Count me in! Flanders Festival Ghent
Ghent, Belgium
Music
“Count me in!” is all about sharing stories that highlight diversity, equality, inclusion, accessibility, and belonging in the seat of art festivals. In this series you will hear their stories, and see how we can all make a difference by standing up for each other.
Flanders Festival Ghent believes in the power of music as a universal language. Letting as many people as possible discover this language, that is our mission. The key to our future lies with youth, which is why we focused on young people during the last festival edition. A group of seven young people aged 18-23 form JongFest, the youthgroup of Flanders Festival Ghent. They were given the opportunity to be actively involved in the festival and its programming. JongFest made a selection of a few performances from the festival programme that they found really worthwhile. A fascinating mix! Young people under 26 could buy a ticket for the selected performances at only €10.
In addition, JongFest got a look behind the scenes, had their own TikTok-account to promote the concerts, organised a techno meets classical music Silent Disco and they could attend all concerts for free and in some cases even meet the musicians. A valuable experience for them, but also for Flanders Festival Ghent. We believe in the power of youth to bring innovative ideas and insights that can enrich the festival, make it more inclusive and accessible.
JongFest is excited to bring Flanders Festival Ghent even more to the attention of young people in the future.
By Fien Straetmans
