Arts creation and performing arts activities
Activities
NACE 902 · 2 activities| Activity | Registrations | Starters, 12 months | Bankruptcies, 12 months | FTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Performing arts by independent artists90201 | 8,341 | 824 | 10 | 351 |
| Performing arts by artistic ensembles90202 | 2,268 | 127 | 3 | 1,650 |
Filed accounts
NACE 902 · financial year 2025 · 965 filed annual accounts| Per financial year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median solvency | 45.4% | 46.8% | 46.7% | 49.7% | 49.5% | 51.3% |
| Median net result | €2,079 | €5,755 | €5,340 | €6,421 | €7,874 | €6,338 |
Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark
Bankruptcies
Recent bankruptcies
| Date | Company |
|---|---|
| 30-10-2026 | NUIT DES CHOEURS
BE 0862.731.856 |
| 02-10-2026 | Senave, Telly
BE 0772.521.262 · sole trader · Assenede |
| 17-09-2026 | FLANDERS FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
BE 0470.135.442 |
| 22-06-2026 | Claeys, Jurgen
BE 0711.663.561 · sole trader · Zelzate |
| 15-04-2026 | TAIO Facilities
BE 0840.819.259 |
| 14-04-2026 | SEA OF CLOUDS
BE 0723.952.075 |
| 08-04-2026 | Tilleman, Joey
BE 0672.972.934 · sole trader · Sint-Niklaas |
| 09-03-2026 | Seynhaeve, Marco
BE 1014.887.541 · sole trader · Izegem |
Spread across the country
by region and province · 3,847 of 10,528 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat- Flanders
- Brussels
- Wallonia
- Abroad
The balance sheets of division 90 on the map, by municipality and down to the address
Largest employers
NACE 902 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts- 1 ASOBVAntwerp 430 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 2 WEAREONE.worldAntwerp 198 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 3 Orchestre philharmonique Royal de LiègeLiège 138 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 4 Brussels PhilharmonicElsene 125 FTEfinancial year 2025
- 5 NTGentGhent 75.7 FTEfinancial year 2025
Division 90: Creative and performing arts
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.
Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 90
438 employers| Size | Median | Middle half | Employers |
|---|---|---|---|
| fewer than 10 FTE | €63,100 | €49,000 to €77,800 | 260 |
| 10 to 49 FTE | €67,600 | €59,500 to €74,900 | 150 |
| 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
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.
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 Arts creation and performing arts activities
Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €6,338 is below Belgium's €16,539. 34.8% of the annual accounts close with a loss, against 26.7% in Belgium. Return on equity of 11.2% is below Belgium's 15.9%.
Bankruptcies. In 12 months, 1.2 of 1,000 companies went bankrupt, against 6.2 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 76% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.0% is below Belgium's 0.2%.
Inflow and structure. 63.5% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Brussels holds 17.7% of the seats, against 12.5% in Belgium. This activity holds 36.2% of the registrations of Creative and performing arts.
Staff and filing. The 5 largest employers hold 967 of the 2,001 FTE: 48.3%.
Direction. Median solvency rose from 45.4% in financial year 2020 to 51.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €2,079 in financial year 2020 to €6,338 in financial year 2025.
The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 05-11-2026 02:05.
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 902 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 1,275,944 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,201 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. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today.