On 19 February, the twentieth edition of the Day of the Academies takes place, a festive open day for all academies offering part-time arts education and their approximately 195,000 students. The overarching theme is 'REMAKE'. Opera Ballet Vlaanderen acts as ambassador. In many places, the work of academy students will be on display or heard. The starting signal will be given at 11 am at Opera Antwerp with live music and dance by academy students and professionals.
Why REMAKE?
In the academy, children, young people and adults get to know old masters, composers, theatre texts and/or dancers and bring them to life in a new and personal way. REMAKE is about following examples, repeating to learn and converting existing insights into new ideas. There is also the ecological reflex: waste can be turned into raw material and new work can be created with it. The 2022 motto is therefore: remake, rethink, replay, rewrite, redraw, repaint, retake, redance, reuse …
Bart Jonkers, chairman of the Day of the Academies working group: 'The academies have come through a difficult corona period with long periods of distance learning. We have noticed how much students miss practicing their art. All the more reason to showcase what we learn and what we can do in our dko. So this day is also one on which we reinvent ourselves in all possible creative ways.'
Cooperation Opera Ballet Vlaanderen
Thanks to the cooperation with Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, the academies were able to use a toolkit with, among other things, a dance tutorial by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui to music by Henri Purcell. Art academies worked visually with the music or with the poster image by Erika Cotteleer. On 19 February, the academies will present their creations and share the work online at http://www.facebook.com/dagvandeacademies
Starting moment: Students from Beveren perform at Antwerp Opera
At 11 am, the starting signal will be given at Opera Antwerp. There, students from the Beveren Art Academy will perform the work of Purcell and academy students Kas Degens and Silke Hamers will engage in dialogue with professional dancers from Opera Ballet Vlaanderen based on the choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Remakes of the posters will also be on display.
Location: Operaplein 1, 2000 Antwerp (operaballet.be/nl/praktisch/locaties-route/opera-antwerpen)
Registration for the starting moment at the Opera can be done via https://tix.operaballet.be/nl/buyingflow/tickets/7396/20709
At an academy near you
All participating academies will showcase their own programme in their city or municipality for neighbours, family, friends, art lovers …
Looking for beautiful REMAKE's nearby? Plenty of choice!
In Ghent, they work with objects they bring to create something new, in Lede there is a percussion concert on waste containers, in Mortsel they make papyrus from leeks!
Many academies are based on a well-known painting or musical piece to do their own thing with it … And of course there are the choreographies by Opera Ballet Vlaanderen that served as inspiration.
Check the site www.dagvandeacademies.be under 'activities' and visit an academy near you.
Organisation and contact
The annual Day of the Academies is organised by the directors' associations DenkBeeld (Visual and Audiovisual Arts) and Verdi (Performing Arts and Art Academies) with the support of sponsors (Belfius, Verhaert, masters in innovation, Zwartopwit and Inovim).