What’s on this week: 29 November to 5 December

Brussels’ Winter Wonders  festivities open to grand fanfare on Friday evening from 18.00. The Christmas tree lights will be switched on followed by a choral performance and the first video mapping of the City Hall. French folk troupe La Farigouleto will lead spectators to Place de la Bourse, where they can discover Provençal specialities courtesy of this edition’s guest of honour, the Var region. Elsewhere, 260 light-festooned wooden chalets wind through the cobbled streets and squares, with ice-rinks, a Ferris wheel, merry-go-rounds and an extensive entertainment programme. Brussels by Lights also returns to illuminate the centre and other lucky spots around the city. 29 November to 5 January, Grand Place and locations across the city centre

Free Marolles festival CurieuCity invites you on a scientific and artistic adventure. Exploring themes like space, mathematics, mechanics, chemistry, and physics, its packed agenda for all ages covers exhibitions, workshops, activities, interactive tours, and more. One highlight is the Space Night with stimulating sensory activities on Saturday evening. Activities are in and around Place du Jeu de Balle, as well as the Art & Marges Museum’s, which is exhibiting Arborescences by Michel Goyon. 29 November to 1 December, locations in and around the Marolles

Are you the kind of person who, when asked what kind of music you like, find it difficult to summarise? “I like everything,” you end up saying. Then you’ll like the new Tough Enough festival at Botanique, a spirited mix of international roots, Americana, garage, rock’n’roll and psychedelic. The line-up ranges from the well-known (Black Mirrors, Chuck Prophet pictured]) to the best of the break-outs (Loka and the Moonshiners, Dead Chic). It’s a festival of genres born from the blues. 29-30 November, Botanique, Rue Royale 236 (Saint-Josse)

The pretty historic quarter will be shining even more brightly this weekend during the annual Les Nocturnes du Sablon  Organised by shops, galleries and businesses in the quarter, it offers late-festive late-night shopping as well as gourmet treats and entertainment. 28 November to 1 December, Place du Sablon

Some 100 original plates from the comic strip Boule & Bill by Belgian illustrator Jean Roba go on show for the first time at Huberty & Breyne gallery. The unprecedented retrospective marks the 65th anniversary of the birth of the two comic heroes, known in English as Billy & Buddy. It was in December 1959 that Schaerbeek-born Roba published for the first time the adventures of the little boy Boule, his dog Bill and their family and their friends in the famous Spirou magazine. 29 November to 25 January, Place du Châtelain 33 (Ixelles)

Discover how the old oak floor of the Bourse has been transformed by craftsmen, students and artists in an upcycling project instigated by L’Ouvroir, an association that helps people with disabilities integrate into the workplace. This exhibition of transformed objects is a result of the initiative that promotes artists and the city’s heritage whule providing inclusive work opportunities. It was during the renovation of the city-centre landmark building that L’Ouvroir’s workers recovered the century-old solid wood floor from the former waiting room. 30 November to 8 December, Place du Jeu de Balle 67

Join The Nine women’s club for an engaging discussion on #MeToo 7 Years Later: How Our Culture Enables Misbehaving Men. It features Reah Bravo, author of Complicit: How Our Culture Enables Misbehaving Men, Benedetta Scuderi, MEP and member of the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and Daniel Friedlaender, Senior Vice President of CCIA Europe. Together, they will explore how psychological and cultural forces sustain inequality while sharing insights on driving change. The discussion is moderated by The Nine’s founder Georgia Mourad Brooks and will be followed by a Q&A session. Registration necessary. 4 December 19.30, Rue Archimède 69, Brussels

Art afficionados will make a beeline for contemporary art fair The Solo Project. The second edition again invites each participating gallery – from Belgium and abroad – to present one or more artists. This invitation-based selection ensures a diversity of work and disciplines: photography, painting, sculpture and installation. For the occasion, Espace Vanderborght is undergoing a redesign, while also hosting a parallel exhibition Emerging Artistic Talents, showcasing work by students from four leading art institutions: LUCA School of Arts and ArBA-EsA in Brussels, Beaux-Arts Liège and Copper & Light Leuven. 5-8 December, Rue de l’Ecuyer 20

OUTSIDE BRUSSELS

Bright and beautiful, the paintings of Jo Delahaut (1911-1992), Belgium’s pioneering abstract artist, are a welcome tonic to combat winter gloom. They are now on show in this charming Ittre museum, alongside works he helped to promote, from artists including Pol Bury, Louis Van Lint, Marc Mendelson, Francine Holley and the museum’s namesake Marthe Donas. Jo Delahaut – passeur de l’abstraction (1947-1968) also highlights this Herstal-born artist’s educative role in defending post-war abstract art and his goal to give as many people as possible access to art, geometric or otherwise. Until 26 January, Rue de la Montagne 6, Ittre (Walloon Brabant)

Do you like comedies? Drama? Animation? You’ll find them all at the Leuven Short Film Festival, one of the country’s most popular cinema events. See several short films in each screening, helpfully split up by categories like Big Names, Short Films; Short Films for Children; or Oscar Shorts. There is a country focus (Portugal) and a director focus (Fien Troch). And there’s also a virtual reality section where you can see the dark side of ant colony, say, or meet the other eight billion people on the planet. 29 November to 7 December, Stuk, Naamsestraat 96, Leuven

Visiting Bruges in December is made all the more rich with December Dance, an international festival of contemporary dance that brings together some of the world’s most exciting, different and often remarkable productions. Check out, for instance, Planet[wanderer], an exploration of the fragile relationship between Earth and its people (pictured). Its Belgian choreographer, Damien Jalet, put together the dance sequences in the film Emilia Perez. 4-15 December, across Bruges

Whether you like your choir music orchestral and traditional or springy and sassy, you’ll find it at the Koor&Stem Festival, where 40 Belgian choirs take the stage. The pop and rock choral versions of Sing!, the jazz and musical numbers of The Bare Necessities (pictured) or the folk and gospel of the Eufonia women’s ensemble – get your pass and take your pick. There’s also a choir café and food trucks. 30 November to 01 December, Sint-Lodewijkscollege, Magdalenastraat 30, Sint-Andries (Bruges)

The fourth edition of the family adventure trail Lanterna Magica RTL: Winter Lights illuminates the enchanting setting of Château de La Hulpe. Boasting a new immersive route to the sensory experience, it also features magical lighting, special projections and digital technology. The experience is also enhanced by ice-skating thanks to the installation of a 200m2 covered artificial rink, which can be accessed without a ticket to Lanterna. A shuttle bus operates between La Hulpe train station and the site. From 22 November, Domaine du Château de la Hulpe, Chaussée de Bruxelles (Walloon Brabant)

After its sell-out success last year, of Namur is once again staging a live storytelling tour of the historic city. La Grande Visite by Nicolas Buysse and Fabrice Murgia is an evening immersive performance in which the audience follows the actors and musicians while equipped with individual headsets. If the script is subject to improvisation, the audience can expect a poetic and entertaining road-movie of a spectacle. Age 8+. 3-31 December 19.00, La Nef, Rue Saint-Nicolas 2, Namur

Discover more upcoming events at The Bulletin's events page and don’t miss our bumper guide to Christmas markets in Belgium.

Photos: (main image) Winter Wonders ©City of Brussels; CurieuCity ©Youssef Meftah; Tough Enough ©Lauren Taback; ROBA Boule et Bill, 60 Gags de Boule et Bill numero 4 tome 4 page de garde ©Jean Roba Studio Boule et Bill 2024; December Dance ©Rahi Rezvani; La grande visite ©Olivier Gilgean