Thesis by Leon de Bruijn
BA Graphic Design
Royal Academy of Arts

Supervisor Prof. Dr. Füsun Türetken
Coding Tutors François Girard-Meunier & Thomas Buxo
Special thanks to Charlotte den Hoed & Djez Haneveld

How can communities take matters into their own hands and organize grassroots parties, outside of mainstream leisure spaces, as a way to meet essential needs of their community? This thesis explores that question by examining historical examples such as Jamaican sound system culture, Bronx block parties, and early underground disco, alongside field research from Marseille. These parties reclaim and transform spaces, often designed for capitalist-oriented functions, into hubs of community-building self-expression, and collective joy.

As a DJ, club night organizer, and regular partygoer, I am interested in the potential of parties. I am fascinated by how quickly parties can spontaneously arise almost out of nowhere. How they can temporarily define a space, be it through sound and community. Creating a place where people have the freedom to create alternative realities. I'm inspired by how a group of partying people can generate so much energy when they synchronize, resulting in a collective experience of ecstasy.

In this thesis, I'm asking the question: How can communities take matters into their own hands and organize grassroots parties, outside of mainstream leisure spaces, as a way to meet essential needs of their community? In the first chapter, I’m investigating based on what needs parties are organized. In the second chapter, I write about examples of how spaces outside the mainstream leisure spaces can be organized.

I write from the perspective of someone who advocates that people should be the best decision-makers when it comes to their own lives and environments. I write in favor of the weirdos, the exceptional, the outcasts, and the marginalized, they know how to party!

Why do people party? Based on what needs and necessities are parties organized? I started organizing my parties because I felt other events in the city lacked playfulness, and I believed that the music that I liked, which is warm and soulful, was underrepresented in the Rotterdam scene. Chatting with other DJs and party organizers, I found out that the necessity to start something new, like a collective or a new event, often comes from missing certain elements in the parties at the current moment. How parties can meet the needs of different local communities, is by listening to these needs and taking action based on this.

In the podcast: "MODERN LOVE", and in conversations with my thesis supervisor: Füsun Türetken, Füsun talked about how the first discos emerged out of necessity for the queer and black communities to come together. For LGBTQIA+ people, clubs served as safe havens. “If you think of gay club culture, what was a hideout space, so to say, for a cer- tain generation. Or very sacred space in terms of having the possibilities of meeting someone” (Türetken et al., 2017, 12:12). They provided a safer space for alternative expression, something that didn't fit into the heteronormative matrix of the day. She said that club/sub/underground culture has always served as a space for people who don't identify with the mainstream to have a platform. She was also talking about how clubbing is not only necessary for people who have it hardest in society, or only in times and places of extreme conservative right-wing politics. Also in democratically okay societies, we are still pressured by other factors, like our work, or having to take care of family. Humans are social creatures, and even very introverted people need connection. Rosen (2022) writes, “The notion of belonging fulfills a profound human need for connection, community, and creativity. Just as the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, the collective is more than a mass of individuals – it is the foundation upon which movements are built. In a culture where the personal is political, this has transformative results, reshaping the landscape of our shared experience and in its ideal incarnation, offering a path to liberation”. As Roses said, I think parties are great places to form connections. As a club night organizer and DJ, I see these connections being formed all the time:

Not far from the dance floor with only the turntables between me and the screaming crowd of dancers, I try to find the next record that will encourage everyone to take this party to the next level. Engaged in the energy of the party, I try to be sensible about what the people in the audience are feeling and experiencing. In a way, I become a spectator of the night. A few songs later I see two people making out on the dance floor. While a few songs ago they were still looking nervously at each other, wondering who would be the first to make a move. I see friendships being formed, even though this often happens in the smoking area where there can be socialized verbally, certainly the dance floor is also a good place to test out this new friendship! This is why I like throwing parties, this is the pleasure of parties.

Partying can be more than superficial escapism, it can foster communities, creating space for people who are not allowed to exist in daily life. Not only is partying more than escapism Knijnenburg (2025) rejects the whole idea. In her article “Hoe onze productiviteitsfetisj ons verdooft”, translated to “How our fetish for productivity is numbing us” she argues: why are all the nice things in life called escapism? And why is work real life? The night has a certain reputation of escapism, of numbing us so we can go back to work next Monday. But isn't work what's numbing us and partying that helps us feel alive? She describes the dance floor as a place where she feels completely human, where you can play, connect with others, dance, and be yourself (Knijnenburg, 2025). I share this experience. The night can feel more real and alive than the day. During partying and while going out at night social rules that shape the working hours dissolve, creating opportunities to question these rules and to redefine them.

