Ultimas Audience Award Winner, Haunted by Controversies: Who or What is the Headwind?

The Flanders Culture Awards have been around for 20 years and were renamed the Ultimas in 2017. Winners in categories such as performing arts, literature, music or visual arts are determined by a jury of experts, but this year the Ultimas Audience Award was also awarded for the first time. .

The new award was intended for “people and organizations that you cannot easily classify in the Ultimas category,” such as “exhibitions, show events, light shows, festivals, city events, fairs, musical performances, etc.” to nominate their favorite artists or culture event. The winner was also announced through an online voting form.

The Requirements To qualify for the award was rather brief. Nomination was possible for all “events, organizations and people who contribute to the expansion of culture” that reached a wide audience in 2021. The only reasons for exclusion were “offensive content” and anything “related to a particular political party or affiliation”.

This eventually led to a diverse roster of over 120 artists, events and festivals. For example, the deceased singer Arnaud was on the list, as was the Circus Ronaldo, the podcast de Volkjory, the collective theater SKaGeN or the Ghent Film Festival. But also a documentary series headwind†