What does it mean for the ECC to organize the 4th Cartoon Museum Meeting in Kruishoutem?

We are very proud to be the host of this conference. We are convinced that it is very important for cartoon museums from all over the world to stay in contact and work together to develop, improve and modernize the cartoon museums. Sharing information and knowledge based on the experiences of other museums is necessary to increase the quality of all activities in

cartoon museums and to save cartoon heritage. I’m sure that meetings like this can build bridges between cartoon museums.

What can we expect from the meeting in Kruishoutem?

It should be a highly interactive meeting, where we can think together and learn from each other. We have chosen the theme ‘connecting through cartoons’. We hope that during the conference participants really connect with each other and that this leads to sustainable collaborations between cartoon museums. It is not suffi cient to have an outstanding content at the meeting, we also want to pay great attention to the atmosphere. I’m convinced that the highly engaged volunteers of the ECC will do everything possible, as usual, to make this meeting to a successful event.

When will you be a happy organizer of this cartoon museum meeting?

I hope that all participants have a great time in Kruishoutem and that they go back home with lots of new ideas for their own museum. Therefore I am very happy that there are participants from all over the world. I’m convinced that such diversity can lead to great exchanges. And last but not least I hope that this meeting will stimulate and enhance the cooperation between all cartoon museums.

An interview with Rudy Gheysens, president of the European Cartoon Center

Belgium is a small country situated at the heart of Europe with some 11 million inhabitants. Belgium is an independent country since 1830. Belgium sits across the fault line that separates German and Latin cultures. The country has three offi cial languages: Dutch, French and German.

Since 1970 the country evolved into a federal structure, very complicated! Belgium has 3 communities: the Flemish, the French and the German-speaking Community. It has 3 regions:

the Flemish, the Brussels Capital and the Walloon Region. The Federal State nevertheless retains important powers, for example in the area of foreign affairs, national defense, justice, fi nance, social security...The country is further divided into 10 provinces and 589 municipal councils.

Belgium is a hub for international contacts. More than 1,000 international organizations have their headquarters in Belgium, f.e. the European Union, the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the General Secretariat of the Benelux.

Tourists from all over the world are attracted to Belgium. It is no surprise then, that Belgiumhas a lot to offer the foreign tourist. Those with a craving for art and culture or architectural beauty, will be pampered in our cities of art, with Brussels, Bruges and Ghent at the top. The Belgians are well known for their lifestyle and they take pleasure in their guests enjoying themselves. The restaurants are outstanding, and what is more agreeable to fi nish a beautiful day, than the enjoyment of a Flemish meat casserole with a Trappist beer?

Brewing beer in Belgium is a noble tradition. There is no doubt that Belgium is the country of beer. With its widely varying landscape Belgium offers a unique range of beers having the most contrasting tastes and fl avours. Nowhere else in the world you can fi nd a larger choice of regional, authentic and colourful beers.

Only in Belgium beer is brewed according to four different fermentation processes :- bottom fermentation (Pilsner beers or lager): a world-wide used method;- top fermentation (Belgian special beers, white beers, abbaye and Trappist beers, strong blond, regional beers – some of them are already imitated in other countries);- spontaneous fermentation (gueuze, lambic and other fruit beers);- combined fermentation (brown-acid beers South Flemish beers).

Beer has always been deeply rooted in our culture and tradition and is more than just a drink. One has thirst-quenching beers and special beers, with a second fermentation in the bottle or not, light and strong beers, blond, amber-coloured, reddish and brown beers, fruity, bitter and acid beers; in other words beers for everyone and for all occasions.

The art of serving a good glass of beer is part of the Belgian beer culture : each beer has its proper glass and is served according to the rules of the art.

Source: www.belgianbrewers.be

Belgium: a short introductionby Fernand Vogels

Belgium is the beerparadise

The story of the European Cartoon Center started almost 35 years ago. A local cultural organization

wanted to organize an exhibition during the local Egg Festival. The young president Rudy and his wife knew the Flemish press cartoonist ZAK and so in 1978 we had a fi rst cartoon exhibition in Kruishoutem.

A year later the fi rst contest for Belgian cartoonists about the theme ‘Chicken and Eggs’ was a fact. Ambitious as they were, they decided to open the contest for other European participants. That’s where the name Euro-kartoenale found its origin, it became a biennial contest. Soon cartoonists from outside Europe started to participate and so

the Euro-kartoenale became one of the leading cartoon contests in the world.

The small town Kruishoutem did not have the infrastructure to host exhibitions, so the Euro-kartoenale was housed in a lot of different places: school, the sports center, an old shoe factory, etc.. Of course it made us dream about our own place.

In 2000 the European Cartoon Center was founded, but only virtual. In 2004 we did get permission for our own building and we launched an architectural contest. In June 2007 a dream came true with the opening ceremony of the ECC.

Kruishoutem is well known as the Village of Eggs. Since 1670 Kruishoutem had the permission to organize every year on the 26th of June a market. Since 1841 the weekly market, on Tuesday, was exclusively for vegetables and very soon the selling of Eggs dominated the whole market. After the Second World War, Kruishoutem became the most important market of Eggs, and it still kept growing. So in the fi fties, Kruishoutem was even the most important Egg market in Western Europe. In 1962 about 75 million of Eggs were sold. Still today the prize of the Eggs is determined every Tuesday in Kruishoutem.Because Kruishoutem was so proud on his Egg Market in 1955 the village started a yearly ‘Egg Festival’ at Eastern. A Queen of Eggs and Farmer of Eggs are elected and on Monday eggs (on a parachute) are dropped out of the Church Tower. Thousands of people come to see the colorful spectacle and like to grab a little egg.

History of the ECCby Saskia Gheysens

Kruishoutem - Village of Eggs

The 3th cartoon museum meeting in Zemun was about ‘collaboration’ between the different museums. A lot of ideas were shared during that conference and the previous meetings in Eskishehir and Tabriz have promoted contacts between the different museums.

We are convinced that a real collaboration between museums is only possible when there is a real ‘connection’ between the different museums.

So we thought that working on this connection should be our fi rst aim for the conference. And so we came by the topic: why not working on

the theme ‘connecting through cartoons’? How do cartoon museums connect with the visitors of the exhibitions, or with the cartoonists, without whom there wouldn’t be cartoon museums? And what about connecting with the authorities, sponsors, the community around your museum?

We are convinced that each participant can share some great stories about ‘connecting through cartoons’ in different situations and we hope that these stories really can inspire other cartoon museums.

We would like to invite you all to work on some real valuable and sustainable connections.

The ECC, that is a group of volunteers. Fifteen people with different backgrounds and different ages. More than 50% are retired, in Belgium, this means … they have no time. Some of the members of the ECC where there already from the beginning, when we started the Euro-kartoenale in 1978, others came later. 8 of them live in Kruishoutem.

We do choose our members very well: with 2 persons working at the Belgian tax service, one working in assurance, a local politician (but from the opposition), 3 psychologists thinking of our mental health, a radio broadcaster, a school principal, a lawyer, 2 cartoonists, … we even have a dental technician (very important with all these retired staff members).

But whatever the profession of the ECC-team members is, they do a lot of different things in our center: from cooking to cleaning, from contacting cartoonists to frame the cartoons,

from welcoming a group of visitors to painting the exhibition boards, from translating the web pages to editing our cartoon magazine Scherper, etc.

We wish you a great conference.

Anthony, Dominique, Jan, Fernand, Filip, Herman, Paul, Philippe, Monique, Rita, Ro, Rudy, Saskia, Sebastien and Véronique.

The conference theme is:‘Connecting through cartoons’

The ECC-team