The lack of rules during the night can also have very negative consequences. The darkness and chaos of many party spaces provides anonymity, which makes it easier for people to get away with harassment 1. The heavy use of alcohol 2 and lack of regulations or control can result in a lot of harassment, or worse getting drugged or getting raped. Unfortunately clubs and parties are often not ideal spaces, they can be places of exclusion, and discrimination, and very much in favor of the status quo, especially clubs that cater to the mainstream. Solutions like floor angels 3 on the dancefloors and providing clear policies about: consent, discrimination, alcohol abuse, etc. can improve the safety of these spaces. The safety of parties can also be improved by community building. Community building can lead to social agreements about the value of inclusive dancefloors and safety, they can collectively monitor each other and can call each other out if someone is misbehaving. The safeness of spaces that are trying to foster inclusivity, diversity, and safeness can still be heavily contrasted with what is awaiting outside of them, even very “safe” spaces cannot guarantee safe trips home. In the examples of parties in the following chapters, safety was not at all a given. Many of these parties were illegal, in a lot of cases the police used excessive force to treat those attending (Jones, 1995, p. 15). Safe spaces had to be fought for. Having a club or party does not automatically immediately mean a sanctuary, safe space, and so on, but has to actively create this.

When urban planning of cities is being done by governments, free spaces (translated from “vrijplaatsen”) and non-profit spaces, are not always given space. They have to be created by people themselves (grassroots organized), taken, or claimed (Schmetz, 2023). Throughout history, you often see that parties are often located inside places that were not originally intended for that purpose. For example, courtyards or squares transformed into dance halls in Jamaica, block parties on the streets of New York City, early discos in places like someone's apartment or in a olg parking garage, and Marseilles street parties. All these examples I will use to prove my point: that by partying in these places their original (often capitalist-oriented) function is being disregarded and transformed into places where building communities, self-expression & pleasure are essential.

One of the most important elements in transforming mundane spaces into spaces for partying: is the sound system. Sound system culture emerged in Jamaica in the 1940s. Sound system culture was born out of poverty, only a limited number of people could afford a radio at that time. These people would put their radio on the street so that their neighbors could also hear the newest songs. Listening to radio music became a collective experience. As more people joined it meant that the sound had to be amplified more (Do The Reggae, 2020). For this reason, larger speakers and amplifiers were built in a DIY manner (Scott, 2022). The owners of these sound systems would sell beer and food to make money. Innovations in building better and larger sound systems were partly motivated by competition from other sound system groups (Genius, 2017). There was a lot of effort and thought put into the experience of the music, how can sound not only be reproduced in high fidelity but how can the listening experience be enhanced. Pushing the boundaries of the experience of music (Jones, 1995, p3).

Sound system culture shows the effectiveness of speakers to occupy space. I think this is because of two main reasons: the physical properties of a speaker and the musical effect speakers create. Speakers move air, this is what we perceive as sound. The air that is being moved is in a way the negative space of architecture. This makes speakers very powerful tools for claiming space, with one speaker you can fill an entire room with sound. With larger sound systems the sound emission can also go beyond the wall, go through the gaps in walls, and sometimes be heard far ahead. Loud bass frequencies can be felt physically in your body (Jones, 1995, p3). Besides the fact that speakers influence space physically, speakers also influence space musically. Music sets the mood, the basis. Indicates how to move, to what rhythm, to what tempo & with what emotion. In addition, the lyrics of a song can convey powerful messages. “Black liberation, police brutality, and oppression from Babylon were among the dominant lyrical themes found during the pinnacle of roots reggae in the 1970s” (Schenk, et al., 2020).

What I like about Jamaican sound system parties is that the sound system can move around and be set up in multiple locations. Jones (1995, p. 3) described the sound system as “sophisticated mobile entertainment institutions”. The original function of a public space like a street is disregarded and hijacked for partying, music, dancing, and getting together with neighbors and people from your community. “Sound System culture is a people's culture, a street culture that breaks down all social barriers and unifies people in a fashion that is pretty unique” (Henry, 2022). Sound system culture is a collective experience, since you have multiple people working towards a collective goal, to set up and operate these huge systems (see figure 1). The sound technician, music selector, the MC, the person who moved the system from one place to the other, the people who are selling food, and the audience, are all working together to create an immense experience (Jones, 1995, p. 11).

