logofeed the culture

Social antenna for culture

With five years of experience in social support, the non-profit organisation Feed the Culture has decided to launch a study in 2024-2025 to reflect on the overall social action of the cultural and creative industries in the Brussels region.
Providing food distribution once a week and a few sessions with a psychologist does not meet the needs and expectations of the sector as a whole.
We know that with successive crises (COVID-19, Ukraine, energy crisis, political crises), changes in the status of arts workers, budget cuts, changes in cultural and education policy, and the rising cost of living, the cultural sector is on its knees.

Culture is inherently precarious. Wanting to make everyone self-employed or on permanent contracts is illusory. The sector does not and will never function in this way.

We are launching a two-part study (the first of its kind):

  • Part 1: study
    • Benchmarking of 85 Brussels-based support structures for cultural and creative industries (French-speaking and Dutch-speaking)
    • Individual interviews with 38 individuals or structures (trade unions, cultural operators, professional federations, etc.)
  • Part 2: recommendations

In September 2024, a think tank was set up.
Following a call for tenders, the company Supper was awarded the contract.

The verdict is clear: there is no organisation for CCIs in the Brussels region that is multilingual, transdisciplinary, trans-status and offers a physical and virtual space for multi-service social action.

Feed the Culture would like to see the creation of a social centre exclusively for ICCs.
A physical and virtual space covering 2,000 m² offering the following services:

  • Social assistance
  • Mental health clinics
  • Food distribution
  • Legal assistance and support; violence in the workplace and gender-based and sexual violence
  • A café
  • Training courses and events
  • An information service: thematic fact sheets (access to unemployment benefits, becoming a student, housing, artist status, etc.), joining forces and unionising, how to invoice, etc.
  • Computer, printer, scanner and photocopier
  • Postal address
  • And many other services and programmes

All in French, Dutch and English for all artistic disciplines in the broadest sense (audiovisual, performing arts, architecture, crafts, fashion, design, video games, etc.) and for all statuses (students, employees, freelancers, unemployed people, artists with or without status, pensioners)

Feed the Culture wants to see a safety net created for the entire sector.
Soon, no one will want to do this job because it is so difficult. We are already losing talent in large numbers.

Most of the cultural and creative industries sector is precarious.
© Renaud Masson
COVID has not spared the cultural and creative industries, which have been labelled non-essential.
© Renaud Masson
Technicians have not been spared by successive crises. Many have changed professions. There are no statistical studies to quantify this.
© Renaud Masson
The label of non-essential has stuck to the entire cultural and creative industries sector and remains very difficult to remove.
© Renaud Masson
There are no comprehensive services to support precarious workers in the cultural sector in terms of social action: in order to access their rights, mental health, violence at work, gender-based and sexual violence, etc., the most fundamental rights are not being met.
© Renaud Masson
Other crises may arise in the coming years. If nothing is put in place beforehand, no one will want to work in culture anymore.
© Renaud Masson
How can you set up a cultural and artistic project when you are already struggling to survive? Housing, food, access to your rights, education, protection, and physical and mental wellbeing are not luxuries but necessities.
© Renaud Masson
Feed the Culture aims to free up mental bandwidth for cultural workers by helping them resolve issues related to social action. All the time they save by not having to deal with administrative difficulties is time they can spend creating, dancing, writing, performing and developing cultural projects.
© Renaud Masson

Download the study in PDF format