BUITEN DIENST is an annual one-day festival by B-Classic, Cultuurcentrum De Velinx, MoMeNT Festival and CLTR Tongeren-Borgloon. Each year, it temporarily puts a different village in Tongeren-Borgloon on a different track.

There is no enclosed festival site: the village itself becomes the festival route. Music, theatre, film, comedy, poetry, performance and other artistic interventions appear in churches, castles, schools, gardens, community halls and places that usually serve an entirely different purpose. What is already there is not replaced, but temporarily seen, used and experienced in a different way.

The line-up is curated collectively by the four partners, each bringing their own artistic profile, expertise and network. It is precisely this cross-pollination that creates a programme that cannot be confined to a single discipline. Established names sit alongside new discoveries, concerts alongside theatre and film, large-scale experiences alongside intimate encounters.

BUITEN DIENST builds on the spirit of Bewogen Tongeren, through which Cultuurcentrum De Velinx brought contemporary culture to the villages of Tongeren for many years. Within Tongeren-Borgloon, that idea now enters a new chapter and expands into a collaboration between four cultural partners.

FIRST EDITION: HOEPERTINGEN

The first edition took place in Hoepertingen, where the village was transformed into a living festival route for one day.

From intimate private concerts and poetry to packed concert halls, comedy, short films, VR theatre, family performances, communal singing and an encounter with the Sikh community: visitors wandered from place to place, creating their own festival experience along the way.

Not everything had to be planned in advance. Wandering off course, unexpectedly stepping inside somewhere and discovering something you had not come looking for were an essential part of the experience.

Every year, BUITEN DIENST temporarily puts a village on a different track.

Come wander. Come discover.