A festival by the city for the city

ZOMER VAN ANTWERPEN grew out of the summer programme of activities celebrating Antwerpen as cultural capital of Europe in 1993, and has been under the artistic direction of Patrick De Groote since its inception.
Since 1998 Zomer van Antwerpen has been one of the biggest projects of ANTWERPEN OPEN vzw, an independent arts organization, which was founded in the same year. 

Since the beginning of 2011 the festival operates as an autonomous association from the site of Nieuw Zurenborg (Antwerp-Berchem).

The summer festival is mainly subsidized by the city of Antwerp and also structurally supported by the Flemish Community.