Molenbeek council offers new home for Recyclart

Brussels arts centre Recyclart may have found a new home, if it accepts an offer made by Molenbeek municipal council to take up shop in an empty building on Rue de Manchester, just off the canal. If all goes well, a move could happen within a few weeks.

After 20 years of attracting locals to concerts, exhibitions and myriad social-cultural events in its unique home under Chapelle train station, Recyclart is forced to leave because of new fire safety regulations. It could not meet the regulations, put into place because of the number of trains that run through Chapelle every day.

The arts centre has to close its Chapelle premises at the end of this month. The municipality of Molenbeek, meanwhile, has bought a building that has been empty for four years and has offered it up for rent to Recyclart.

At 4,000 square metres, the space is large enough and is in the same neighbourhood as other cultural players, Molenbeek city councillor Karim Majoros told Bruzz. Those include Cinemamaximiliaan, which organises movies and other events for migrants and immigrants; Charleroi Danse’s Brussels location; and VK concert hall.

“This wouldn’t be a copy-paste of Recyclart, but something completely new,” said Majoros. “Recyclart on the canal. A place that would be a hub of culture and the social economy, two things Recyclart has been committed to for 20 years.”

A Recyclart spokesperson told Bruzz that they were seriously considering the offer but that “all options are still open”.

Photo: Recyclart must leave its home, beloved by locals, under the Chapelle train station