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Visit.brussels awards prizes to cultural and tourist initiatives promoting capital

Visit.brussels award winner Grand Hospice x Jardin
17:25 22/04/2022

The Brussels tourism authority has announced the seven winners of its visit.brussels awards 2022, rewarding the best creative initiatives in the capital over the past year. The ceremony took place at Train World in Schaerbeek on Thursday evening.

For the past 10 years, the annual awards have recognised the events and experiences that showcase the city both at home and abroad.

Prize winners were chosen by the general public and a jury composed of members of professional tourism associations and the press. From an initial selection of 98 projects, the jury whittled the number down to five finalists per category.

The Brussels Jazz Weekend Balcony Edition won best Alternative creative project; free concerts were staged on iconic balconies in the city’s 19 communes. It was one of many initiatives that arose from creative organisations adapting their events to coronavirus restrictions. Meanwhile, the prize in the Audacious new project category went to Kaaitheater's Pay What You Can initiative, in which spectators decide how much to pay for a culture ticket.

Hearth Project

Walking away with the Solidarity initiative prize was J'appelle un étudiant by nonprofit 1Toit2Ages, a project which creates intergenerational housing communities. Hearth Project: Rethinking food for all, launched during the pandemic's first confinement, was awarded the Sustainable initiative for transforming unsold food into gourmet meals (pictured above).

In the Co-creation category, cultural open-air bar Grand Hospice x Jardin (pictured, main image) took the top prize. It was a popular urban oasis in the summer of 2021, proving the continuing success of outdoor ‘guinguette’ style socialising.

The Brussels on stage award went to emerging music platform Chose Qui Boga of VOLTA, and finally, the IAH Congress 2021 of MCI Benelux was picked as Best B2B Congress/Event.

Winners were chosen according to criteria such as originality, innovation, success of the project, customer focus, sustainability of the project (ecological, economic and social), and efforts to make the project accessible to people with reduced mobility.

Written by The Bulletin