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🇺🇸 The balance of power in Washington is up for grabs. What will the U.S. midterms mean for America, Europe, and the res...
21/10/2026

🇺🇸 The balance of power in Washington is up for grabs. What will the U.S. midterms mean for America, Europe, and the rest of the world?

📆 Join us on Friday, November 6, at Pakhuis de Zwijger for Midterm Madness, an evening of analysis, debate, and discussion on the results and what they mean for the future of American politics.

🎙️ From the battle for control of Congress and the divisions reshaping both parties to the influence of technology and the risks of biological warfare, our program brings together journalists, experts, and commentators to examine what the results mean for American democracy and its place in the world.

📚 The program features sessions in both English and Dutch. Check the language, time, location, and speakers listed for each event. Our friends at the The American Book Center - Amsterdam will also be on site selling a selection of books throughout the evening!

ENG | 20:00 - 21:00 | GROTE ZAAL

🗳️ The United States goes to the polls in a country increasingly at odds with itself. The 2026 midterms will determine who controls Congress, but beneath the horse race lies a bigger question: can the American political system still translate a divided country into a functioning democracy? Mark Leibovich, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of Thank You for Your Servitude, joins moderator Sean Cotter-Lem to examine the forces reshaping American politics, from the mood of the electorate to the changing nature of power. A house divided against itself cannot stand. What will the midterms reveal about whether this one still can?

ENG | 21:15 - 22:00 | GROTE ZAAL

🎹 True Love for soprano and piano by composer Renske Vrolijk explores the charged intersection of religion, politics, and gender. Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, the cycle confronts the impact of Christian Nationalism on women’s rights in the US through music. Soprano Bauwien van der Meer and pianist Cecilia Boschman perform a selection of songs, followed by a conversation between Renske and Manon Portos Minetti, scholar in American Studies at Leiden University, specializing in fundamentalist American evangelical right-wing movements. Come listen, come question, come experience.

🏠 What can a 400-year-old relationship tell us about the world we share today?🧭 “Room in Our House,” a collaboration bet...
20/10/2026

🏠 What can a 400-year-old relationship tell us about the world we share today?

🧭 “Room in Our House,” a collaboration between Nicole Beutler Projects and Rematriation, explores the intertwined histories of the Dutch and the Haudenosaunee. Co-created by Nicole Beutler and Michelle Shenandoah, the performance draws on the “Two Row Wampum”, an agreement that envisioned different peoples living alongside one another in peace and friendship. We at the John Adams are very proud to have hosted this unique event.

🔍 The Haudenosaunee story is also part of the American story. Their democratic traditions predate the United States and offer a perspective on the ideas that helped shape it. Yet this history remains largely absent from how we understand America’s founding and its relationship with Europe.

🎭 Through dance, music, and storytelling, “Room in Our House” brings this history to life, asking what we can learn from it about democracy, coexistence, and the pursuit of peace. Following the performance, Dr. Markha Valenta of Utrecht University joined dancer Montana Summers for a discussion on the work and its wider significance.

👏 Our thanks to the performers, Montana Adams, Rob Polmann, and Montana Summers, and to the entire team behind “Room in Our House” for an unforgettable evening.

📸 Lotte Dale

✊ What does it mean to stand up when it might be easier to stay silent?🧭 That was one of the questions at the heart of o...
07/10/2026

✊ What does it mean to stand up when it might be easier to stay silent?

🧭 That was one of the questions at the heart of our conversation with Gal Beckerman, author of “How to Be a Dissident”, moderated by Ikenna Azuike.

🔍 Drawing on figures from Socrates and Hannah Arendt to more contemporary voices challenging power, Beckerman explored what drives people to question the world around them. At its heart is a deeply personal question: “can I live with myself?”

🪨 We also explored why dissent matters beyond the individual. It creates space for new ideas, challenges what has become normalized, and can become the starting point for broader change.

🇺🇸 250 years after the American Revolution, that feels particularly relevant. Democracy is sustained not only by institutions, but by citizens willing to think critically, challenge assumptions, and take responsibility for the society they shape.

