We make Vooruit

MISSION STATEMENT

Arts Centre Vooruit - an official Belgian Arts Institution since 2017 - is the beating heart of the arts neighbourhood in Ghent, together with the nearby Minard Schouwburg, Ghent’s city library De Krook and Capitole. 350,000 visitors pass through our doors each year for performance art, music, literature, theatre, debate and so much more. The Vooruit Café, located in an impressive centenary monument, functions as an important meeting place in the city. 

“Vooruit is a central platform in a dense network of artists and organisations from a variety of sectors, informed and inspired by a turbulent world and an ever-evolving world of the arts. Maintaining a contemporary vision with respect to the future, Vooruit seeks to facilitate greater cross-pollination between the arts and the local and global communities. We serve both as a welcoming meeting place and as a lab for development, production, presentation, participation and reflection. We continue to build on our proud history of innovation and social engagement.”

mission statement Vooruit


This mission rests on six main pillars: support, experiment, connect, engage, reflect and celebrate.

  • Support: To offer support to local, national and international artists and (artistic, social, educational, …) organisations, while focusing on innovation and cultural diversity, both on and beyond the stages of our multifaceted and inspiring monument.
  • Experiment: To be a platform for experiment, creation and transition, with a view to creating a varied, low-threshold artistic programme.
  • Engage: To invest actively in facilitating engagement within the arts, our own organization and society at large, with the aim of creating a fairer, more sustainable and diverse society. This includes a far-reaching equal opportunities policy, in our programming as well as in our audiences and our internal operation, with extra focus on vulnerable groups in society.
  • Connect: To connect artists, organisations, audiences and society, with our monument playing a key role thanks to its central location within the city and the region. In this way we create an inspiring place where our operations converge with those of many other players in and outside the city. We are an open house, where all are welcome.
  • Reflect: To offer a free space for different opinions, worldviews and choices. To invest in knowledge sharing, expansion and (self-)reflection.
  • Celebrate: To make time for optimism, collegiality and generosity. To be a place where there can be celebration – a place to be proud of.

“Vooruit is not a model, however, but an attitude. The attitude of an arts institution that seeks to challenge both itself and the field of art, that seeks to attend to the interests of its artists, audience, volunteers and employees.”

Franky Devos, general coordinator Vooruit

Vooruit is making the change to a horizontal organisational structure. The process is guided by a team that meets once a week. This team consists of a fixed core of twelve people, supplemented by all Vooruit employees who wish to table an issue for discussion. Vooruit’s 92 (!) employees are organised into a coordination team, expert teams, realisation teams and future teams. 

In this collaborative model, the focus is on roles in addition to functions. These roles change and adapt, such that everyone at Vooruit can adopt a leading role. Together we develop plans and realise goals, but we rely on our own initiative as individuals. In this way the guidance and performance of duties add up to a whole, allowing the expertise and skills of each individual to be utilised to the full. Transparent internal communication is crucial in making this a workable model.

Difficulties to read? Check the organigram.

WIE IS WIE?

GENERAL COORDINATION

Franky Devos - general coordination

FINANCES & ADMINISTRATION

PERSONELL

PRODUCTION

ARTISTIC MANAGEMENT

COMMUNICATION, AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT & BOX OFFICE

HORECA

  • Willie Verhoysen – coordination of horeca
  • Tom De Vleesschauwer - kitchen coordination
  • Anne-Jan Brouwer - bar coordination by night
  • Klaas Ramakers - bar coordination by day
  • Cathérine Desmet – horeca assistence
  • Tim Burm - chef
  • Bram Huys - chef
  • Mike Vandekerckhove - chef
  • Griet Van Herck - chef
  • Zeli Bauwens - bar
  • Alice Cortesia - bar
  • Ine De Vos - bar
  • Julien Ghammache - bar
  • Michiel Gijselinckx - bar
  • Nayibe Gonzalez – bar
  • Charlotte Massez - bar
  • Matthieu Mahau
  • Gaël Steenbeke - bar
  • Sofie Strumane - bar
  • Flávio Stols - bar

EVENT SUPERVISION

HOUSEKEEPING

  • Mario Schelfaut - coordination of cleaning services
  • Carine Thienpont – planning of cleaning services
  • Nafeesa Akram - cleaning
  • Marleen Cnudde – cleaning
  • Jolanda Lelsz – cleaning
  • Mohammed Maarouf – cleaning
  • Viviane Van Blanckenberg – cleaning
  • Tamara Vincent – cleaning
  • Philippe Herreman - cleaning
  • Mersin Ropapj - cleaning
  • Evren Aydin - cleaning
  • Jafari Zakir - cleaning
  • Mihaylova Tanya Arsova - cleaning

INFRASTRUCTURE & ICT

BUILDING MANAGEMENT

  • Bart De Wilde – coordination of building management
  • Achim Biebouw – building management
  • Thomas Källström - building management
  • Sven Mulkay – building management
  • Bjorn Van Gompel – building management
  • Beslan Gambulatov - building management

STAGE MANAGEMENT

  • Peter Misschaert – coordination of stage management
  • Karel Clemminck - coordination of stage management
  • Kim Aernoudt – stage manager
    Dries De Wulf - stage engineer
    Dimitri Joly - stage manager
  • David Moons – stage manager
  • Jarne Pollet - stage manager
  • Dries Hoof - stage engineer
  • Giel Lavens - stage engineer
  • Wout Roelants - stage manager
  • Bert Van Maris - stage engineer

EXECUTIVE BOARD

  • Paul Teerlinck – voorzitter
  • Sammy Bouzoumita
  • Alain Clauwaert
  • Brigitte Herremans
  • Marc Standaert
  • Barbara Van den Bossche
  • Lien Van de Velde
  • Isabelle Van Cauwenberge
  • Eva Van Hoorde
  • Astrid Vandendaele

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