Place to Stay: Creating Community Through Art

Figure 1: Place to Stay Music Festival at the B, Maastricht, September 12th 2025

Picture: Camiel van der Heijden

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“Essentially, what it comes down to is community,” says Yvette Ojo. “That is the aim of Place to Stay.” 

Music, art, and compassion. These are the building blocks of the recently founded Maastricht collective. Through their festivals, Place to Stay turns creativity into an act of care, developing spaces where art meets solidarity and where people come together to raise funds for families in Gaza. 

The idea for Place to Stay grew out of a series of fortunate events. It began when musician and co-founder Ethan Mileski wanted to put on a concert, a simple night of music. But when a close friend suggested turning it into a festival, the vision expanded. Among the six invited artists was Ghanni, a local band known in Maastricht for performing songs of resistance to raise awareness and funds for Palestine. It was the inclusion of Ghanni that inspired the festival’s proceeds to go towards families in Gaza. With the event growing in both size and purpose, the organisers called for volunteers, and Place to Stay was born.

Figure 2: Ghanni Performing at Place to Stay Music Festival    

Picture: Jagna Kapturkiewicz

To learn more about their mission and their upcoming short film festival this Friday, November 14th, I sat down with two members of Place to Stay’s organising team, Yvette Ojo and Leah Zempel. 

Art as Resistance

Yvette and Leah, like the rest of their 13-person team, are full-time students at the University of Maastricht. The collective divides responsibilities across public relations (PR), logistics, creative design, outreach, and finance, with Yvette overseeing PR and Leah coordinating volunteers and helping with logistics. 

Both admit they are new to their roles. “We’re a lot of new people who have not done this before, but there are some who have more experience, and they help us out a lot,” Leah says. Despite their busy schedules, the team’s dedication has been unwavering. “We all have the same drive for this. Everyone is really passionate, which is really nice,” she adds.

Place to Stay’s first event, a music festival held on September 12th, raised 2,765 euros for Ghaim fundraising, which maintains direct contact with families in Gaza. Building on that success, the collective returns less than a month later with a short film festival.

Like the music festival, the short film festival is centered around local artists. Out of a whopping 51 submissions, 22 short films have been selected. The films will be supported by a live score played by the European Music Collective. The emphasis on local talent reflects Place to Stay’s broader mission of strengthening Maastricht’s sense of community. As Leah explained, by “involving local artists and people in the area,” Place to Stay helps bring people together.

She further elaborates on how this effort connects to the collective’s mission of supporting families in Gaza. “Community, like everything else, is political,” Leah says. “Tying that into a greater cause is, I think, the most important thing ever. And inevitable.” 

Yvette expands on this by highlighting how fostering community through art is an act of resistance in itself: “It’s really about stripping away the distractions of the world and bringing people to come together around what makes us human: this core of community. And then it ties directly into supporting those who are suffering. Art is very political. Instead of creating a space for escapism, it should be a space to remind people of what is going on around the world.”

Challenges and the Road Ahead 

Funding is one of Place to Stay’s biggest challenges. Yvette and Leah explained that their only two sponsors recently dropped out. With production costs, including equipment, venue fees, and other logistics, often exceeding expectations, and the collective aiming to maximize donations for families in Gaza, this creates significant strain. 

Leah explained that Place to Stay’s long-term goal is to become a formal foundation, which would allow them to access monetary support from the Dutch government. But for now, the collective is relying on the local community. To cover production costs for Friday’s festival, the team has launched a GoFundMe campaign. Unfortunately, the GoFundMe campaign has yet to reach its target. Unless a generous last-minute donation arrives before Friday, the team will need to use part of the festival’s earnings to cover expenses, unlike the previous event, when 100% of proceeds went to the cause.

Despite these challenges, Yvette and Leah envision a bright future for Place to Stay. “We have a lot more planned; we’re already thinking about the next one,” Leah said. “We are constantly learning… How can we make it bigger, better for everybody? More donations… maybe collaborate with other collectives.”

With these plans comes the need for more support, which Yvette welcomes with open arms: “The bigger we get, hopefully, the more people we’ll need to back us up. We can’t do it by ourselves; it’s a community thing. The more dedicated people we have, the better.”

Come!

For those who attended Place to Stay’s first festival, Leah and Yvette promise the same energy this Friday, just a little more “chill,” with visitors able to sit back and enjoy local short films. For anyone who hasn’t been yet, their message is simple: “Come!”

“If you want a fun Friday night, amazing short films, and cozy vibes, just come…, all while supporting a good cause,” they concluded. 

For more information about the event or to get tickets, click here.