Newsletter
Posted on 29 Sep
Back from Summer, reflecting on the past months
Meet our new Newsletter!
We’re happy to introduce our new newsletter format!
From now on, our newsletters will be available on our website, brussels-by-night.be, so you can easily revisit them whenever you like.
They’ll be shared monthly, bringing you the latest news, updates, and highlights from the festive sector and Brussels by Night.
This new format follows the launch of our website in March, which provides a space to explore our latest news, discover our work, and access a growing collection of resources designed to support the nightlife ecosystem.
From practical memos and documentation to tools for organising events and developing projects, the platform is built as a living space — continuously evolving through field experience, collaboration, and conversations within the sector.
We look forward to sharing more with you each month!
In this issue
Since the beginning of the year, a lot has happened. In this newsletter, we look back at the highlights and developments of the past season.
For those who recently joined us:
Brussels by Night is a network that unites and empowers the nightlife community. We defend its interests and support our members through coaching, advocacy, and representation.
Together, we work towards a more inclusive, safer, and sustainable nightlife. We promote a healthy, vibrant, and future-oriented festive scene where everyone can thrive.
Here’s a look at what we’ve been working on lately.
What we have worked on
A historic milestone marked the first few months of 2026 for Brussels: the adoption by the Brussels Parliament of the ‘Agent of Change’ ordinance, which establishes the ‘last in, last served’ principle in town planning procedures (planning applications): put simply, and in terms relevant to us, a developer or property owner applying for planning permission will have to bear the costs of soundproofing their premises if there is an existing entertainment venue within a 20-meters radius, and vice versa for an entertainment venue setting up in a residential area.
Brussels joins a very short list of cities worldwide to adopt this principle, which appears to be an important marker for the future, but which does not resolve the problem of existing venues under threat, as it is not retroactive and does not apply to tenants or owners who are not submitting a new planning application. Above all, this principle embodies an important vision: a strategic vision of a city and a region looking to the future, where common sense is applied to consider how we will live together tomorrow.
On Saturday the 12th of September, the third edition of the Brussels Open Air Festival took place. This year, ten local collectives and cultural organisations were selected by an independent jury to curate five unique stages across Brussels. Each collaboration reflected a different facet of the city's vibrant musical landscape, turning public spaces into meeting points for discovery, community and celebration.
Who and where?
21AM x Bloody Louis. Congrès was taken over by two main actors of Brussels' nightlife scene, with a lineup celebrating the richness of Brussels' hiphop, R&B, and afrobeats scenes.
Easydone x Still Lookin’. On Place d’Espagne, a queer, nomadic collective that blends electronic music and visual arts collaborated with a scenography collective to present a daytime clubbing experience.
Vostock. A bass music collective that started from pop up van gigs during Covid, now blending rave culture with independent production, returned to Poelaert with the van where it all began.
La Fabriek x Biome. Place Jean Rey was a journey through trance, groove and techno - with a lineup showcasing the best of Brussels' emerging scene along confirmed talents.
Fatma Soundsystem x FEMMEBASS x Nashaz. At Vauxhall, three collectives presented a journey through the sounds of the SWANA region, from dub and reggae to oriental percussion, built by and for underrepresented communities.
Our ongoing advocacy in a highly charged political climate
BBN has continued its multi-front advocacy work, particularly following the formation of the new regional government: harm reduction, sector support funds, mobility and new venues, and economic analysis. The priorities remain unchanged, but the pace of meetings has intensified. This is especially true since the creation of the nightlife task force within the Economic Consultation Council (Conseil de Concertation Économique), which has led to numerous meetings with the administrations. Our goal is to finally give our public authorities the means and frameworks to work coherently on nightlife, and to stop being shuffled between urban planning, economy, culture and health without ever finding convergent solutions.
Regular contact is also maintained with the federal authorities, especially regarding smoking areas and Care Team status.
At the local level, our focus areas include: a vision for open airs, direct support to the sector, a vision for public spaces, policy coherence on regulations and urban planning, a better understanding of the scene by the administration, the provision of venues, and support for harm reduction.
Finally, at the community level, nightlife deserves greater support in recognition of its cultural and educational contribution.
Reread our manifesto, published earlier this year, to revisit the foundation of our demands.
Supporting our members and the scene
Since February, BBN has continued to support daily its 55 members, and also covering a wide range of topics both through activations such as a workshop on setting up and managing nightlife structures with ILES; a workshop as part of the ‘court-circuits’ initiative (Technopol) on slow-touring; a talk by Vortex and Femmebass on the role of FLINTA people in the festival sector.
and close dialog with the scene ;
We met dozens of venues, collectives and partners, launched a Monday drop-in slot for anyone who needs us, and welcomed Gimic Radio, From Athens to BXL, Invasion Latina, Slagwerk, Corne de Gazelle, Cheval Marin, Café Circus, Café des Minimes, XRDS, Biome, Maatwerk, Vollenbak, Continental, Electronic Garden, Ancienne Belgique and Hexagon.
Our new website went live, with 100+ nightlife resources (memos, guides, documentation).
We gave a lot of interviews on a wide range of topics that you can also find on the website, and strenghtened our network through a BE x NL trip to Rotterdam with Vi.be, the low carbon touring event with Technopol and international partners, participation in talks at La Nature Festival, CO-SECURE or Event Confederation.
Our support on Harm Reduction
We officially relaunched Care Team coordination in April, with new processes built alongside Nocta with 26 outings over the summer and we submitted funding requests to give our volunteers more human and financial resources.
We ended our three years of our Pérenne project (with Modus Vivendi, La Plateforme and Ex Aequo). Final numbers : around 50 venues trained on BBN side, nearly 100 security staff, 40 Red Cross staff members and 83 Care Teams. The project also enabled the deployment of 69 Care Team missions across around 20 venues and events, whilst developing research, tools, guidelines and protocols to make our festival venues safer and more inclusive.
We trained around 10 structures, gave 3 care team trainings, built a sur-mesure workshop on how to write a value charter for Museum Night Fever and ULB students, collaborated with LEDA collective.
We worked with the Safe Ta Night network on shared training modules, took part in the FEDA working group on sex, drugs and consent, and participated a harm reduction breakfast focused on LGBTQIA+ and racialised communities and a workshop on gender and consumption.
The CQD ongoing project in Ixelles is still in full swing : we ran feminist self-defence workshops for students, a 100% girls podcast workshop with the local youth centre and participatory mapping workshops with Urbanistas and CityTools, and handed in the first-year activity report.
Our members
15 new members joined us this year.
Get involved
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