🚨 Alert to collectives and citizens

For now, if you submit an application, do not share your line-ups or ideas. The jury is mainly composed of BME, BBN, and closely connected representatives of the City. It is not impartial: they benefit from privileged access to permits and public funding for their own events, which are increasingly taking over the city. They accumulate major conflicts of interest and have already shown, over the past 19 years, how they treat autonomous actors. Unfortunately, one can imagine the treatment reserved for smaller collectives, which we will continue to defend!

Open Airs represent a citizen-led culture, initiated by independent collectives and historical actors who have invested years of work and passion. Brussels Open Air—even the choice of this name for the late-August events reveals an attempt to appropriate and absorb all Open Airs in Brussels. We refuse to let this citizen culture be transformed into a standardized political product.

A “clear and coherent” framework for Open Airs? Yet several very unclear points remain unanswered, despite questions raised at the municipal councils on 19.01.26:

Why do certain organizations benefit from recurring and privileged dates, with BBN launched through massive public funding over two seasons, while others have had to rejustify their very existence every year for 19 years?
Why are scarce dates often granted at the last minute—sometimes only two weeks or even a few days before the event—creating enormous difficulties for collectives that overcome these obstacles with little or no resources, while privileged collectives receive substantial public support and sometimes dates a year in advance?
Why choose a jury composition with so many conflicts of interest?
In light of this situation, we clearly demand:

The exclusion of BME and BBN from the jury, in order to eliminate any conflict of interest.
The integration of genuine, verifiable independent actors, such as alternative music media, citizen collectives, and cultural professionals recognized for their impartiality and on-the-ground commitment.
These measures are essential to guarantee a fair and transparent framework, preserve the independent local scene, and prevent citizen or cultural initiatives from being diluted or turned into standardized products.

One can then legitimately wonder how far BME can go, given its privileged access and almost unlimited public funding.

And the problem with BME is not limited to Open Airs: this City-linked non-profit has also sparked controversies, notably around the closure of La Centrale Gallery.

We will continue to raise these questions publicly and to take increasingly strong action to defend citizen culture and existing collectives, regardless of the pressure exerted on us. Thinking we are here just to party is a profound misunderstanding of our limitless democratic motivations! 🎧

#conflictofinterest #unfaircompetition