Until 1 September
Filmmuseum (also at Filmmuseum Cinerama)

Traditionally, every summer the Filmmuseum presents a programme based around a famous filmstar and this year’s choice of Audrey Hepburn has an added poignancy...

Until 12 September 2004
FOAM

Photos of the world famous diarist and her family taken by her father Otto Frank, a talented amateur photographer. The exhibition, which opens on what would have been her 75th birthday, includes photos never before seen in public.

Currently playing in cinemas in the Netherlands. For anyone interested, I've written a review of Fahrenheit 9/11 at www.expatica.com

Until 31 August
HUG Gallery for International Photography

Hoppy graduated from Cambridge University in 1958 with a Master’s degree in Physics and embarked upon a short career as a nuclear physicist. However, a graduation present of a camera was to change his career route significantly...

31 August
Melkweg

Note the concert was due to take place at the PepsiStage but has been moved to the Melkweg. Tickets are valid for that show.

30 August
Paradiso

Born out of New York’s experimental ‘No Wave’ scene in the early 1980s, the indie avant-rock band return to Amsterdam on what is becoming somewhat of an annual pilgrimage...

27-29 August
Various Venues around the Leidsplein

The national opening of the new cultural season when performers show previews of what culture vultures can expect to see over the coming year...

Until 27 August
Hortus Botanicus

During the summer months, Amsterdam’s Botanical Gardens are open each evening until 9pm for dinner and a walk in the gardens. On Friday evenings from 5pm there is live music – jazz, flamenco etc. The Hortus is one of the oldest botanical gardens in the world, and was founded in 1638, originally as a medicinal herb garden. The collection expanded in the 17th and 18th century as ships of the Dutch East India company brought back not only herbs and spices from their travels but also exotic plants. Today it has around 6,000 plants of roughly 4000 different types in the garden and in the greenhouses. They also have a wonderful greenhouse full of butterflies (though not for those who get freaked out by Hitchock’s The Birds).

21 August - 21 November 2004
Museum Boijmans van Beuningen (Rotterdam)

A retrospective dating from the 1960s by poet/rocker Patti Smith, organised by The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Although she's mostly known for her music, Smith is also a visual artist. Around 50 works on paper are on show, along with huge drawings inspired by 9/11, photos, plus rare film and video including an early collaboration with her friend Robert Mapplethorpe.

18-22 August
Various locations
Festival centre: Felix Meritis, Keizersgracht 324 (Tel: 0900-0191)

Amsterdam's waterways are once more the focus for this week's cultural activities as the annual Canal Festival opens for five days of classical music on Wednesday 18 August. What started 22 years ago with a grand piano on a rusty barge, has since grown into one of the city's major annual events...

17 August 2004
Paradiso

Previous concerts here have sold out soon after tickets have gone on sale so hurry ang get yours (though desperate Dandys may still be able to get tickets at the venue on the night)...

30 July-15 August
Martin Luther King Park

At last this inimitable kitsch travelling carnival/theatre festival, one of the most unique events of the cultural year in the Netherlands, has reached its final destination of Amsterdam...

Photo: Joep Henselmans

13-15 August 2004
Jaap Eden Ice Complex

Professional and amateur skaters alike from all over the globe are expected to descend on Amsterdam for this annual competition of speed skating, slalom, jump, roller basketball and roller disco...

5-8 August
Various locations

Amsterdam’s annual gay festival has grown into one of the major events in the city: the parade alone, which takes place on the canals, attracts around a quarter of a million spectators. A mixture of cultural, social, and sports events are organised at a variety of venues throughout the city. Highlights include free open-air film screenings on the Nieuwmarkt square (The Event, Before Night Falls and Edge of Seventeen) and the parade itself – which is practically as legendary as Sydney’s Mardi Gras...

2-14 August
Amsterdam: location tbc

An intense workshop in New York City-style cabaret and performance art workshop (with a little bit of a dark side...)