A Unique Approach to Performing Arts
The Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels (KFDA), which opens this Friday, is set to present over 170 performing arts shows this year. This impressive lineup is made possible with an artistic production budget of just €1 million — a figure that seems almost paradoxical in today’s challenging arts funding climate.
The festival attracts around 30,000 visitors annually and traditionally marks the start of the European performing arts season. It precedes Avignon in July in southern France and Edinburgh’s international festival in August. However, the sector has faced sustained budget cuts across Europe for several years.
Daniel Blanga Gubbay, co-director of KFDA, told Culture, “It is a fairly large budget and at the same time extremely limited compared with other festivals in Europe, such as Avignon or others.” He added, “But it allows us to support the production of artists for shows that premiere during our festival.”
Financial Model and Partnerships
The festival’s model relies on keeping venue costs in Brussels low, with many spaces provided free of charge. Additionally, the festival benefits from co-productions and partnerships to finance the works of artists.
A truce between Flemish and Wallon communities
This year’s lineup features major names such as Italian director Romeo Castellucci, French choreographer Boris Charmatz, and Spanish director Angélica Liddell. There are also artists presenting in Europe for the first time, including Thai choreographer Thanapol Virulhakul and Indonesian choreographers Leu Wijee and Mio Ishida.
To mount its productions, the festival partners with international institutions such as France’s Festival d’Automne, the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates, and the Taipei Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in Taiwan.
Over the years, the KFDA has consistently showcased artists from around the world. That diversity mirrors the festival’s dual identity, jointly funded by Belgium’s Flemish and Walloon communities. Long at odds, the French and Dutch-speaking regions set aside their differences for a three-week truce during the festival.
“This year, we will have theatre on stage in Farsi, Spanish, Thai… It has always been our intention to maintain this linguistic polyphony on stage. And each production is simultaneously subtitled in French, Dutch and English. It is a huge work,” Blanga Gubbay said.
A Legacy of Bridging Divides
Now in its 31st year, the festival was founded by Flemish director Frie Leysen, who pushed for an international event bridging Belgium’s linguistic divide.
“She used to say that artists are like antennas, helping us understand what is happening in the world,” added Blanga Gubbay.
This year’s edition also reflects global tensions. In Prisoners of Love: Until the Sun of Freedom, Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme interlace together poems and songs by Palestinian prisoners, testing the boundaries of Israeli repressive structures. Meanwhile, Ali Asghar Dashti and Nasim Ahmadpour present Noli Me Tangere, where the absence of an imprisoned Iranian actor becomes a striking stage presence, raising questions about theatre as a space of emancipation.
According to Blanga Gubbay, the festival’s most “ambitious” production is A Flower of Forgetfulness by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, which opens on Friday. The Thai director, winner of the 2010 Palme d’Or in Cannes, stages the work at the Brigittines Chapel in central Brussels.
“A large white veil floats through the air of the Brigittines Chapel, as if carried by a constant breath,” the Festival’s programme reads. Across the fabric, projected images appear and fade with the folds and shadows, like fleeting dreams.”
