Move It Kanal

Move It Kanal was a bilingual urban project about the cultural participation of young people (12-18 years) from the Brussels Canal Zone. With this project, Lasso and its partners wanted to stimulate the cultural participation of these young people by focusing on cooperation between organizations from the cultural sector, youth work and education, and this across communities. For this project, Lasso worked together with Erasmushogeschool Brussel - Opleiding Sociaal Werk, JES, D'Broej, RAB/BKO, Move asbl and IHECS.

Move It Kanal began in late 2015 with a specific goal: to bring young people from the Brussels Canal Zone and the cultural world closer together. For six years, the project built bridges between players from various sectors (culture, youth and education) and communities to make culture more accessible. We focused on three project pillars: networking, project work and research.

The networking aspect was developed through numerous events, activities, inspiration days and personal conversations. The project work focused on concrete cultural projects for and by young people, with cooperation between players from different sectors and language communities. Lasso supervised and documented these projects and ensured the expertise gained was made available to a broader group of professionals.

The projects always departed from input from the Lasso networks and from the results of scientific research. A first study by the Erasmushogeschool Brussel - Opleiding Sociaal Werk sounded out the experience of culture among young people in the Brussels Canal Zone. The results were compiled in a report. A second research report was published in 2021, examining the Move It Kanal project Les Experts du Petit Manchester (LEDPM 2.0).

Move It Kanal ended in 2021, the project was documented in a publication.

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The Move It Kanal project, led by Lasso and the Erasmushogeschool Brussel, was set up within the framework of the ERDF Operational Programme of the Brussels-Capital Region. Within this framework, almost 2.1 million euros were invested in the project, 50% of which was borne by the European authorities and 50% by the Region. The objective of ERDF programming is to strengthen the cultural participation of young people in the canal area.

ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) is an instrument of European regional policy that aims to offer new opportunities to European citizens and close the gap between living standards in different regions. It is an EU investment and solidarity mechanism that affects our daily lives through European and regional investments.

The project was supported in co-financing with the VGC.