In gesprek met Tom over OnTrack Festival

"I always wanted to be creative. Once I really wanted to make music and become a producer. When that didn't work out I went into graphic design, and I always liked fashion too. I couldn't really choose between disciplines: I liked everything. Then I started the platform Dreadlabs to figure out how I could start doing something with all the disciplines I liked, and meet people who were struggling with the same thing." With Dreadlabs, Tom provides a platform for people with creative ambitions in graphic design, art, street fashion and electronic music. For example, on the Dreadlabs channel you will find Photoshop tutorials for beginning designers, as well as tips for starting your own business or dealing with burnout, among other things. In addition, Dreadlabs provides a place for creatives to meet and engage in online conversation. With his videos, Tom reaches people from all over the world. "It's really grown into a fun platform, people help each other get better at all kinds of different disciplines," he says.

Through his work with Dreadlabs, Tom came into contact with OnTrack. "I was approached to host a culture market there, because through the platform I have built up a reasonable network in the Netherlands of people who have their own clothing brand or something along those lines." Last year Tom and a diverse group of makers organized a market during OnTrack for the first time, and this year they are doing it again. "We really have a diverse range of makers and products: it ranges from clothing to accessories. But there's also a custom bike brand participating this year, which customizes lowrider bikes. So there's a little bit of everything."

"I'm at the market myself with my clothes, but I'm mostly coordinating and I make sure all the makers can do their thing." Why Tom is participating in OnTrack? "I said yes because I think it's very important that people who are creative in Tilburg get a platform. Also the creators in the niches. I like being there with my clothes myself, but the best thing is to be able to give young makers who are just starting out or have ambitions to start something the chance to do so. I like to have a supporting role in that, it fits well with what I do. Helping people, inspiring and engaging in conversation. I also want to get to know more people myself. Tilburg has a very cool creative scene, who initiate all kinds of things. I would like to contribute to this and put Tilburg on the map, OnTrack is a great place for that."

OnTrack is the festival all about everything Tilburg has to offer in terms of street culture. But what exactly is street culture? "To me, street culture is a collection of the niches within sports, culture and art that don't necessarily get a stage in theater or other established institutions. Actually, literally the cultures that are created on the streets by the creators who have to set it up themselves. Street culture is becoming more and more normalized, though, including through initiatives like OnTrack, which I think is really great. How cool would it be if skating would become the new football, for example?"

"Those niches from street culture are often still underrepresented in the cultural scene, and the art forms that belong to them are also still sometimes undervalued. With OnTrack, all those niches suddenly come to life in the Spoorzone and that makes it a low-threshold way to get in touch with them, and to show everything that is happening!"