History

The SPIN vzw structure was founded in 2011 by the three artists Hans Bryssinck, Kate McIntosh, and Diederik Peeters, in collaboration with the art worker and curator Els Silvrants (2011- 2012) who established the administrative foundations of SPIN and oversaw it's first funding applications for structural support.

In Belgium in 2011 the support options for live-performance artists were either within “management bureaus” (focused on short-term project production, with a changing selection of artists) or within “company” structures built around individual artists. In this landscape, SPIN was proposed as a new alternative model, where the artists could mutualise long term support for their practices within an organisation that was collectively developed and directed by the artists themselves. Foundational principles of SPIN were; long term structural support for "full-spectrum" artistic practices (including the often unsupported activities of research and development); mutualised resources for the collective; and creative knowledge-sharing within the larger arts community of Brussels and abroad.

In 2012 the art-worker Ingrid Vranken joined SPIN as producer and administrator, co-developing the organisation and its content projects for 5 years until 2017. In 2017 Laura Deschepper joined SPIN as Key-Master and administrator. And in 2020 the co-direction of SPIN was expanded to include Laura Deschepper and producer Sarah Parolin, as well as the founders Hans Bryssinck, Diederik Peeters and Kate McIntosh.

In 2023 SPIN entered another new incarnation, with the arrival of two more artists and co-directors: Anna Rispoli and Marnie Slater, the departure of Laura Deschepper to new adventures, and the welcoming of Elie Agniel in the role of Office Manager.

Throughout this time SPIN has shape-shifted through several organisational experiments, and has joyously collaborated with an incredibly long and talented list of individuals from the local and international arts, education, and other fields.

Read an indepth SPIN (and arts field) history by Joris Janssens on our blog here