Let's change the algorithm

Where do we want to go with this world? With Europe? With this country? How do we organise proper education? What about migration? What do we do about climate change, and how can we make sure everyone feels safe and cared for in this increasingly complicated world and these complex times? There’s no lack of challenges. Next year we’re all due in the voting booth to help shape the future of this country.

And we do the same thing at the theatre. We imagine a pos- sible future. Art and democracy go hand in hand. A solid de- mocracy needs free and flourishing arts. And good artists need a framework within which they can work frankly and freely. We asked KVS artists what culture means for them and for democracy. Culture, an impact on democracy? Those may sound like big words, inflated even, but nothing could be further from the truth. Because besides the aesthetics, the beauty, the wonder and the ‘how’ of performances, there’s also the ‘why’. Why do we do what we do? And how do we all have a conversation together?

In order to imagine a potential city and a future in which everyone has a place, we engage in dialogue with as many people as possible. At KVS, we believe in inclusion and di- alogue. Moreover, it isn’t our end goal, it’s a meeting point to depart from. We hold open conversations with whoever is willing to engage, unprotected and vulnerable. With open arms and an open heart. With poetry and imagination as our weapons.

This gorgeous brochure that you are holding in your hands, have in your lap, are flicking through on the train, or wherever you are, it bursts at the seams with encounters. We collabo- rate with our Brussels neighbours at Kaaitheater and Théâtre National, and with our federal colleagues at Opera La Mon- naie. We love to show off our artists to French-speaking audi- ences at TN, and are delighted to invite you to Raoul Collec- tif’s birthday party at our theatre.

We begin the season with a proper kickstart. After Theater Aan Zee, with Fikry El Azzouzi as the central guest, we host the TheaterFestival and show off our co-production Cadela Força: The Bride and the Goodnight Cinderella by Carolina Bianchi, which premieres at the Avignon festival in July. It was one of the most-discussed works in progress at the last edi- tion of Próximamente Festival here at KVS.

KVS faces Moya Michael, Manuela Infante, Junior Mthombeni, Fikry El Azzouzi, Cesar Janssens, Bahar Temiz, Charo Calvo, Bruno Vanden Broecke and Valentijn Dhaenens are all set with exciting titles and new creations. Our regular dance partners Voetvolk, Peeping Tom and Ultima Vez perform new work that many people all over the world are eagerly looking forward to. And you get to be the first to see it at KVS.

We take a deep breath and arrive at the starting line refreshed. We rebrand and enrich our theatre. Ready for the coming ten years as a core institution. We do things a tad differently than others. We create productions that aren’t created anywhere else. With courage, with eagerness, and unafraid to fail. That’s exactly why you belong at KVS.

Let’s reshuffle the deck. Let’s look at things differently. Let us dream unbounded, let us listen and talk. Let us encounter and begin again. Now it’s our turn.

Let’s change the algorithm. Let’s KVS.