19/02/2026
FAME IS NO MORE
A political decision that sacrifices culture AGAIN
It is with anger, sadness and a deep sense of injustice that we announce today the immediate cancellation and permanent closure of FAME.
This decision follows the total withdrawal of public funding by the City of Brussels. It comes after three weeks of negotiations and proposals by FAME to adapt to the City's budgetary context, whose culture budget has been reduced by 19.6% between 2024 and 2026.
The total withdrawal of funding came as a surprise: in October 2025, the City of Brussels had announced a budget that represented a 31% reduction compared to 2025 and a 50% reduction compared to 2024. Despite this reduction, the Mayor's office (responsible for culture) reversed its decision and ended up cancelling the festival completely, after four months of work on the 2026 edition. The decision to cancel FAME therefore shows a total lack of consideration for the work already accomplished and for the human, social, political and artistic impact of such a decision.
Since its inception, FAME has been a space for expression, discovery and dialogue. It has provided a stage for emerging and established artists, attracted large audiences and contributed to Brussels' cultural influence far beyond its borders. What's more, the FAME festival was a space where the power relations between artists and programmers were rethought, with a genuine social commitment that went beyond the programming of the editions themselves.
The decision to cut this funding is not simply a budgetary adjustment. It represents a clear political act: that of considering culture and feminism as an adjustment variable, a superfluous luxury that can be sacrificed without consequence. We strongly denounce this short-sighted vision, which weakens Brussels' cultural fabric and undermines those who bring it to life.
Behind this closure lie lost jobs, artists deprived of visibility, weakened partners, demoralised volunteers and an audience deprived of what had become an unmissable event. Above all, it sends a worrying signal to the entire cultural sector: one of permanent precariousness and institutional disengagement.
