De Spil cultuurcentrum

What De Spil cultuurcentrum does

De Spil cultuurcentrum is a recognized cultural center (cultuurcentrum vzw) headquartered at Hippoliet Spilleboutdreef 1 in Roeselare, Belgium, operating as an independent non-profit organization. The institution runs a year-round program of theater, dance, music, comedy, circus, film, and family performances, and operates multiple physical venues across Roeselare including the main hall, TRAX Zaal, Ter Posterie exhibition space, Villa Vandewalle, and RSL Op Post, plus the Remorc mobile stage that brings programming into city neighborhoods. Sub-brands include the Maatwerk Concerts club concert series (co-organized with Pelzen since at least 2018, based at TRAX Zaal), the social-artistic department De Tuin der Lusten (established 2012, encompassing Radio Vandewalle, THE TRASHFORMATION percussion ensemble, and the biennial De Tuin der Lusten festival), and the seasonal Plein Publique outdoor summer festival.

The underlying technology stack is modest and commercial off-the-shelf: ticket sales are processed via the Ticketmatic embedded widget on despil.be, with basket, wishlist, and waitlist functionality; media playback uses YouTube and Vimeo; music distribution extends to a Spotify playlist (Plein Publique) and Mixcloud streaming (Radio Vandewalle broadcasts on FM 96.7 and online). No proprietary AI, data, or platform technology is developed or disclosed.

De Spil's revenue model is hybrid, combining earned income with institutional subsidies. Earned streams include ticket sales (tiered pricing from free events up to €42 for premium productions, with bundle, youth -26, and Vrijetijdspas RSL local-resident discounts), venue/zaalhuur rental to external organizations (dance schools, theater companies, corporate clients), and on-site food and beverage sales through Bistrobar BIS. Institutional funding comes from the City of Roeselare and the Flemish Government, supplemented by Belgian Tax Shelter financing (via Casa Kafka Pictures) and project support from the Nationale Loterij. Customer segments span the general public of Roeselare and West Flanders, schools (schoolvoorstellingen with discounted per-learner rates), external performing-arts organizations renting the venue, corporate clients hiring spaces, and community members participating in social-artistic projects.

Name

De Spil cultuurcentrum

Legal name

De Spil vzw

Website

https://despil.be

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

De Spil cultuurcentrum is a non-profit cultural center in Roeselare, Belgium that programs year-round theater, dance, music, comedy, circus, and film performances across multiple venues, complemented by social-artistic community projects, festivals, and an on-site bistrobar.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Performing Arts Venue / Cultural Center

NAICS

Promoters of Performing Arts, Sports, and Similar Events with Facilities (71131), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro primary industry

Performing Arts Centers & Presenters (Programming/Booking) (MPAGABAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Multipurpose Event Center Operations (Civic Centers, Community Event Complexes) (MPAGALAE), Performing Arts Organizations (Theater, Dance, Opera, Music) (BPAGAHAB)

Keywords

• Cultural center services
• Performing arts venue
• Theater concert programming
• Venue rental services
• Community arts engagement

Headquarters

HQ city

Roeselare

HQ country

Belgium

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ticket sales: De Spil sells tickets for its own programmed performances and for external organizations renting the venue, through its Ticketmatic-powered ticketing system. Ticket prices range from free events to €42 for premium theater productions. Volume and pricing tiers include basisprijs (full price), bundelprijs (bundle discount), youth discounts (-26 years), and Vrijetijdspas RSL discounts for local residents.
2. Venue/zaal rental: External organizations and companies rent De Spil's halls and spaces. Events such as dance school recitals (Induce, Hypnosis Dance Academy, MSKA), theater productions by external companies, burlesque shows, burlesque performances, burlesque performances, and corporate events are hosted as zaalhuur. Rental income complements the center's revenue.
3. Subsidies and institutional funding: As a recognized cultural center (cultuurcentrum vzw) in Roeselare, De Spil receives government subsidies, likely from the city of Roeselare and Flemish/West Flemish cultural funding bodies. This forms the financial foundation of operations alongside earned revenue.
4. Food & beverage (Bistrobar BIS): De Spil operates an on-site bistrobar (Bistrobar BIS), generating revenue from food and drinks sales during events and performances.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

De Spil is a recognized cultuurcentrum (cultural center) in Roeselare, Belgium that programs and presents a year-round schedule of theater, dance, music, comedy, circus, film, and family performances across multiple venues. It sells tickets to the public, rents its halls and spaces to external performing arts organizations, schools, and companies, and runs social-artistic community projects including De Tuin der Lusten, Radio Vandewalle, THE TRASHFORMATION, and the mobile Remorc program. The center also operates the on-site Bistrobar BIS and receives municipal and Flemish government subsidies to support its programming.

