Ultimas reward the best in Flemish arts and culture for 2019
Flanders’ culture prizes were awarded in Bruges yesterday, with some big names – like Luc Tuymans and Rachida Lamrabet – mixing with lesser-known artists and organisations for a vibrant mix of winners
In the limelight
The annual ceremony, sponsored by the Flemish Community in partnership with public broadcaster VRT, rewards artists, filmmakers, writers and other players in Flanders’s cultural scene. Tuymans, a world famous painter, was chosen for his overall contribution to Flemish arts and culture and in raising the profile of the region abroad.
Another Ultima prize winner is author and playwright Rachida Lamrabet. After years working as a lawyer, she published her first book Vrouwland (Woman Country) in 2007 to great acclaim and won the Flemish Debut Prize. “I like to tell the stories that not many Flemish writers are interested in telling,” she said to Flanders Today last year. “In Flemish literature, we have this single, Eurocentric gaze on our world. I want to look at that world from a different angle.”
Meet the winners
In the Music category this year, the prize went to a concert hall rather than an individual. De Centrale in Ghent, which puts cultural diversity at the centre of its programming, won the Ultima for how it “complements the other players in the landscape,” said the prize jury. “De Centrale is consistent in the principle of working ‘by and for’ and co-operates with programmers and others from diverse communities. This results in a great variety of repertoire, performers and collaborations, as well as a hugely supportive public.”
Other winners of Ultima awards were:
- Amateur Arts: Mama’s Open Mic, a safe space to share thoughts and work in Antwerp and Brussels
- Fine Arts: Brussels-based painter Walter Swennen
- Design: Long-time print and graphic designer Paul Ibou
- Cultural Entrepreneurship: Collective singing group Allez Chantez! (pictured above)
- Film: Stop-motion filmmakers Emma De Swaef and Marc James Roels
- Heritage: Flanders Architecture Institute
- Local culture project: De Grond der Dingen by Theater Arsenaal/Lazarus and Museum Hof van Busleyden, wherein every resident of Mechelen gets one-square-metre of ground
- Stage Arts: Brussels co-operative theatre duo and space Decoratelier
- Social-Cultural Community Work: Humain, which works with refugees and transmigrants
- Bill Award for young talent: Kato De Boeck, whose short film Provence has won more than 20 awards internationally
The Ultimas ceremony took place in Bruges’s Concertgebouw in the presence of culture minister Jan Jambon. Every year prizes are handed out in 12 categories as well as to a young, promising talent. Recipients are selected by a jury of experts in the sector and presented for approval to the culture ministers.
The Cultural Service laureate receives €20,000, while the rest of the laureates receive €10,000. The Bill Award for young talent provides €1,000 to the laureate, as well as career coaching and a residency in the Destelheide creative centre in Beersel.
VRT is offering many opportunities to become familiar with the winners and their work this week. Tuymans will be a guest on radio station Klara’s Pompidou show on Thursday, for instance, and Emma de Swaef and Marc James’s short film Ce magnifique gâteau! can be viewed on canvas.be.
Photo courtesy Ultimas
