How have major artistic institutions manage the health crisis in 2020?
The example of Bozar.
The health crisis and the Covid-19 epidemic hit culture in Belgium and Europe with a real blow, which forced the sector to close its doors to the public or to welcome it only in strict compliance with social distancing measures.
Bozar was no exception and suffered the full brunt of the health constraints imposed on the cultural sector.
In this challenging context, Bozar had to be resilient and reinvent himself.
After the venues and events closed to the public on March 14, Bozar reacted quickly by developing a wide range of digital activities to provide a space for artistic expression and keep in touch with its audience and its partners.
At the same time, Bozar took advantage of the closure to rethink and rebuild itself, both in terms of content and operation. Renovation work has been carried out in many parts of the building. Bozar's project has been adapted and redesigned, both physically and digitally, to reinforce its identity as a 21st century House of Change.
Musically, 2020 was a real headache for programmers. Between the periods of complete prohibition of face-to-face events and those authorising events with a reduced number of spectators, it was sometimes necessary to juggle with postponements and cancellations of concerts, sometimes with their duplication.
The health context has been a little less restrictive for the Expo department. Apart from two periods of complete containment, visits to the exhibitions continued almost normally, with the prior registration of the public in time slots limiting the simultaneous number of visitors.
Bozar Cinema has remained permanently accessible to its public by continually adapting to the health standards in force.
In 2020, Bozar took new steps in terms of digitalisation. From March 2020, Bozar mobilised different departments to create an expanded offer of digital events to compensate for the traditional face-to-face offer. Interaction between Bozar and its various audiences has notably intensified on social media platforms.
To learn more about how a significant cultural institution managed to handle such a difficult situation, you can consult Bozar's annual report 2020.
The Communication Agency, Page in extremis, is pleased to have participated in designing and producing the report available in French and Flemish.
The outcome is an engaging publication made within an intimate innovative dialogue framework involving the BOZAR corporate communication unit and the Belgian communication agency's creative team.
Located in Brussels, Page in extremis is a communication partner who spreads your messages into innovative communication media.
The agency offers you specialised services going from corporate and institutional branding to the development of digital and classic communication media.
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