I believe the people make the party! They are the most important element, yet also the most unpredictable—you can never be sure who will show up, if they;ll have the time, or whether they'll truly connect with each other and the atmosphere. For a party to come alive, attendees need to bring creativity, think outside the box, crack jokes, and actively contribute ideas for what happens next. There also needs to be a deeper reason for people to come together—what connects them, what values they share, and what desires they seek to fulfill in the club space that may be missing from their daily lives.

In the 1970s, sound systems traveled overseas alongside Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom (Schenk et al., 2020). Sound systems parties provided a space for Caribbean immigrants, who were often excluded from pubs and clubs (Sword, 2016). As Schenk et al. (2020) describes, “Local underground dances allowed them to forget their predicament and rejoice in the sound of heavy bass pumping from custom speakers in the tradition of their Jamaican forbearers”. I think that the ability to create your own spaces for your community when conventional places are discriminatory is a powerful way to resist.

Block parties functioned as spaces to gather for community, similar to Jamaican parties in the sense that they hijacked public space. It was brought from Jamaica to New York by DJ Kool Herc. “These block parties, as well as jams held in parks, school yards, and youth centers provided spaces for teenagers in the Bronx to gather and take pride in their community while creating a cultural art form of their own, far from the glittering lights of uptown clubs and the violence of street gangs.” (Schenk, et al., 2020). According to Jones (1995, pp. 12–13), some reasons these parties operated outside the mainstream leisure sphere include institutional racism within these institutions, restrictions on closing times, and increased state police scrutiny. The block parties are a good example of how subcultures can create their own space when the mainstream does not accommodate the needs of marginalized communities.

Transforming spaces into a party space can be a simple act. When talking with my thesis supervisor: Füsun, she showed me this video clip: “Street Dance” by “Break Machine” (Break Machine - Street Dance, 1983). I like that it shows how in a very simple way a street can be transformed into a place for expression. All they needed was 4 unfolded cardboard boxes taped together, a boom box, and 3 dancers in matching outfits (Figure 3). With only a few “party ingredients” the function of the street was transformed from a transit space to a destination itself.

Around the same time and not far from the Bronx “another disenfranchised community in need of a space to call their own, found solace and solidarity in clubs that played a funky, eclectic mix of dance music: disco.” (Schenk, et al., 2020). The first discos were also located in places built for purposes different from those of a club but were claimed to serve this function. Two examples of very influential clubs would be the Loft and the Paradise Garage 4. David's Mancuso's Loft, which was a club in his apartment. And Paradise Garage was located in a parking garage. Both places were places for people to come together as people. On the dancefloor, differences between hierarchy could be put aside, liberated from capitalist roles that you have during the day like consumer, employee, or boss. People could just pe people. Clubs can act like glue for society, putting differences that divide us aside while celebrating things that make us unique. When you can make a room full of people feel and experience the same emotions, it can create a good basis for solidarity. Or how Mel Cheren, co-founder of Paradise Garage and West End Records said in the documentary “The Godfather of Disco” (Graham, 2021) “If you can dance together, you can also live together”.

In the above examples (sound system parties, block parties, early discos), we see that groups of people who are excluded from society want to come together. Then there is a need to come together, but this cannot be done in the standard ways, because they are discriminated against. This is where the illegal aspect comes in. However, because of the illegal aspect and the absence of certain obvious options, this often results in creative and innovative ways.

Last year I lived for half a year in Marseille, a city located in the south of France. During my time there I was inspired by the way the local youth left their mark on the city. This was made visible with activist graffiti messages, and posters they hung everywhere of local street parties and other events. They were rebellious, radical, activist, and anarchist.

Marseille is France's second-largest city. Rebellious and political in its nature, the locals of Marseille are currently fighting gentrification in a direct and loud way. (L’Opez 2023) The city center of Marseille which was once a place where many migrants arrived from many corners of the world is now a place that is increasingly being cleared to make way for the richer Parisians and tourism (3 op reis, Frankrijk, Marseille, 2024). A battle is being waged by the local population about who owns the city? And this battle is making itself visible.

