As the Brussels nightlife scene has become part of the city's identity over the years, the Brussels-Capital Region has now decided to recognise the importance of its nightclub culture by making it an intangible cultural heritage.
Brussels nightlife offers residents and visitors opportunities to relax, meet each other and enjoy music, but nightclubs have also become hotbeds of art and culture, stressed Brussels State Secretary for Urban Planning and Heritage Ans Persoons.
"Our Brussels nightlife is living cultural heritage," Persoons said in a press release. "Today we show that Brussels is proud of its vibrant club culture and recognise the social importance it has for our city and its inhabitants on a cultural, economic and social level."
There are around 20 nightclubs in Brussels, including such well-known names as Fuse, Mirano, Spirito, La Cabane, Madame Moustache, C12 and Bloody Louis, according to the criteria of the Brussels nightlife sector (Brussels By Night Federation, 24hBrussels and Horeca Federation Brussels).
Elements of cultural and social importance
The Brussels Night Council welcomes this initiative as a starting point for a progressive approach to a particularly complex issue, said coordinator and spokesperson Ayla Dirix. The recognition follows a brief closure of the Fuse nightclub earlier this year after one of the establishment's neighbours was affected by the noise and filed a complaint, which was met by loud protests from the sector.
"The recognition of nightlife allows us to archive and document its social and cultural vocation, expand our knowledge about it and thus integrate the phenomenon into the urban nightscape in a sustainable way," she said.
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With this recognition, the Brussels club culture joins an impressive list of Brussels' intangible cultural heritage of customs, traditions and cultures, including the frietkot-friterie culture, the flower carpet, the Ommegang, the beer culture, the carillon culture, falconry and the Meyboom (planted since 1308). The latter four have even been recognised by UNESCO as world heritage.
At the initiative of former State Secretary Pascal Smet, chicory and speculoos also recently became Brussels (culinary) cultural heritage.
Brussels nightlife represents a great added (economic) value to city life, but currently also has some challenges. The recognition of club culture as "an element of cultural and social importance" may in future be an important argument to better protect actors of Brussels nightlife, when they serve the public interest.
