During the month of Ramadan around twenty cultural venues in Brussels, including the Beursschouwburg and the Kaaitheater, have adopted a "Ramadan-friendly" label that they say ensures that Muslims that visit them are received in a way that respects their needs.
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Flemish PM criticises "Ramadan-friendly" label adopted by some Brussels cultural venues
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The measures that make a venue “Ramada-friendly” include giving advance notice of any violence, nudity or music that might be included in a performance. Venues such as the Beursschouwburg and the Kaaitheater are subsidised by the Flemish Ministry of Culture. Wednesday’s edition of the daily ‘Het Laatste Nieuws reports that the Flemish Prime Minster, who is also Minister of Culture in the Flemish Government, Jan Jambon (nationalist) is critical of the ”Ramadan-friendly” initiative.
In a letter sent by Mr Jambon to Flemish cultural centres he wrote “Such religious interference in cultural and artistic practice seems very problematic to me.” The Culture Minister fears that the initiative could lead to a form of self-censorship among those in the world of culture.
The issue has also angered the columnist and historian Luckas Vander Taelen. In an piece published last week in the daily ‘De Morgen’, Mr Vander Taelen wrote "This is a questionable step towards religious interference in the freedom to create and experience art. This would never have been accepted during the fight to reduce the influence of the Catholic Church in Belgium. There is no reason to adopt a different position on this subject in 2023, and certainly not from an artistic point of view."
The Flemish Minister President Jan Jambon, who is also Culture Minister, agrees. "This meant to warn the audience, but it can also lead to a form of self-censorship among creators of culture. While culture should be there to excite, challenge and surprise. In my opinion, this also displays a somewhat paternalistic vision”.
Mr Jambon fears that, despite the good intentions behind it, the “Ramadan-friendly label” will create more prejudice and mutual distrust.
Kaaitheater: "Prevent people from having an unpleasant experience"
One of the cultural venues that has signed up to the “Ramadan-friendly label” the Kaaitheather in Brussels, told ‘Het Laatste Nieuws’ that the content warnings had only been introduced to "to prevent people from having an unpleasant experience".
Speaking on VRT Radio 1’s morning news and current affairs programme ‘De ochtend’ Kaaitheater's Barbara Van Lindt explained that the theatre’s motto is 'How to be many?'.
We want to make our performances more accessible and remove barriers. For example, there has already been our "pay what you can" campaign. So both people from the world of culture and members of the general public were asked how can we remove barriers to participation in cultural events for people who actively participate in Ramadan? This resulted in a series of proposed measures that are now listed online".
Those that signed up to the "Ramadan-friendly" charter say that the aim is to provide a series of tools a list of good practice measures to provide for an inclusive approach and fight discrimination at venues where a significant percentage of the audience and staff members are of the Muslim faith.
and good practices in an inclusive approach and to fight against discrimination, while a significant part of the public, employees of these cultural centers and artists are of Muslim faith".