Following the health crisis and on the initiative of Mr Pierre-Yves Jeholet, Minister-President of the FWB, the Government adopted a “Recovery plan for the cultural actors of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation through their international development”.
Its objective?
To support cultural actors in their recovery with new activities and in the dissemination of their creations throughout the world.
Based on the conclusions of a wide-ranging consultation of the arts and cultural sectors carried out by WBI and its agencies, various measures have been planned within this framework:
- better financial support for international mobility ;
- a broadening of the cultural sectors eligible for mobility grants (adult theatre, comedy shows);
- a strengthening of dissemination tools (surtitling and recording);
- the creation of training courses in international strategy (fashion and design, cinema);
- the creation of opportunity grants (music);
- increased support for the visibility of creations disseminated internationally (film releases, networking, presence at major international events in the performing arts and cinema);
- increased support for the architecture sector (mobility, book publishing and photography).
Mobility
The “Prospecting Internationally” and “Residencies Abroad” programmes have seen an increase in the flat rate for stays. Transport costs via an external service provider have become eligible. In the framework of residencies in the visual arts, accommodation costs are now eligible.
For fashion and design
For the fashion and design sectors, WBDM has set up two key actions in 2022 and 2023:
- Setting up workshops in global and export strategy as well as in communication and digital strategy for Fashion and Design professionals.
- Granting individual coaching grants to designers and Design companies who wish to strengthen their international strategy via the development of an e-commerce platform, a reflection on the service offer, positioning, image and communication, the search for partners, etc. (NB: for individual coaching, companies from the fashion sector are supported in the framework of the Fashion Programme).
Other creative industries
Wallonie-Bruxelles International (WBI), responsible for implementing this plan, works with five specialised agencies, namely Wallonie-Bruxelles Design and Fashion (WBDM), Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre and Dance (WBTD), Wallonie-Bruxelles Images (WBImages), Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques (WBM) and Wallonie-Bruxelles Architectures (WBA).