Ruigoord

Ruigoord is a creative village within the Amsterdam municipality, located in Houtrakpolder in Dutch province, North-Holland. It is a small village, which until the 1880s was an island in IJbay, it then turned to a polder. An industrial harbor atmosphere surrounds this village, which is partially closed in by Amsterdam port. It is located 8 kilometers east of Haarlem.

In the 1960s, Amsterdam municipality wanted to extend its harbor, and it evacuated the village, but the plan fell through. A group of artists from Amsterdam squatted the abandoned village in 1972 and made a colony there, becoming an artistic community ever since. The formally Roman Catholic town has since become a small flourishing community with a wide range of cultural activities such as full moon parties, festivals, and exhibitions.

The Ruigoods village gives a home to an old-age tradition where art and life integrate into a shared experiment. Ruigoord village has shaped the needs of artists as they no longer need to worry about urbanization. It has played a central role in Amsterdam’s underground art scene and has been a reliable source of Dutch creative movements. It is the mutual involvement of joint projects that make it an ideal place that gives it the character of an artist colony.

www.ruigoord.nl