🌱 An evening that left us with a simple thought: meaningful change does not always begin with certainty or power. Sometimes, it begins with the courage to ask a different question.

📸 Lotte Dale

History is not only written — sometimes, it is danced.Meet the two voices joining us for“Room in Our House: Dance & Dial...
29/09/2026

History is not only written — sometimes, it is danced.

Meet the two voices joining us for
“Room in Our House: Dance & Dialogue”.

📍 OBA Theater, Oosterdok
📅 19 October 2026
🕖 19:00

What does it mean to carry a tradition forward?

Montana grew up with the cultural traditions and teachings of his grandmother, an Oneida Nation Clan Mother. He first encountered dance through Longhouse traditions in his community, later training in Indigenous and contemporary dance.

He has worked extensively with Kaha Dance Theatre and collaborated with choreographer Santee Smith, including on “I Lost My Talk”.

Whose histories shape the present?

Dr. Markha Valenta is an Assistant Professor at University College Utrecht, whose research explores geopolitics, diversity and democracy across North America, Western Europe and South Asia.

Her work examines the United States and the history of Indigenous peoples, creating a conversation that connects North American history with the Netherlands.

First the dance, then the conversation.

What can movement reveal about history? What connects Indigenous histories in North America to the Netherlands?

Join Montana Summers and Markha Valenta for an evening of dance, dialogue, and questions that reach across time and borders.

📍 OBA Theater, Oosterdok
📅 19 October 2026
🕖 19:00

History is not only written. Sometimes, it is danced.Meet the two voices joining us for“Room in Our House” — Dance & Dia...
29/09/2026

History is not only written.
Sometimes, it is danced.

Meet the two voices joining us for
“Room in Our House” — Dance & Dialogue.

📍 OBA Theater, Oosterdok
📅 19 October 2026
🕖 19:00

What does it mean to carry a tradition forward?

Montana Summer grew up with the cultural traditions and teachings of his grandmother, an Oneida Nation Clan Mother. He first encountered dance through Longhouse traditions in his community, later training in Indigenous and contemporary dance.

He has worked extensively with Kaha Dance Theatre and collaborated with choreographer Santee Smith, including on “I Lost My Talk.”

Whose histories shape the present?

Dr. Markha Valenta is an Assistant Professor at University College Utrecht, whose research explores geopolitics, diversity and democracy across North America, Western Europe and South Asia.

Her work examines the United States and the history of Indigenous peoples, creating a conversation that connects North American history with the Netherlands.

FIRST, THE DANCE.
THEN, THE CONVERSATION.

What can movement reveal about history?
What connects Indigenous histories in North America to the Netherlands?

Join Montana Summers and Markha Valenta for an evening of dance, dialogue and questions that reach across time and borders.

📍 OBA Theater, Oosterdok
📅 19 October 2026
🕖 19:00

🇺🇸 What happens when private letters become a love story — and, two centuries later, are sung on stage?✍️ In “All That’s...
24/09/2026

🇺🇸 What happens when private letters become a love story — and, two centuries later, are sung on stage?

✍️ In “All That’s Sung in Love and War”, Terry Quinn reflects on transforming the correspondence of John and Abigail Adams into “A Distant Love”, a chamber opera composed by Gary Fagin.

📜 Their letters were intimate, political, frustrated, funny, and deeply personal. Quinn found the emotional core in their words and transformed it into a libretto, giving their relationship new life through music.

🎼 What happens when history moves from the archive to the stage? We’ll explore that question from another angle with “Room in Our House” on 19 October, bringing Dutch and Haudenosaunee histories together through dance and storytelling.

🔗 Read the full conversation with Terry Quinn on our Medium (link in bio).

💡 Want to publish with the John Adams Institute? Reach out to [email protected]

⚡️ Can the transatlantic alliance survive without trust?🤝 That was a central question of our conversation with former NA...
16/09/2026

⚡️ Can the transatlantic alliance survive without trust?