One of the ways you can see this battle of gentrification is through the yearly protest/event/party: Carnaval de la Plain. “Since 2000, on every third Sunday of March, a carnival has taken place in a large square: La Place Jean Jaures, otherwise known as La Plaine. Once controlled by the locals, urban renovation has now made it a highly symbolic territorial battleground between militants and the police. Members of the community of La Plaine, Noailles and Réformés (three neighborhoods in Marseille), made up of artists, anarchists and left-wing activists, get together to celebrate their war against gentrification by building enormous floats and effigies to parade through the streets, incarnating hated national and local political figures in wood, textiles and papier-mâché” (L’Opez 2023).

One of the traditions of the “Carnaval de la Plaine” is that anyone who dares to arrive without a costume is pelted with flour. I think this works as a way to create solidarity and reinforce the collective spirit of the event. By requiring participation through costume, the carnival actively rejects passive spectatorship, making everyone a part of the protest rather than just an observer.

Besides the carnival Marseille has another interesting party that inspired me: “Fête De La Musique”, it's the national day celebrating the amateur musician. It is a celebration of music throughout the entire city where everyone who owns DJ equipment or a speaker goes outside and starts playing all at once. “La Plaine” again becomes an overwhelming epicenter with a minimum of 40 different musical acts on one square. This party is less activist than the carnival, in the sense that it is a national holiday, but because it celebrates the amateur musician it does provides space for bottom-up initiatives.

Fête de la Musique carries the same spirit as the carnival but with a stronger focus on sound system culture. What makes it so powerful is that the audience are the same people who are the organizers. It is fully accessible—no tickets, no corporate interference. Even though there is no security the event still feels safe because there is a sense of community. It is interesting to see what happens when the rules disappear for one day. By rules, I mean no volume limits, liquor licenses, or other permits. For one day the locals are allowed to make their own decisions, and in doing so they take over the whole city.

What inspired me the most is the fact that these parties are in the public space, organized by the locals, without security and much regulation. There is a sense of social control and everyone just wants to make a cohesive festivity. It is inspiring to see how you can make a regular square into a roaring space with loud music and fun people. Not only is it fun to see the space transform, but it is also inspiring to see how people use their creativity to make a statement. They go all out with the signs and wagons and the creativity you need for that is unmatched. They convey the message: Airbnb fuck off! with humor and joyful energy. It's a party but also a protest.

The battle against gentrification in Marseille reminded me of the struggles I documented in Rotterdam's nightlife. One year ago I made a documentary about the disappearance of nightlife in Rotterdam called ”Waar Zullen We Uit Gaan?” (de Bruijn, 2024), many clubs that were important for the alternative artsy scene, were going to close around the same time, partly due to gentrification of the areas where these clubs were organized or because of money issues. People in Rotterdam were asking the question, where do we go out now? In the documentary, I tried to imagine with people from the club community, what elements are important for a utopian club. Since then some new places have popped up and some old spaces are reopening again. But still, I feel like there is a fear of Rotterdam losing its identity through gentrification. Looking forward, I hope to see more cities embrace this spirit of self-organization, where people feel empowered to shape their own cultural spaces rather than having them dictated by external forces. Often when you have a deep need other people share this feeling. If you disagree about something or think it should be different, find your people who think alike, and don't be afraid to take action.

To conclude, beyond escapism, grassroots parties can actively meet fundamental human needs by fostering genuine connections and offering alternative modes of self-expression. Grassroots events demonstrate how communities can reclaim public spaces that are otherwise dictated by capitalist urban planning. The examples I gave (sound system parties, block parties, underground discos) highlight that when mainstream institutions fail to accommodate diversity, grassroots initiatives emerge to fill that void.

Jamaican sound system culture shows how sound systems culture creatively transforms mundane spaces into spaces of collective enjoyment where communities can be built. Hip-hop block parties show how communities can hijack public space when mainstream leisure spaces do not accommodate the needs of marginalized communities. The “Street Dance” by “Break Machine” video clip shows that transforming spaces into a party space can be a simple act. Changing the space from transit space to a destination with only a few simple elements. The early discos show how dancefloors can liberate people from their capitalist roles, removing differences between hierarchies, and creating a good base for solidarity. If you can dance together, you can also live together” (Graham, 2021). Marseilles street party “Carnaval de la Plaine” shows how parting can still be used as a way to address social issues, and how a party can protest. Marseilles street party “Fete de la Musique” shows what happens when the locals take control over the city.

When you experience a strong desire or conviction, chances are others feel the same way, find those people and take bold action!

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