At the start of the nineties, house music( hard core) was breaking through in the Netherlands. Irfan van Ewijk, Duncan Stutterheim, and Theo Lelie (from whence came I D&T) were so passionate about the music that they began to organize their own house party in 1992 in Utrecht. They each borrowed $40,000 from their parents and, despite dire warnings from family and friends, succeeded in getting over 8,000 people to attend their post-Graduation party, “The Final Exam”, and made a tidy $50,000 profit.

After this first success, the three founders wanted to organize even larger raves. And large they became, with names like Thunderdome, Global Hardcore Nation, Mystery Land, Speed Razor, and Earthquake. New offerings, such as CDs, magazines, and other merchandise were added to meet the needs of a whole new sub-culture, called “Gabbers”.

Thunder Magazine became the largest-selling dance magazine in the Netherlands, with over 30,000 subscribers. Then, the market changed. The fad around hardcore house music came to an end, and in order to secure its future, ID&T, which at the time employed over 50 people, had to respond. The founders decided to switch to other musical styles and in 1999 organized Innercity in Amsterdam. It was a risk, as never before had such a large indoor event been organized without hardcore music. However, ID&T pulled it off, and today Innercity is, according to its creators, the largest indoor festival of any kind in the world.

New experience offerings like Trance Energy, Shockers, and Massive followed. The latest events, a series called Sensation, White Edition and Black Edition, each draw over 70,000 people dancing from 10 at night until 6 the following morning. Everybody is looking ahead of this special event and everybody confirms to the dress code “white or black’. This year tickets were sold out in two hours.

KPMG conducted research in the dance market and estimated a volume of $500 million in the Netherlands alone. ID&T further created its own radio station, two more magazines, ID&T magazine, a beach club, and a restaurant. Most recently, a theatre in the center of Amsterdam was transformed into a ´Moulin Rouge´-like nightclub.

Through it all, ID&T has maintained a core set of values, which founder Duncan Stutterheim says are intuition, dynamic, creative, unexpected, and no boundaries. Its “ten commandments” include such sub-culturally specific maxims as “ Only God can judge us, Yesterday is history, today is a gift, tomorrow is a mystery”, “Do the don’ts”, and “Keep your dark side”.

ID&T believes it to be in the core business of creating meaning for a large group of young people in society that are on the threshold of making their mark in life. They help these people make sense of what they see and do in the world, and thereby create their own identities. They construct an environment and a social group to which people can belong and participate in.