Arts creation and performing arts activities
Activities
NACE division 90 · 12 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performing arts by independent artists90201 | 8,341 | 824 | 10 | 351 |
| Literary creation90111 | 6,548 | 353 | 7 | 46 |
| Promotion and organisation of arts and performing arts events90391 | 3,510 | 271 | 10 | 843 |
| Specialised image, lighting and sound technical services90393 | 3,383 | 249 | 8 | 1,053 |
| Performing arts by artistic ensembles90202 | 2,269 | 127 | 3 | 1,650 |
| Visual arts creation90120 | 2,028 | 442 | 1 | 194 |
| Other support activities for arts and performing arts90399 | 1,255 | 106 | 2 | 483 |
| Design and construction of stages and sets90392 | 663 | 88 | 9 | 94 |
| Arts creation and performing arts activities90312 | 634 | 11 | 1 | 1,363 |
| Arts creation and performing arts activities90130 | 388 | 196 | 0 | 3 |
| Arts creation and performing arts activities90311 | 362 | 6 | 1 | 1,530 |
| Arts creation and performing arts activities90112 | 203 | 100 | 0 | - |
Filed accounts
NACE division 90 · financial year 2025 · 3,761 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | - | - | 40.5% | 44.3% | 45.4% | 45.8% | 47.5% | 47.5% |
| Median net result | - | - | €2,484 | €7,015 | €7,882 | €7,649 | €8,233 | €7,440 |
| Filed late | 42.3% | 48.6% | 44.5% | 43.0% | 41.9% | 40.7% | 38.2% | - |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 90
435 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €63,100 | €49,000 to €77,700 | 258 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €67,600 | €59,400 to €75,000 | 149 |
| 50 to 249 FTE | €77,000 | €70,700 to €83,600 | 26 |
Employers with the highest staff cost per FTE in this division All sectors by staff cost In the Analysis workbench
Bankruptcies
Bankruptcies per year in division 90
| Per year | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bankruptcies | 40 | 45 | 44 | 50 | 59 | 60 | 31 | 83 | 55 | 56 | 69 | 58 |
| Jobs lost | 73 | 85 | 60 | 63 | 68 | 72 | 52 | 152 | 73 | 92 | 83 | 93 |
2026 through September. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 30-10-2026 | JOLIE GARCE RECORDS
BE 0690.887.448 |
| 30-10-2026 | MEBT
BE 0800.192.689 |
| 30-10-2026 | NUIT DES CHOEURS
BE 0862.731.856 |
| 19-10-2026 | REMEMBER ME
BE 0437.103.081 |
| 19-10-2026 | Vecchiarelli, Riccardo
BE 0684.692.118 · sole trader · Brussels |
| 02-10-2026 | Senave, Telly
BE 0772.521.262 · sole trader · Assenede |
| 17-09-2026 | FLANDERS FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
BE 0470.135.442 |
| 28-08-2026 | Brussels Global Review
BE 0772.641.721 |
Running bankruptcies in the sector
NACE division 90Measured nationally: Of 108,606 bankruptcies of legal entities across Belgium, 49% were closed within five years for insufficient assets and 29% after liquidation, 3% were withdrawn. After five years, 20% were still open. Half had ended after 26 months (a quarter after 15, three quarters after 51 months).
This counts companies with this main activity in the register on 5 November 2026. The outcome itself is not measured by sector. The activity of a company that leaves the register after its bankruptcy is too often not kept to compare closed cases fairly.
Spread across the country
by region and province · 11,802 of 29,098 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Wallonia
- Brussels
- Abroad
This sector's balance sheets on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE division 90 · staff from the latest accounts- 1 ASOBVAntwerp 430 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 CENTRE LYRIQUE DE LA COMMUNAUTE FRANCAISE - OPERA ROYAL DE WALLONIELiège 259 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Paleis voor Schone KunstenBrussels 227 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 PAYCOOPUccle 205 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 WEAREONE.worldAntwerp 198 FTEfinancial year 2025
Joint committees
from the latest accounts of 704 companies- 304 Performing arts 224
- 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 203
- 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 109
- 302 Hotels and catering 68
- 227 Audiovisual sector 42
- 126 Furnishing and woodworking 33
- 329.02 Socio-cultural sector 33
- 329.01 Socio-cultural sector 24
Show the 12 others
- 329 Socio-cultural sector 19
- 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 18
- 201 Independent retail 14
- 337 Auxiliary committee for the non-profit sector 9
- 124 Construction 8
- 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 6
- 323 Building management, estate agents and domestic staff 6
- 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 5
- 149 Sectors related to metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 4
- 303.01 Film industry 4
- 314 Hairdressing and beauty care 4
- 215 White-collar workers in the clothing and garment industry 3
Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.
5 of the 11,233 companies in NACE division 90 have a parent company abroad. Main parent countries: France (2), Germany (1) and Denmark (1). Together they employ 139 of the division's 7,608 FTE: 1.8%, against 14% for Belgium as a whole.
Subsidies in this sector
per register · legal entities with an enterprise number- Flemish subsidies €721.4m awarded
- Federal transfers 236.9m amount as published
- Wallonia-Brussels Federation €645.9m paid
- EU budget €28.4m attributed share
- EU research €6.6m EU contribution
Insights on Creative and performing arts
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €7,924 is below Belgium's €16,539. 34.0% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium. Return on equity of 12.6% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 1.8 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 75% of the 87 other NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.1% is below Belgium's 0.2%. By size, the median bankruptcy probability is 0.1% at under 10 FTE, 0.0% at 10 to 49 FTE and 0.0% at 50 to 249 FTE.
Inflow and structure. Brussels holds 19.7% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. 59.4% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Half of the companies are younger than 7.0 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 1,319 of the 7,608 FTE: 17.3%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 40.5% in financial year 2020 to 47.5% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €2,484 in financial year 2020 to €7,440 in financial year 2025. In 2025, Statbel counted 69 bankruptcies and 83 jobs lost, against 60 bankruptcies in 2020.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 05:30.
Method and sources
Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 90 exists.
The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,275,887 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,448 registrations publish no activity.
Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline.