Illustration of the section: mons-2015

The partners

The procedure chosen for our bid dossier is unique and is based on a highly participative process. Yves Vasseur and his team have been meeting hundreds of people active in culture, the associations, universities and schools, performers and intellectuals, from all over the territory. Individual encounters in themed meetings, each provides, in a more or less institutional or nonconformist manner, consequential or modest, its contribution to the project which we are designing to become European Capital of Culture in 2015.

We have grouped these active « contributors » together under the title of « cultural partners ».

 

Themed meetings with the associations

Since the project took form, meetings with representatives of the artistic and association worlds have been organised to keep them all informed of the coming stages, the intentions underlying the project, and how to link up with it, the major challenge being to enable all the citizens, whether performers or not, to be as closely associated with the project as possible.
These meetings were held on a themed basis in the autumn of 2007 :

  • 29.10.07: performing arts – theatre, music, dance
  • 12.11.07 : plastic and digital arts, museums, audiovisual
  • 21.11.07 : literature, heritage and traditions, languages
  • 28.11.07 : economy and development, service clubs
  • 13.12.07 : education
  • 17.12.07 : continuing education, association life

These  were highly successful, with many attending, and made it possible to obtain the first proposals for collaboration.

A summary meeting was held on 23 April 2008 and its main outcome was the creation in Mons of a « one-stop shop » which will organise the reception of requests and projects from the associations with a view to enabling them to advance towards real participation in 2015.

Partner towns

We are gradually establishing partnership links with a number of towns within 100 kilometres of Mons. They form a cultural wheel, whose spokes will mark out a series of routes converging on Mons in 2015. The towns are:

  • in Belgium’s French-speaking community: Brussels, Charleroi, La Louvière, Namur, Tournai, the Mons/Borinage region, Liège
  • in the Flemish-speaking community: Antwerp, Bruges, Kortrijk, Ghent, Mechelen
  • In France: Lille, Maubeuge, Valenciennes, Charleville-Mézières
Brussels Charleroi La Louvière Namur Tournai The Mons/Borinage Region Antwerp Bruges Kortrijk Ghent Lille Maubeuge Valenciennes Mechelen Liège Charleville-Mézières

  • Brussels

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Charleroi

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • La Louvière

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Namur

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Tournai

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • The Mons/Borinage Region

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Antwerp

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Bruges

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Kortrijk

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Ghent

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Lille

    Partnership agreement under discussion

  • Maubeuge

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Valenciennes

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Mechelen

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Liège

    Partnership agreement signed

  • Charleville-Mézières

    Partnership agreement under discussion

Partner institutions

These are institutions in the province of Hainaut which form an essential part of cultural life in Belgium’s French-speaking Community. Their contribution is certain to add a major plus to the Mons 2015 project. The idea is to suggest that they bear the cost of a special “European” event, over and above the cost of a project under their usual policy (and that they share the takings in the same proportion).

  • “Grand Hornu Images”

    The “Grand-Hornu” is an old industrial mining complex, a remarkable relic of the industrial revolution. Built between 1810 and 1830 by Henri De Gorge, a captain of industry of French origin, this was a real town project, a unique example of practical town planning on mainland Europe at the beginning of the great era of industrialization.
    Built in neoclassical style, the “Grand-Hornu” has workshops, offices, a workers’ housing estate and managers’ residence, known as « Château De Gorge ». Punctuated with arcades, pediments and half-moon shaped windows, the colliery offices and workshops form a majestic whole.

    In 1984, the Province of Hainaut created the partnership “Grand-Hornu Images”, which manages and promotes the site. The province finally purchased the whole site as well as the Château De Gorge in 1989 with the aim of converting it into a cultural and conference centre. “Grand-Hornu Images” is now a cultural association organising exhibitions of design and architecture.

    www.grand-hornu-images.be

     

     

  • "Le manège.mons"

    manège.mons offers a complete cultural project via four separate sectors of the arts:

    First of all, a drama centre: here all the theatrical creations of the manège.mons are staged; it supports the creators through their projects and initiates creation at local, national, and international levels.
    Secondly, it is a centre for new music: in addition to being a meeting point for virtuosos and inventive musicians, Musiques Nouvelles, based in Mons since 1998, is a centre for musical creation and production. (www.musiquesnouvelles.com)
    The manège.mons is also the Maison Folie: a laboratory, a place for experimenting, where new relations are forged between art and society, where the artist is at the heart of society and the citizens are at the heart of the artistic process. (www.maisonfoliemons.be)
    And, last but not least, it is also a centre for contemporary and digital writing (CECN2): The CECN2 is known as the top centre for digital technologies training, production and awareness raising in the performing arts. (www.cecn.com)

     

     

  • The New Music Ensemble (L’Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles)

    Since 1962, Musiques Nouvelles has been achieving the extraordinary. The oldest European ensemble playing the music of our time, Musiques Nouvelles combines tradition with research, and heritage with the new, performing the music of tomorrow in the context of today. The Ensemble has had guest musicians such as Philippe Boesmans, Walter Boeykens, Patrick Davin, Bernard Foccroule, Georges-Elie Octors and Jean-Pierre Peuvion, developing its European remit further.
    Musiques Nouvelles is directed by Jean-Paul Dessy. Jean-Paul Dessy received the Grand Prix Gilson from the Radios Francophones Publiques in Montreal in 1997 and the Prix Fuga from the Union des Compositeurs Belges in 1999. His works have been performed in France, Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Canada, the US, Russia, China, Poland, Romania, Croatia, Uzbekistan, Japan...

    www.musiquesnouvelles.com

     

     

  • Transcultures

    Transcultures is an association which was founded in Brussels in 1996 and is primarily interested in exploring the relationships between art, society, and new technologies. In just a few years, Transcultures, in collaboration with many partners within the Brussels/Wallonia Community and abroad, has developed a programme of production and assistance, training, discussions and interdisciplinary events relating to multimedia creation.

    www.arts-numeriques.culture.be/

     

     

  • The Mariemont Museum (Le Musée de Mariemont)

    Musée Marimont

    The museum was created thanks to a gift to Belgium, in 1917, of the collections brought together by the great industrialist Raoul Warocqué. It is an outstanding testimony to the classical civilizations of Egypt, Greece and Rome, Asiatic art, the archaeology of Hainaut and the history of the field, and also holds an incomparable collection of porcelain from Tournai. The 45-hectare gardens are a harmonious mix of lawns, ponds, ancient trees and exotic species, a setting incorporating monumental sculptures and the romantic ruins of the palace of Charles of Lorraine.

    www.musee-mariemont.be

     

     

     

     

  • BPS 22 at Charleroi

    The B.P.S. 22 (Solvay Province Building) is an area for contemporary plastic arts design in the Province of Hainaut.?This glass and iron industrial building, with an area of more than 1,200 m2, was built in 1911. Partially reassigned since 2000, it houses classical exhibitions, on-site design (Jean-Luc Moerman, etc.), and experimental events, bringing together artistic disciplines such as music, theatre, and dance, and different aesthetics, such as techno-culture and electronic arts.

    http://bps22.hainaut.be/

  • Seneffe Castle (le Château de Seneffe)

    The Château de Seneffe is a true example of an 18th century aristocratic residence. It follows the example of the homes of French nobility and royalty. It can be compared to the Petit Trianon, which was built for Louis XV by Ange-Jacques Gabriel during the same period. It was subsequently refurbished and is now the gold and silverware centre of the French-speaking community, presenting a collection of antique silver, mainly from the 18th century.


    http://www.chateaudeseneffe.be/

  • Centre culturel régional de Tournai

     

    www.maisonculturetournai.com

     

     

  • Centre culturel régional de Charleroi

    www.charleroi-culture.be

  • Centre culturel régional de La Louvière

    www.ccrc.be

  • the Mundaneum (linked with the Triennial of the Political Poster) (la Triennale de l’Affiche Politique)

    Built in the 1930s by the architect Vleugels, this building was designed in Art Deco style. It was refurbished in line with its new purpose in 1998. Initially there was a cooperative with a bakery, known as l’Indépendance, where today’s Mundaneum now stands.

    The Mundaneum, otherwise known as the "Internet de papier", has resources and vast collections such as the Musée International de la Presse, the Répertoire Iconographique Universel (posters, postcards, glass plates, photographs), and the Répertoire Universel de Documentation. This cultural location in Mons also holds the papers of the founders of the institution, Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Henri La Fontaine (1854-1943), as well as pacifist, feminist and anarchist collections, and the archives of the Amis du Palais Mondial. All the documents put together would be 6 km long.

    www.mundaneum.be/

     

     

  • the Wallonia Chamber Orchestra (l’Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie)

    Formed in 1958, Belgium’s oldest chamber orchestra combines music of the past and the present, and has developed a vast classical, romantic, and contemporary repertoire.
    L’Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie (the Royal Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia) has accompanied the greatest soloists, musicians and singers, including José Van Dam, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Aldo Ciccolini, Mischa Maïsky, Maurice André, Arthur Grumiaux, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Paul Tortelier, Philippe Hirsshorn, Janos Starker, Frank Braley, Augustin Dumay, Maria João Pires, and many others.

    It is a regular feature of the Concours Musical International Reine Elisabeth de Belgique international music competition and the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth de Belgique.
    Augustin Dumay is one of the greatest musicians and violinists of today, an outstanding performer of Mozart. He has been the leader of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie since 2003.

    http://www.orcw.be/cv%20orcw.html

     

     

  • the FIFA

    Fifa

    Created in 1981 under the aegis of the UNESCO International Film and Television Council and sponsored by the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the FIFA became independent in 1983 and has its own Board of Directors.

    The prime mission of the FIFA is to raise awareness of art and increase its knowledge and appreciation among the public, by promoting performers and professionals in the areas of film, television and video. The FIFA encourages the national and international film industries to increase their annual production of films on art. By doing so, it focuses on developing international markets via the attendance and participation of Canadian and foreign producers, directors, distributors and professionals in the cultural field, in a context of exchange and networking.

    www.artfifa.com

     

     

     

  • the Musée des Arts Contemporains at Le Grand-Hornu (Mac’s)

    The Musée des Arts Contemporains (MAC’s) contemporary arts museum at the old Grand-Hornu colliery in the Mons Borinage region is one of Belgium’s French-speaking community’s flagship cultural projects. This new space, dedicated to contemporary creation, was designed by Pierre Hebbelinck, one of the main protagonists of architectural renewal in Wallonia. In particular, he was responsible for the refurbishment of the Théâtre de la Place and the Place du XX Août in Liège, as well as the old Meat Hall in Liège, a building going back to the 15th century.

    The old colliery at Le Grand-Hornu, chosen in 1991 to house the MAC’s, is one of Europe’s top industrial archaeology sites. Its neoclassical style and architecture go back to the utopian principle of the ideal workers' housing estate, as conceived by Nicolas Ledoux in France.
    Converted in harmony with its history and its identity as a site bringing together several human activities, since the 1990s it has gradually become a tourist, cultural, and scientific centre. Alongside Grand-Hornu Images, which greets visitors to the site and holds various events – in particular applied arts and design exhibitions - and Technocité, an institution dedicated to the teaching of IT skills, MAC’s has its natural place.

     

     

  • The Pass at Frameries

    Le Pass de Framerie

    The Pass is a most unusual museum, focusing on active, entertaining exploration of the place of science and technology in our society. You can find it at Frameries, near Mons, in Belgium, on the remarkable site of an old colliery. Architect Jean Nouvel saved several of the original buildings from demolition, and took his inspiration from the working of the colliery to restore the site to its initial dimension and create a park in 9 sequences, with 12,000 m2 for exhibitions and events and 28 hectares of interactive park, appealing to the thirst for knowledge in everyone.

    http://www.pass.be

     

     

  • The Photographic Museum at Charleroi (Le Musée de la Photographie de Charleroi)

    Musée de la Photographie

    The Musée de la Photographie photography museum has an exhibition area of more than 2,000 m2 organised in 3 main sections. The permanent collections present 450 of the 80,000 images held in the archive room. The whole history of photography is covered here, from the pioneers to contemporary creation, via all the movements and practices that have punctuated the years of existence of photography, on an international scale.
    The temporary exhibitions are renewed every three months and deal mainly with the innumerable trails followed by photography since it was invented.

    /www.museephoto.be/

     

     

  • Charleroi Danses, the French-speaking Community’s Choreographic Centre

    Charleroi Danses is the French-speaking Community’s Choreographic Centre. Directed for thirteen years by Frédéric Flament, who has been appointed artistic director of the Marseilles National Ballet, the Centre has become a benchmark not only nationally, but internationally as well. The “Charleroi Danses” centre mainly focuses on development and contemporary creations.

    www.charleroi-danses.be

     

     

  • The Engraving and Printed Image Centre (Centre de la Gravure et de l’Image Imprimée) at La Louvière

    The Centre de la Gravure engraving centre at La Louvière is unique in the field of engravings and printed art. The main aim of this venue for meetings, creation and research, supported by the French-speaking Community of Belgium, is to promote present-day graphic expression, thanks among other things to the management of an outstanding collection of 6,000 prints, 5,000 posters, and 500 artists' books and portfolios.

    http://www.centredelagravure.be

     

     

  • The La Bouverie Theatre Factory (La Fabrique de Théâtre de La Bouverie)

    The Fabrique de Théâtre (factory theatre) at La Bouverie is the provincial centre for the development of performing arts. It is housed in the old premises of the Ecole de la Chaussure.

    www.lafabrique.be

     

     

  • Wallimage

    Installed in Mons in February 2001, Wallimage s.a. and its subsidiary, Sowalim s.a., constitute the Walloon regional audiovisual centre.
    Its aim: to generate a structuring effect on the young audiovisual industry in the Walloon Region.
    Its strategy: to co-produce full-length films which, during filming or post-production, call widely on technical talents and industries.

    www.wallimage.be

     

     

  • BAM - Mons Fine Arts Museum (Beaux-Arts Mons)

    This resolutely modern architectural project combines function and balance, while emphasising transparency. Paris architect Christian Menu has designed a window opening onto the world of art, beauty, and creation. His chosen medium for this purpose is a lightweight metal structure using a minimum of concrete. The new layout of the halls enables the new museum to house prestigious works, while complying with European safety standards. The vital idea is thus transparency.

    www.mons.be

     

     

  • the Plaza Art cinema

    The Plaza Art is a local cinema on a human scale, dynamic and friendly, in the heart of the town centre, with democratic prices and multiple activities.

    Since it opened in September 1994, the Plaza Art cinema has promoted mainly European films of quality in the original version with sub-titles.

    http://www.plaza-art.be/

     

     

  • Technocité

    TechnocITé has been working for more than fifteen years to promote the Information and Communication Technologies and digital media (audiovisual) as widely as possible and develop their use through training leading to qualifications. We are the main advanced technology centre for the Walloon Region and Northern France working in knowledge management in these combined fields, and we provide more than 200,000 hours of training every year. We also hold awareness meetings, events and workshops to improve the level of technological culture in the region (i.e. in its businesses, administration, schools, etc.), helping to explore the new ways of working and to progress through use of the modern tools of our economic era.

    www.technocite.be

     

     

     

  • World Craft Council

Partner cities