Supporting socially valuable projects
Our sponsorship policy is designed to give socially valuable projects a financial boost, with a key focus on projects promoting diversity and inclusion. We also support artists from the Belgian art world. Our purchases are aimed at recognising and supporting artistic creation in our country and we want to increasingly open up our collection to art historians, cultural partners and the general public.
The focus of our sponsorship is on diversity and inclusion
Our sponsorship is designed to give socially valuable projects a financial boost. Supported initiatives focus on encouraging young talents and vulnerable groups, on training, on citizenship or on the climate. A key focus is on projects promoting diversity and inclusion.
Examples include Boost and Teach for Belgium. Boost supports young Brussels people from socio-economically vulnerable backgrounds, giving them more equal opportunities in terms of training and personal development. Teach for Belgium aims to reduce educational inequalities by turning recent graduates and professionals into inspiring teachers working in schools with a large proportion of socio-economically vulnerable pupils.
We also want to involve our staff in these initiatives.
We are opening our art collection to the general public
Since 1972, we have been supporting (young) artists from the Belgian art world, each year investing a lot of effort in expanding our art collection. Works are exhibited in our offices and meeting rooms, creating an original, unique and stimulating working environment for our staff. Our purchases are aimed at recognising and supporting artistic creation in our country and we want to increasingly open up our collection to art historians, cultural partners and the general public.
We currently have some 2 000 works of art. Though most of them are drawings or paintings, our collection also contains photos, sculptures, tapestries and other media.
In 2019, we held our first exhibition of a selection of artworks, together with the Deutsche Bundesbank. A similar project, this time with the Banco de España, is currently in preparation. In the long run, we also intend to make the catalogue of our collection accessible to art lovers, students and art historians. However, numerous cultural institutions in Belgium have not waited for this publication, already borrowing items from our collection for exhibitions or other events.
Although our collection is relatively modest in terms of resources, it is unique in its interest in artists who have left the beaten track. This special contribution to the Belgian cultural scene is highly appreciated not only by artists and art centres, but also by the press and the general public.
The art collection of a central bank should not be kept behind closed doors, but should be exhibited – a small but worthwhile contribution to society.
