Legendary evenings, every weekend, in a remote building on an industrial estate. But also money problems, unhealthy living, little supervision and a lot of chaos. Paradigm has been around for 12.5 years. A look back with co-founder Piter Terpstra.
It smells like deep fryers in the Paradigm canteen. There is a huge jar of homemade caramel on a table, for those who are interested. The canteen is a kind of greenhouse with a high ceiling, on the edge of the concrete surface that so many of us know as the Paradigm festival site. We look out on the Romney warehouse and the dome. Both stages during Paradigm’s outdoor events. But there are no cheerful people in eccentric outfits today. There are no DJs playing and no dance music.
Paradigm has been around for 12.5 years
The handful of Paradigm employees have just had their lunch break, smelling the frying air. Piter Terpstra, co-founder and co-owner of Paradigm, sweeps crumbs from the robust wooden table and sits down on one of the three leather sofas. The wood stove is still burning.
Paradigm has been around for 12.5 years this weekend and they are celebrating with a weekend of parties and a book. A book full of stories from different perspectives and by all kinds of authors. One about the visitors, about the location and the buildings, interviews with DJs and other friends of the organization. Photos play the most important role in the book, all of which have been selected by photographer Niels Cornelis Meijer (Knelis).
“This was a wish we had for some time,” says Piter. “There are stories, photos and videos everywhere from the 12.5 years of parties and events we have organized, but it was not collected anywhere. If you wanted to know something, you really had to go looking. This book is a reference work, a nostalgic trip through history. And it’s just really nice that our children and parents can now watch this too. My mother always helped at the coin counter during the festival, but that was once a year. Now she can see what the rest of the year is like.”
Paradigm started with a bus trip to Berlin
That disorganized, fragmented nature is characteristic of Paradigm. The organization – now one of the most important cultural organizations in Grunn – was founded in 2011 on Helsinki Street. “In 2010, Paul (Grimmius, co-founder of Paradigm, ed.) and I went to Berlin with a bus and a lot of people from the music industry from various Dutch cities. We didn’t know each other before, but we started talking on the bus. Then the idea arose to organize a festival in Groningen. In Berlin we were inspired by the freedom, that the partying never stops. We also wanted to continue enjoying ourselves, every weekend.”
The first Paradigm festival was Sunday Afternoon Collective (SAC) with music collective Kollektiv Turmstrasse, on October 16, 2011. That same year, Piter, Paul and Hessel (the third founder) had already organized a festival, but it was still called Technootjes Festival. The idea for SAC arose from the fact that they did not yet have a full catering license for their club on Helsinki Street. That’s why the party was only allowed to last until 00:00. Then we’ll do it on Sunday, was the thought. Party from 2 to 12 and go back to work fresh the next day.
“The first SAC was legendary. Your first club party will stay with you for the rest of your life. We had a large cloud painted on the wall, because the Kollektiv Turmstrasse album cover also had a cloud on it. The location was actually impossible to find, in the middle of an industrial estate. And a lot of people had helped to get the club ready on time.”
‘We didn’t take anything into account’
“Those first years on Helsinki Street we did exactly what we wanted,” says Piter. “We didn’t take anything into account. Not with money, not what visitors might want. There was a car in the middle of the dance floor, we painted the walls every month. We were also fully involved in the party.” Once the catering permit was finalized, the Paradigm club opened. It was open every weekend. And every weekend Piter and the rest were there.
And they were at the afterparty, where plenty of free drinks were handed out. Volunteers were allowed to come, they took people with them again. No one was monitoring everything that was happening.
Piter, Paul and Hessel liked the name Paradigm because a paradigm is elusive and inexplicable. Like a club. It’s mysterious what happens there.
That all sounds very raw and as if the edges were often pushed to the limit, but it is not the best basis for an organization where bills have to be paid and people work.
‘We were not good managers’
“I have to – or actually we have to – take matters into our own hands,” Piter reflects. “We were not good managers. We paid bills late, didn’t consult enough, were distant, didn’t care for the people who worked at Paradigm and perhaps didn’t appreciate them enough. ”
There have been people who left the organization in an unpleasant way because it wasn’t working. “They did their job as best they could under our leadership. It was our fault that it ended badly and that was sad.”
And then there was the many parties, the chasing and everything that comes with it, which as an employee you easily got sucked into. “Well. We did that just as well ourselves, so we didn’t set a good example.”
People lost themselves in Paradigm, Piter now agrees.
Hundreds of thousands of euros in debt
No matter how legendary and popular Paradigm became, it was also chaotic. In 2017, Paradigm moved from Helsinkistraat to the Suikerterrein, but they started building there in 2016. “That wasn’t good. We weren’t doing well on Helsinki Street because we were spending thousands of euros on artists every weekend, giving away a lot of free drinks and not paying close attention to where we spent money. And at the same time we invested enormously in our new place.”
Result: in 2016, Paradigm almost went under. Far too few tickets were sold for the first festival on the Suikerterrein and suppliers were not paid. It involved hundreds of thousands of euros in debt. “A childhood friend of Paul’s then lent us money and that saved us. Plus the second festival at the Suikerterrein, which sold well. All this time I said: it will be fine.”
According to Piter, 2019 and the subsequent corona years were a turning point. They hired someone who was responsible for the finances and all other tasks were divided among the owners and six employees. “Previously we were all responsible for everything, but that mainly resulted in us chatting a lot but not making any decisions.” The corona years were annoying because nothing can continue, but it also gave the organization time to tighten things up and test them before they really started again.
Paradigm is Paradigm because of the atmosphere
Now Piter can look at Paradigm with more distance. He is now 46, has a family and no longer parties so hard. However, he has no plans to leave the organization yet. “I think it is important to create a place where people can escape from everyday reality. Some people are really bothered by everything that’s happening in the world and need places like Paradigm. Because they find harmony, connection and togetherness here. Where people are kind to each other and respect each other. Where the security guards are friendly and the bar staff are just normal people. Don’t behave arrogantly. We work very hard to maintain that atmosphere.”
The organization will never become rich, it remains fragile. “You are dependent on the whims of music styles and the audience. We also do not book very commercial names. Once you start playing big DJs, you have to outdo yourself every time. That is not possible if you organize eleven events a year.” Moreover, big names do not really suit Paradigm. The smaller performers are part of the charm. Many people do not come for the names on the line-up, but for the atmosphere of the events.
‘People need an escape’
That atmosphere, the love and solidarity, is of course due to the location, the music, the sun that (usually) shines, the togetherness, but the pills that are taken also play a role. “That’s right, the drugs stimulate that feeling,” says Piter. “You cannot ignore it as a festival organizer. Drugs are the most normal thing in the world among young people these days. Not only with us, also in random bars in the city center. People need that excuse, I can’t explain it otherwise.”
“It is an illusion to think that you can banish it from your property. At the entrance it says that drugs are prohibited, but you cannot take off people’s underwear and look in the butt. It is a very complicated issue, because of the entire criminal world behind it. At the same time, it can also have positive, connecting effects. That is a major contradiction, but as a festival organizer you have to deal with it.”