Product overview

De Spil cultuurcentrum is a cultural center in Roeselare, Belgium operating as a single unified venue with multiple programming sub-brands. The core offering consists of year-round theater, dance, comedy, circus, film, and music performances. Key sub-brands include: Maatwerk Concerts (club concerts at TRAX Zaal), De Tuin der Lusten (social-artistic projects), Radio Vandewalle (community radio), THE TRASHFORMATION (percussion band), and Remorc (mobile street theater). Seasonal festivals include Plein Publique (outdoor summer festival) and the biennial De Tuin der Lusten Festival. Additional services encompass school performances, venue rental, the on-site Bistrobar BIS restaurant, season brochures, residencies, and visual arts exhibitions at in-house and external venues.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• De Tuin der Lusten: Social artistic department of De Spil since 2012, creating artistic projects that bring people together to talk, think, try and make. Includes Radio Vandewalle, THE TRASHFORMATION drumband, and the biennial De Tuin der Lusten festival.
• Remorc
• Maatwerk concerts
• RSL Jazz Festival

Products and services

• Main Cultural Programming (theater, dance, music, comedy, circus, film, family performances)
• Plein Publique (free outdoor summer festival)
• RSL Jazz Festival
• Maatwerk Concerts (club concert label)
• De Tuin der Lusten (social-artistic department)
• Radio Vandewalle (community radio)
• THE TRASHFORMATION (drumming band)
• De Tuin der Lusten Festival (biennial festival)
• Remorc (mobile cultural programming)
• School Performances (schoolvoorstellingen)
• Bistrobar BIS (on-site food and beverage)
• Venue Rental (Zaalhuur)
• Residencies (artist residency program)
• Exhibitions (Expo)
• Bedrijven en Verenigingen (corporate and association venue hire)

Quantifiable outcome

• De Tuin der Lusten festival has been running since 2012, with the 2026 edition held at Domein Brouwerij Rodenbach, demonstrating long-term sustainable social-artistic programming.

Named customers13 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• JazzKopcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026JazzKop is the co-organizer of RSL Jazz Festival alongside De Spil. Starting in 2026, JazzKop takes over full organization of the festival while De Spil remains committed to presenting jazz concerts throughout the season in its own venue. The partnership transitioned from a joint organization model to JazzKop-led.
• PelzencoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2018Pelzen is the co-organizer (alongside De Spil) of Maatwerk concerts, a club concert label in Roeselare with the TRAX Zaal as its base venue. The Maatwerk label programs open-minded, forward-looking concerts in indie, hiphop, rock, jazz, world music genres. Partnership has been ongoing since at least 2018.
• Toernee MondialminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorToernee Mondial is the touring organization that partners with De Spil to present the Mali-based Trio Da Kali world music concert. Toernee Mondial organizes international touring for artists and coordinates with venues like De Spil for performances.
• TicketmaticcoreTechnology or IntegrationTicketmatic is the ticketing platform used by De Spil for its online ticket sales, basket management, wishlists, waitlists, and event registration. De Spil embeds Ticketmatic widgets throughout its website for purchasing flow.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Concertgebouw Brugge: Concertgebouw Brugge is a Flemish performing arts venue in Bruges that programs a similarly broad mix of music, theater, dance and family performances on a tiered-pricing, publicly-subsidized model. It is the closest architectural and operational analogue to De Spil — a recognized cultuurcentrum/stadsschouwburg structure with multiple halls and similar outreach programming.
• Cultuurcentrum Mechelen: Cultuurcentrum Mechelen is a Flemish cultuurcentrum with a similarly broad multi-genre programming slate, tiered ticketing, school programming and an educational/community outreach component — directly comparable in scope, city-size context and operating model to De Spil.
• 30CC Leuven: 30CC is the cultural center of Leuven operating multiple venues (Schouwburg, Het Depot, Stuk) with a comparable mix of theater, dance, concerts, comedy and family programming, plus educational offerings and municipal/Flemish subsidies. Its multi-venue governance model closely mirrors De Spil's TRAX/Ter Posterie/Villa Vandewalle footprint.
• Viernulvier (formerly Vooruit) Ghent: Viernulvier is the Ghent performing arts venue/arts center (formerly Vooruit) hosting a comparable mix of concerts, theater, dance and festivals on a subsidized public model. Its combined venue-plus-festival structure mirrors De Spil's programming breadth.
• CCHA Cultuurcentrum Hasselt: CCHA is the publicly-funded cultural center of Hasselt with year-round theater, music, dance and comedy programming plus festival production. Like De Spil, it operates as a vzw on subsidies and earned revenue and serves as the cultural anchor for its mid-sized Flemish city.

Broad incumbents

• Toneelhuis Antwerpen: Toneelhuis is a major Flemish theater producing company based in Antwerp with a much larger scale, own repertoire and broader subsidy base. It competes for Flemish cultural funding and touring productions that also stop at De Spil, representing a larger incumbent rather than a like-for-like peer.
• NTGent: NTGent is a Flemish city theater company producing its own theatrical repertoire across multiple venues in Ghent. While larger and producing-company-focused rather than presenter-focused, it competes for the same Flemish theater/dance audiences and Flemish cultural subsidies that De Spil draws on.

Regional players

• Theater aan het Vrijthof: Theater aan het Vrijthof is a publicly-subsidized theater in Maastricht (Netherlands) presenting a comparable mix of theater, dance, music and cabaret on a tiered-pricing model. It is geographically adjacent across the Belgian-Dutch border and serves a similar mid-sized regional city audience.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/despil
• Instagraminstagram.com/despil_cultuurcentrum

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about De Spil cultuurcentrum