Le Guess Who? is a leading international festival, celebrated for presenting groundbreaking music in inspiring ways. For the past 20 years, Le Guess Who? has built one of the most vital platforms for artists from around the world, championing sounds that transcend borders, genres and expectations.
The festival is a celebration of cultural exchange where traditional forms are reimagined, bold new experiments in sound find international audiences, and artists are invited not just to perform, but to reshape the conversation.
From 5-8 November, Le Guess Who? celebrates its 20th Anniversary Edition in Utrecht, The Netherlands. The festival now announces the full program for its freely accessible Sound & Culture Summit, taking place on Friday 6 November at Theater Utrecht.
Sound & Culture Summit 2026
Featuring workshops, panels, performances and listening sessions, the Sound & Culture Summit takes a deep dive into stories and experiences from the global cultural field on community organizing, decolonial practices, music curation, sonic heritage and how sound shapes our identities.
The Art of Dissent: Political Expression in the Music Industry explores how artists navigate the complexities of political expression in art. Interdisciplinary artist, poet and curator Rohan Ayinde hosts this conversation with activist and co-founder of the BDS movement Omar Barghouti, poet Lillian Allen and Palestinian MC, singer and producer Shadia Mansour.
Journalist and co-founder of Hearing Things Dylan Green hosts a conversation with musician and writer Melvin Gibbs about his recent book How Black Music Took Over the World, which traces how Black musical innovations traveled, transformed and ultimately reshaped global sound.
Diasporic Soundscapes: The Urgency of Intangible Cultural Heritage discusses the role of diasporas in preserving, shaping and promoting traditional music across countries and cultural contexts. Curator Raziyah Heath facilitates this conversation with Tabanka Records co-founder Henrique Silva and DJ Galecta.
Palestinian Sound Archive founder Mo'min Swaitat presents My beautiful side of the archive: a program to introduce the archive with a short documentary, talk and DJ set, exploring how archival practices can act as a decolonial methodology and an act of resistance.
Right Relations: Bridging The Gap Between Communities and Institutions explores how can institutions and grassroots collectives collaborate in truly meaningful, community-centered ways. Sociologist and educator Ebru Aydin hosts this conversation with Anne Breure, director of Theater Utrecht director, Andre Damian, founder of the Utrecht Ballroom Scene, and Sandra Maat, business coordinator at OCCII.
Legacies of Resistance: The Evolution of Dub dives into the politics, context and history behind dub music. Refuge Worldwide co-founder Richard Akingbehin hosts this talk with performer and activist Black Omolo and pioneering producer Gavsborg, tracing its roots in sound system culture, its ties to colonial and postcolonial realities, and how it became a powerful language of resistance, identity and community.
LGW presents a series of practical 'How To'-sessions, hosted by DJ & Advisor in culture & music Vanity Roxane, featuring:
• How To Curate a Line-Up (featuring booking agent, artist manager and event promoter Yuko Asanuma & performance artist and U? curator Fai Aldhukair);
• How To Run a Label (with Roger Dorresteijn, managing director of Epitaph);
• How To Set Up an Online Radio Station (featuring sound artist and representative of Tīrkultūra Radio Reinis Semēvics & DJ and Refuge Worldwide resident Leona Ojake);
• How To Dub (with artist and DJ CARISTA and a soon-to-be-announced LGW performer).
Full program for the Sound & Culture Summit
The Art of Dissent: Political Expression in the Music Industry
Facilitated by Rohan Ayinde, featuring Omar Barghouti, Lillian Allen, Shadia Mansour
Diasporic Soundscapes: The Urgency of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Facilitated by Raziyah Heath, featuring Henrique Silva, Galecta
The Politics of Culture: Responsibility in the Cultural Sector
Facilitated by Branislav Jovančević, curated by Reset! Live Podcast
Right Relations: Bridging The Gap Between Communities and Institutions
Facilitated by Ebru Aydin, featuring Andre Damian, Anne Breure, Sandra Maat
How Black Music Took Over the World: A Book Discussion with Melvin Gibbs
Facilitated by Dylan Green
Sound, Power: Sounds Systems and Dub
Facilitated by Julian Henriques
Legacies of Resistance: The Evolution of Dub
Facilitated by Richard Akingbehin, featuring Black Omolo, Gavsborg
VOICES
Facilitated by Aliyah Niambi DeVaughn, featuring Simone Zeefuik, Noleca Radway
Presented in collaboration with V-Day
Palestinian Sound Archive: My beautiful side of the archive
Facilitated by Mo'min Swaitat
How To Curate a Line-Up
Facilitated by Vanity Roxane, featuring Fai Aldhukair, Yuko Asanuma
How To Run a Label
Facilitated by Vanity Roxane, featuring Roger Dorresteijn, TBA
How To Dub
Facilitated by Vanity Roxane, featuring CARISTA, TBA
How To Set Up an Online Radio Station
Facilitated by Vanity Roxane, featuring Reinis Semēvics, Leona Ojake
Workshop: The Challenges of the Artist Visa
Facilitated by Ezgi Aktug, Aden Mete - RSVP only
Workshop: ęmí: freedomsong | The Humming Score
Facilitated by Rohan Ayinde and Tayo Rapoport - RSVP only
Workshop: Decode & Deconstruct with Ableton
Facilitated by Pien Breeuwsma - RSVP only
Workshop: Black Sound School
Facilitated by Raziyah Heath - RSVP only
TIMES Documentaries: WILDTRACKS, A Forbidden Distance, The Talk
Directed by Andrzej Załęski, Crema Video
Sound & Culture Summit podcast series
Listen to our podcast series, recorded at the Sound & Culture Summit in 2025, featuring the episodes: Artistic Freedom Under Threat: Mobility, Censorship & the Right to Create, On Sound as Substance: Indigenous Approaches to Sound / Sound as Medicine, Up The Youth Club and Black Sonic Technologies: A Future Haunting.
The Sound & Culture Summit takes place on Friday 6 November at Theater Utrecht and is freely accessible. Some workshops are accessible via RSVP only.
This program is created in collaboration with Reset!, V-Day and Ableton. The Sound & Culture Summit is supported by TIMES (The Independent Movement for Electronic Scenes) and co-financed by the EU.
Photography by Noah Schielen
