Our values
Les Halles de Schaerbeek, commonly known as Les Halles, is a performing arts centre of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (FWB). As such, it supports artists and contemporary national and international artistic creation. They are located in Brussels, capital of the European Union and Europe's most diverse city.
Les Halles presents shows and concerts, (co)produces unique works and projects, makes its equipment, premises and/or administrative and technical resources available, supports artists in mediation activities aimed at various audiences and establishes long-term collaborations with other cultural organisations, within the limits of its resources.
Les Halles was built on a vision of cultural democracy that has helped to create its identity since the 1970s. By cultural democracy we mean valuing all cultures, in all their diversity, and rejecting the superiority of one form of culture over another.
As a platform for exchange, Les Halles works to bring together the different communities that make up Belgium and beyond, and to invent the possible as an antidote to intolerance, exclusion and fundamentalism. They collaborate extensively with the voluntary, educational and cultural sectors, without excluding initiatives with other sectors of society. They are a place of popular culture and strive to give visibility to marginalised communities and, as such, aspire to be a place for the creation of new solidarities.
THE VALUES OF LES HALLES
Les Halles supports CONTEMPORARY creation in its most diverse formats, without fear of provoking debate and strong emotions.
Les Halles is committed to SOLIDARITY for causes that are not necessarily its own, and recognises its institutional privilege. It works with a large number of partners in a collaborative dynamic.
Les Halles works to OPEN up to the greatest possible diversity, in its programme, its teams, its audiences and its partners, with the aim of acting on social inequalities.
Les Halles strives to be as WELFARE an institution as possible, arming itself with tenderness, gentleness and a desire for cohesion.
CURRENT MISSIONS OF LES HALLES
- To support artists and offer a diverse and curious artistic programme, particularly in dance, performance, circus and music, with a specific focus on interdisciplinary creations
- To be active in the local area and with the communities of Brussels and the neighbourhood, both with mediation projects and by opening its doors to associative projects
- Remain attentive to today's major societal issues (climate, migration, gender, the fight against racism, social justice, cultural diversity, democracy, among others).
Les Halles focuses in particular on developing projects in its Grande Halle, be they concerts, choreographic projects on the move, market formats or circus projects in the round, large-scale formats and/or those co-created off the beaten track. The interdisciplinary nature of Les Halles' activities is inherent in its operation and its building. Since its creation in 1972, Les Halles has been a committed place, drawing on the rich history of political and artistic commitment of its founders, who dreamed of an island of togetherness, an incubator and federator of resistance. Their aim is to put culture at the heart of the human project, creating collective support but also healthy friction.
Les Halles has set itself the unfulfilled goal of being a project where the notion of welcome is central, both for the public and the artists, but also for the workers on its teams. They want to take care of the inside, just as they try to take care of the outside. Les Halles is a living space where efforts at inclusion are a reality, and a long-term endeavour that requires profound and ongoing reinvention. We are at work.