KVS is Brussels’ Flemish city theatre. Our unique position in the capital of Flanders, Belgium and Europe is the alpha and omega of our operations.

KVS aims to reinterpret the repertoire in relation to the city that is more than ever the whole world. KVS embraces the city and its plurality and intends to amplify its artistic voice in the arts field. KVS thus sees interculturality on and around the stage not as an assignment or a challenge, but as a logical principle. As is a strong presence in Flanders and internationally.

KVS has an open ensemble of theatre-makers, performers, directors, choreographers and authors. At KVS, they develop both their own personal work and shared projects, plus cross-pollination over periods of years.

On the basis of an inclusive view of what art is capable of, we aim to be an intercultural, inter-generational and open-gender city theatre that resonates far beyond Brussels.

KVS strives for improvements for our artists and employees, our audience, and our society and planet. To that end, we have a number of commitments:

an open house for everyone

KVS is for everyone, regardless of gender, sex, cultural background, disability, religion, or ethnicity. We do not tolerate homophobia, racism, discrimination, sexual harassment, intimidation, or aggression. 

Everyone who visits KVS – whether you’re a (temporary) employee, a visiting artist, or an audience member – must contribute to a healthy environment and behave in accordance with our values as an open house.

If you visit KVS and witness any transgressive behaviour or feel unsafe, please speak to a member of staff, for example at reception or at the bar. 

Employees can speak to one of our internal confidential counsellors. 

fair practice

‘Juist is Juist’ (fair is fair) defines clear and fair principles and practices for collaboration within the arts sector, for all disciplines and all parties.

Arts organisations and employees must be able to work fairly: through sufficient subsidising, correct remuneration, healthy working environments and transparent collaborations. 

‘Juist is Juist’ helps us translate those good intentions to tangible practices. KVS is grateful for their concrete advice and handy tools. 

Read more about Juist is Juist

Towards an apartheid-free zone

KVS has started a project aimed at becoming an Apartheid-Free Zone. This means the theatre is committed to saying NO to any form of discrimination, racism, violence, and infringement of human rights and international law.

This commitment, in collaboration with the collective 'Towards Apartheid Free Zone', is not a one-off event, but an evolution towards a sustainable working infrastructure in our sector.

Read more about Towards Apartheid-Free Zone

food that brings people together

At KVS we believe that food, like theatre, brings people together. At our KVS Café, in our canteen and for our catering, we employ various principles related to healthy and sustainable food: working with local partners, making from scratch, and cooking food that is seasonal, mainly vegetarian, and zero waste.

Read more about our food philosophy and our partners

sustainability

KVS resides in a beautiful historic building at the heart of Brussels. We are constantly investigating which energy-saving measures we can introduce to improve the sustainability of our buildings and of our operations in general. We have taken several steps already:

• To lower our energy consumption, we invested in solar panels, automated LED-lighting, and a heating system that allows us to heat at lower temperatures.
• We compost our green waste, and we have planted honeysuckle and other flowers in our urban garden that butterflies and bees can enjoy. We also make an effort to limit our use of water, and our cleaning team uses organic products wherever possible.
• Thanks to the presence of water fountains and reusable bottles throughout the building, we avoid single-use plastics. We also intensively separate our waste and recyclables, including dangerous substances, metals, lamps, and electronics.
• Employees at our set design workshop and on our maintenance team use water-soluble (rather than solvent-soluble) paint wherever possible, and we reuse (parts of) old sets.