The Past

Because Life is an Event 

Sometimes I feel like my whole life is an event. I probably got the travelling genes in my blood through my father and my showbizz genes through my mother. One was an international truck driver the other a dancer, you choose who was what. At the age of 12 I was in my first play and since then it has been shows and events that have made my clock tick. First on stage with the likes of Aglaja, The Dream and Up With People, later on backstage working on big and small events like the Sand Sculpture Festivals in Zeebrugge and Hardelot (F), the re-design of the event magazine for the city of Kortrijk, the marketing, communications and programming for Kursaal Oostende and the communications and production for The Flemish Primitives.

Lining up all the events I worked on would make this page really, really, really long... So I made a (very limited) selection of some of the most wonderful projects I worked on. Still wondering if I should keep the list like this, starting way back or starting with the last project and working backwards... Let me know how you prefer it :-)

When people ask me where I learned the things I do, two things always come up. First, the year I spent with Up With People. I learned how to focus lights, how to barter for meals, how to sell tickets for a show and how to convince one hundred families to open up their homes, their hearts (and their refrigerators...) for total strangers. The international organisation is still active today.

And right up there with Up With People is the first really big project I took on (and kept on taking on for five years...): Zandsculptuurfestival Zeebrugge. The people behind the Dutch company Inaxi continued to mold me into what I became. I will be for ever grateful to Angelique and Eppo and the rest of the gang, of course.

It's OK to fail. I have heard people saying this time and again the past few years. Failing makes you stronger, they say. Failing teaches you how to not fail again. The theatre project h2o was not a commercial success. I can tell you, failing is hard, not just on you but also on all the people around you. But, yes, the experience of working with a group of international people did make me stronger in the end. Getting back up was even harder, but that is the rest of the story here.

It was in the autumn of 2006 that Peter Hoogland called me to ask if I wanted to do a project for him at Kursaal Oostende. That's how I got in touch with Mayumana. The cooperation with Mayumana grew into much more than a professional relationship. Mayumana opened up a whole new culture for me. Something to be grateful for. Which proves, that this business is about so much more than selling tickets.

Mayumana got me hooked on Kursaal Oostende and many more projects have followed since. The list is long and amazing. We created Rocksaal. We brought glamour back to this mythical building. We promoted HedKandi, Tap Dogs, The Human League, Arid, Gorki, Sangre Flamenca, Marco Borsato, Patricia Kaas,... The list goes on and on and since the summer of 2011 includes the world's most successful musical, MAMMA MIA! Without any doubt, the greatest realisation up to then.

During the summer of 2008 I got a phone call from Bernard Lahousse, who asked me if I wanted to run a gastronomy project for his non-profit. The topic of the event was foodpairing. I had no clue, but the phone call led to one of the most amazing projects ever: The Flemish Primitives. Watch the video.

After MAMMA MIA! we could not host just any show at Kursaal Oostende. The Olympics in London made it even more difficult to find an appropriate production. In the end... we had the honour of hosting the final 2 weeks of Riverdance, ever.

TRACES - Amazing, "on the edge of your seat" circus... Ever since I saw TRACES back in 2008 in London, I have been hoping to bring the show to Oostende. In September of 2012 it finally worked out. The audience was in total awe, just like I was the first time (and every time since then) I saw the show.

The Future of Marketing - Philip Kotler
9 November 2012. Watch the video.

Tango Roto, Broken Tango
9 December 2012

Esmé Bos & Bart Voet - Schipperskapel, Brugge - 12 oktober 2013

Luc De Vos - Onverwacht Geluk - Schipperskapel, Brugge - 19 oktober 2013

Pascale Platel - Les Demoiselles de Rêve et Leur Soutien - Schipperskapel, Brugge - 9 november 2013

Sharon Corr - Concertgebouw Brugge - 10 november 2013

Christmas with Anúna - Sint-Gilliskerk, Brugge - 13 december 2013

Evita - Summer 2014 - Biggest project ever, 14 shows, 14 standing ovations. Need we say more? Oh, a video.

And lots of projects have followed since Evita. Partnerships come and go. I parted ways with Kursaal Oostende after 7 years in 2013. I met up with Manu Braff in Brussels, first at Fire-Starter, then at MB Presents. I worked with Manu on MAMMA MIA! in 2011 and we have set up quite a few incredible projects together since then and we continue to work together on new projects. There is also European Philharmonia and De Schipperskapel and more... much more...

Jan Leyers in De Schipperskapel, 8 november 2014

Tine Reymer met haar groep Reymer in De Schipperskapel, 22 november 2014


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