Face of Flanders: Hugo Vanden Driessche

Vanden Driessche, 62, began his career in the cultural sector at Brussels’ Beursschouwburg in 1976, becoming its general director in 1981 at the age of only 30. It was Beursschouwburg that launched the annual Kaaitheater festival in the 1970s. Together with festival boss Hugo De Greef (who would later go on to run Flagey), Vanden Driessche created Schaamte, an artists’ collective that included names such as Josse De Pauw, Jan Lauwers and Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker.

In 1987, Kaaitheater merged with Schaamte, with Vanden Driessche as its administrative director. After passing through the Contact and Culture Centre in Brussels and deSingel in Antwerp, he returned to Kaaitheater in 1993 as it moved into its new home next to the Brussels Canal, where it remains. In 1998, he became its general director.

Five years ago, Vanden Driessche was awarded the Flemish-Brussels Prize for his unreserved dedication to the cultural life of Flanders and Brussels, as the then culture minister Bert Anciaux put it. Over the years, Vanden Driessche helped launch Brussel Deze Week, was a member of the general assembly of Flagey and served as deputy director of Theaterfestival Vlaanderen.

“He always performed his business and administrative roles with a huge respect for artists and their work,” said De Greef. “He knew that was the essence of his job. … And they listened to him.”

“He was one of the first people to give the chaotic arts world of those days a structural and financial foundation,” said De Pauw. “And he had a great deal of understanding for the artists, who are always wanting more, while resources are limited."

“He was an arts manager before the term was even invented,” said Hugo Weckx, a former Flemish  minister of culture and Brussels. “He was there at the birth of Flemish cultural life in Brussels. We owe him an enormous debt of gratitude.”

Photo by Philippe Debroe/Kaaitheater