🤝 That was a central question of our conversation with former NATO Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security David Cattler () and Anna van Zoest (Anna Van Zoest) of the Atlantische Commissie, moderated by Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal (Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal).

🌍 We explored what holds the transatlantic alliance together when the assumptions that sustained it for generations are under strain. What allows democracies to act together when certainty disappears? And how do they exercise power without losing the principles that make it legitimate?

🇺🇸 This year, two anniversaries put those questions into sharp focus. As the United States marks 250 years of its democratic experiment, we also mark 25 years since 9/11, when NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time: an attack on one was an attack on all. Two moments separated by more than two centuries, connected by a common idea: that someone else’s security, freedom, and future can become our responsibility too.

🧱 That was the spirit of the evening: an alliance, like a wall, only holds when each part is strong enough to support the others. Trust is built piece by piece, stretch by stretch.

🪶 What does it mean to share a past—and how might that shared history shape a different future? What can two societies l...
09/09/2026

🪶 What does it mean to share a past—and how might that shared history shape a different future? What can two societies learn from centuries of diplomacy, conflict, memory, and exchange?

🤝 Room in Our House brings together Dutch and Haudenosaunee perspectives in an intimate dance performance exploring history, cultural memory, trauma, and the possibilities of healing and peace.

💃 Through movement, storytelling, and a cinematic soundtrack, Nicole Beutler Projects and Rematriation revisit the centuries-old relationship between the Dutch and the Haudenosaunee, asking what it means to live together across different histories and worldviews.

🌿 At the heart of the performance is a groundbreaking collaboration between Indigenous Haudenosaunee, North American, and Dutch/European artists. Rather than simply telling a story about cultural encounter, Room in Our House is itself an act of co-creation across cultures.

🗣️ Following the performance, Dr. Markha Valenta and Indigenous artist Montana Adams will explore the history of Dutch–Haudenosaunee relations and ask what we might learn today from Haudenosaunee approaches to diplomacy, democracy, cooperation, and living together.

🇺🇸 As the United States marks 250 years since the American Revolution, reflecting on the histories and perspectives that existed long before the founding of the United States is essential. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy offers a powerful perspective on democracy, collective decision-making, and the possibilities of coexistence.

📅 19 October 2026
🕢 7:00–8:45 PM
📍 OBA Theater, Oosterdokskade 143, Amsterdam
🎟️ Tickets via the link in our bio.

⚡ What does it mean to stand up when standing up comes at a cost? And how do we find the courage to dissent when fear, p...
07/09/2026

⚡ What does it mean to stand up when standing up comes at a cost? And how do we find the courage to dissent when fear, pressure, and polarization tell us to stay silent?

🗣️ Dissent is often imagined as an act of rebellion. But what if it begins somewhere much quieter: with the decision to question, to speak, and to refuse to simply go along?

🔎 Join us for an evening with acclaimed writer and The Atlantic staff writer Gal Beckerman, who draws on the lives of dissidents across time and continents—from Socrates and Hannah Arendt to Ai Weiwei—to ask what makes someone willing to challenge the status quo.

🧠 What is the mindset of a dissident? Where does the courage to dissent come from? And how can we cultivate the capacity to stand up—not only in moments of crisis, but in the everyday choices that shape our societies?

🇺🇸 As the United States marks 250 years since the American Revolution, these questions carry particular weight. The American story began with dissent: a challenge to political authority grounded in the belief that people have the right to question the systems that govern them. Two and a half centuries later, what does that tradition of dissent ask of us?

🤝 Moderated by Ikenna Azuike, this conversation will explore dissent not as a rare act of heroism, but as a deeply human capacity—and a vital part of democratic life.

📖 Gal Beckerman is the author of “How to Be a Dissident”, a powerful exploration of the people and ideas that have shaped the art of standing up.

📅 5 October 2026
🕢 7:30–9:00 PM
📍 Podium Mozaïek, Bos en Lommerweg 191, Amsterdam
🎟️ Tickets via the link in our bio.

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