The AB has a long tradition of partnerships: AB/Bota and Autumn Falls are good examples of this. However, we’d like to take this further: this city has a very rich and diverse cultural landscape and we believe that it’s important to create more partnerships between establishments.
Partnership opens the minds of the staff and makes them do things they are not used to. Last season, for example, our partnership with Bozar brought classical orchestras into our venue for the first time. New experiences like this broaden our artistic perspective.
Pooling our scarce resources allows us to put on productions that we would not be able to present on our own. Every cultural establishment complains of a lack of funds. More collaboration may form part of the answer to this problem. For instance, the partnership with deSingel and Flagey has made the new production of Amatorski possible.
Together with our neighbours at the Beursschouwburg, we are planning a new series of cutting-edge concerts. With this partnership we can provide a stage for artists who may not appear in the normal programmes of the Beursschouwburg or the AB.
Partnerships also mean that a new audience can get to know our venues. When Flagey and AB presented a symphonic version of the music of Raymond van het Groenewoud last year, it brought a new audience into the beautiful Flagey concert hall for the first time.
Above all else, as a major Flemish cultural establishment, the AB has the express ambition of playing a connecting role between a number of cultural bodies in Brussels. Abroad (and also in Flanders and Wallonia), people sometimes struggle to label Brussels as anything other than a grey city of bureaucrats. However, Brussels has so much more to offer. I believe that there is a significant role for the cultural players in Brussels - Flemish and Walloon - in changing this inaccurate image. We will have to join forces in order to do so. Cities like Nantes and Lille have shown that culture plays a very important role in the re-evaluation of a city. And with all respect for those cities, Brussels has a much richer cultural diversity. As cultural participants, we have to take the initiative to give our city the image it deserves.
One should also consider our initiative to breathe new life into the Amerikaans Theater in this context. We do not intend to make the AT an AB2. In our vision, the Amerikaans Theater is a new cultural venue for Brussels for all performing arts, where many culture houses work together. A 1,200-seat venue is a highly valuable addition to the existing venues in Brussels. The AT is not only for established names: it is expressly intended to provide space for innovation and young artistic talent. Rehearsal spaces, creative platforms and, for example, a demo studio are to ensure that Brussels has at last a place where the young people of Brussels and beyond can experiment and practice to their hearts’ content. And, where various forms of culture can influence each other.
Over the past year, the AB has worked on a business plan for the Amerikaans Theater. This plan is now ready and we are now set to persuade authorities that investing in the AT will make a valuable contribution to Brussels, Flanders and Belgium. We hope to know by the end of the year whether our plans will come to fruition. And in order to keep a focus on the Amerikaans Theater as a place of culture, we are organising a range of exciting concerts on 20 and 21 September.
Personally, I am greatly looking forward to the opening of Muntpunt on 6 September. I hope that Muntpunt will play a significant connecting role between the various Flemish houses of culture in Brussels. In any case, we will actively collaborate with them.
In our opinion, a Brussels house of culture must take on its role in this city very explicitly. And there is more to this than taking part in culture. As such, the AB wishes to contribute to resolving the mobility problem. I don’t need to remind you that Brussels scores poorly in this regard. Working alongside the MIVB, we have over the past year created the Eventpass, which means that every AB ticket also serves as a ticket for the MIVB network. 60% of our visitors still arrive by car; far too many if you take into account that 25% of them come from the Brussels region and that there are three railway stations, a metro station and various bus connections in the vicinity of the AB. We will continue to invest in this public transport and intend to announce a partnership with the NMBS before too long.
This season, we aim to focus on the bicycle. Brussels is slowly evolving into a more bike-friendly city and we want to support that. In order to draw attention, we, along with the cabinet of Secretary of State Bruno De Lille, are organising a cycle concert: anyone who comes to the Bent Van Looy concert on 17 October by bike will get a half-price ticket. The Steenstraat will become a large bicycle park for the occasion. We are working with the city government to provide more bike parking space in the centre, so that bikes can be parked safely.
I’ve said a lot about Brussels so far. The AB is, of course, a proud Flemish institution in Brussels. In the context of this, we will celebrate a special anniversary over the next AB season: our Boterhammen in het Park [‘Sandwiches in the Park’] Summer Festival is 25 years old. In anticipation of this joyous event, we are launching a new series of afternoon concerts under the banner of ‘De kleine Boterhammen’ [‘The little Sandwiches’], in which we focus on young, mainly Flemish talent. This is being done in partnership with Sabam.
Much has been said about partnership. This doesn’t mean that we are losing sight of our primary objective: providing a thrilling musical programme for our 300,000 annual visitors. More than ever, we want to provide opportunities for innovative and local talent. We're off to a great new concert season.
Dirk De Clippeleir, Director AB
