. If your idea connects music to place, community, movement, image, or experimentation, North Sea Round Town wants to hear about it.
A festival route into Rotterdam
The practical attraction here is not just exposure. Selected projects have the chance to collaborate with North Sea Round Town, with the festival supporting the project and giving it a place within the programme.
That makes this less of a generic talent call and more of a way into Rotterdam’s summer cultural calendar. If your project works best when it meets an audience in the city itself, this is the kind of framework that can help it land properly.
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Dates for the open call
The Open Call opened on 4 March 2026 and applications can be submitted until 1 April 2026.
More information and the application route are available here:
https://www.northsearoundtown.nl/open-call-pitch-maak-deel-uit-van-nsrt-festival/
Why this matters for Rotterdam makers
North Sea Round Town has always worked best when it feels plugged into the city rather than dropped onto it. That is why an open call like this matters. It gives Rotterdam-based makers, as well as artists with a strong idea for Rotterdam, a way to shape what the festival becomes.
And for audiences, that usually means the most interesting part of the programme is not always the biggest name. Sometimes it is the project that came in sideways, took a risk, and made the city feel a bit more alive for a night.
