Every June, the Dutch island of Terschelling transforms into a living stage. In the dunes, forests, barns and villages, artists create new work that connects art, people and place. Theatre, dance, music, visual art and cross-disciplinary experiments merge with the landscape — inviting audiences to experience the island through a new lens. 

Over more than forty years, Oerol has grown from a small street festival into an internationally recognised festival for site-specific arts. It remains a place where artistic imagination and the natural environment meet. Where art becomes a temporary layer over the landscape, but also a catalyst for dialogue about our shared future. 

Oerol is deeply committed to the development of new work. Through residencies, co-productions and long-term collaborations, artists are given space to explore the relationship between culture, ecology and community. Our Werkplaats functions as an open laboratory for experimentation, supporting innovative artistic practices that respond to the environment and the times we live in. 

Increasingly, Oerol also acts as a platform for sustainable creation: connecting local knowledge, scientific perspectives and international artistic networks. Projects developed on the island often continue beyond the festival, as lasting interventions, collaborations and ideas that resonate far beyond the Wadden Sea. 

Founded by: Joop Mulder 

Direction: Sabine Pater (Artistic director), Jiska Bazuin (Managing director)