Brussels2030 Summer Assembly 2023
Cultivating Brussels as a cultural laboratory for the right to the city: artistic creation and social transformation
Keynote & Discussion
01-07 
10.00 – 13.00 
Les Halles – Grande Halle
Speakers: Sjoerd Bootsma, Matthieu Goeury & Samira Hmouda
Panel: Yves Goldstein (Kanal) and more to come
We invite you to a thought-provoking conversation about Brussels as a laboratory for artistic creation and cultural practices that produce the right to the city. Brussels is a diverse and dynamic city that boasts an incredible artistic scene, but unfortunately, our institutional and cultural organization doesn’t always support the production of Brussels culture. If we want to strengthen the people of Brussels and create a cultural capital that truly represents them, we need to explore how to produce cultural creations, practices, and platforms that express the city’s unique identity. However, it’s not just about artistic expression. It’s also important to consider how cultural production can partner with social, sustainable, and decolonial transitions that our city needs to make. How can we create a creative coalition between artistic autonomy, cultural inclusion, and urban transformation? If we succeed in building such a coalition and the institutional and policy instruments required to support it, we can become the cultural laboratory that a real capital of Europe deserves and needs to be. Join us in this conversation to explore these ideas further and imagine the possibilities for the future of our common Brussels culture.
Sjoerd Bootsma is the artistic director of Dutch cultural triennial Arcadia, the follow-up of Leeuwarden-Friesland European Capital of Culture 2018. Arcadia is a large-scale cultural celebration of 100 festival days, built by many international artists, 20.000 active participants and visited by over 800.000 people. Arcadia presents makers and doers who ask how we are ‘good ancestors’ for the generations to come. In 2022 it included a wandering forest of 1200 trees through urban streets, performing and visual arts festivals, music on the mudflats and drama’s on the cliffs, and many more. From large and immersive to small and intimate. Many of the events are free. In the past Sjoerd was part of the team that created and delivered the Dutch European Capital of Culture in 2018. He was co-founder and artistic director of festivals like Explore the North and Welcome to The Village (winner of the European Festivals Association’s EFFE Award 2019).
Matthieu Goeury: after studying English literature, Mathieu Goeury began by developing musical projects. After working at L’L and Bruxelles Bravo, as well as the Centre Pompidou Metz, Matthieu Goeury joined the Vorruit programming team in 2011, before becoming artistic coordinator in 2015. Since January 2023, he has been director of Les Halles de Schaerbeek.
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