Laetitia Huberti grew up in Brussels, exposed from an early age to the peculiar cultural richness the city has to offer. With a strong musical background, she took on various communication and managing roles at leading cultural institutions like Flagey and RTBF in Brussels, not to mention The Metropolitan Opera in New York. Today, as Commissioning Editor, head of the cultural channels at RTBF, she transmits the values of quality cultural content as well as the importance of a wide-reaching and strong public media.
For two decades, you have worked at two of the most significant cultural institutions in Brussels, Flagey and the national public service broadcaster in the French-speaking community, RTBF. How would you define the particularity of this city’s cultural scene?
Brussels is a very fertile place for creativity. Its diverse mix of ethnicities, communities, languages, and cultural traditions fuel creativity and openness which lay the foundation of a rich and strong cultural scene. Multiculturalism is part of the identity of Brussels and why we have such varied and substantial cultural offers. As soon as you make a project in Brussels, you have to communicate in at least three languages, French, Dutch and English, which naturally opens your mind and makes you consider many types of people and audiences. Also, Brussels is not such a big city. It embodies the eclecticism of a cosmopolis yet with only 1,25 million inhabitants, it’s a lot smaller than neighbouring capitals like Paris and London. The sheer size of it offers possibilities; no project is ever too big or too hard to get started. When I talk about Brussels, I like to say that it has all the advantages of a big city, without its disadvantages: a fantastic cultural offer, and quite accessible when it comes to living costs and rental fees. The prices haven’t gone crazy yet which is obviously attractive to creative people and institutions. Brussels is a small but important capital. It’s the capital of Europe and you feel it. Cultural institutions don’t have very big budgets which makes their work harder yet also more creative and innovative. It’s part of the ‘belgitude’.
What does ‘belgitude’ mean? Please explain this expression.
Belgitude is a term that we use to describe the Belgian attitude and mentality. Belgians are known for their friendly low-key attitude, not being pretentious about who they are and what they have to offer. Mixed with a good portion of humour and irony means Belgians don’t take things or themselves too seriously. This approach offers a sense of freedom and flexibility which is fruitful for creativity. Yet, that way of understanding ourselves can also tend to have the opposite effect. We could certainly be more ambitious. More audacious. We could think bigger and initiate bigger projects. If we would combine our low-key attitude with more audacity, I think Brussels could be a fantastic lab for society, a sample of what Europe could achieve.
Do you experience this ‘belgitude’ in your professional realm?
From 2011 to 2014 I went to New York, studying Arts Administration at Columbia University while working as a cultural correspondent for RTBF. It was an incredible time where I felt that unique vibe that New York has to offer: the sky's the limit, everything is possible. Coming back to Brussels, I was missing that particular energy because it’s so exciting and contagious. Brussels fosters open-mindedness and creativity but could need a bit more pride and ambition. We have many things to be proud of in many different fields, whether it’s culture, health or science For instance, I’m very proud of what we have achieved at RTBF during the past 10 years. In 2018, we introduced an audience centric model which meant a complete restructuring of our organisation and a new way of thinking about public service media and content production. We wanted our content to reach out to everybody which wasn’t the case before. At RTBF, we don’t talk about radio or tv anymore, we talk about content. Nowadays, with all the platforms that exist, people don’t know where they’ve read or heard what, so most important is that we create relevant high-quality content that reaches out as wide as possible. RTBF has been forward-thinking regarding this transformation, and serves now as an example for other public media companies. That’s where we see the advantages of being a small player, compared to the public broadcasters in countries like the UK or France. We are flexible and agile because of our size and therefore changes can be done quicker. I like to think of Brussels as a place of a human scale which allows for a certain agility.
Isn’t Brussels also known to be a slow and bureaucratic city because of the many different layers of governance?
Indeed, Brussels has a complex administration system. Politically, Brussels is complicated. Yet, the chaos and the juggling of several languages and cultures, also somehow brings about creativity and dynamism. Flagey is a good example of what can be achieved in Brussels with a great idea and a team of devoted people. Despite the complexities connected to the fact that it’s run by both the Flemish and the French speaking communities, it stands as a flagship, offering an amazing cultural program of music and cinema to a wide public from all communities.
What did it mean to you as a child growing up in a culturally generous city like Brussels?
I had the chance to go to a school called Decroly. This is also where I met Marina, we went to school together. (Belgian pioneer in child-centred education Ovide Decroly (1871-1932) developed his own education method of active learning, encouraging children to develop their individual interests by letting them experiment freely in workshops and through educative games). From an early age, I was interested in arts and music and played the piano intensively throughout my childhood. My parents were very supportive and I went all the way to the music conservatory. I didn’t feel happy in the competitive environment though and left the conservatory after one year and started studying literature and languages at Université Libre de Bruxelles, ULB. As I mentioned earlier, I think the open mind and diversity in Brussels can be seen as a catalyst for creativity and also helps children to educate themselves through culture. Furthermore, we’re blessed with strong cultural institutions which also address the youngest in society.
In 2014 you came back from New York to take on the role as director of the classical radio station Musiq’3 at RTBF, and today you’re head of all the cultural channels at RTBF (La Première, Musiq’3, Classic 21 & La Trois). What is your vision for the cultural output at RTBF?
I came to RTBF thanks to culture, and I’m so excited about what has been achieved during the past ten years. After a decade here, I also see how the responsibility of sustaining public media has become my main purpose; what it really means to inform, educate and entertain people. I feel like an ambassador of public media. We’re facing budget cuts over the coming years and this is a real challenge as we aim to maintain the high quality of our content. Therefore, we have to be very conscious and alert of how the media field is developing, not only in Belgium but internationally. We look at how we can collaborate and learn from each other across borders. Besides my role at RTBF, I’m the President of the IMZ International Music + Media Centre, a member organisation and business network financed by the European Union where we promote and protect the music and performing arts in the media. I’m also a member of EBU, the European Broadcasting Union, where we create common strategies on how to develop and remain impactful while facing fierce commercial competition. The international scope really interests me as I see the need for even more collaboration in the future if the European public media broadcasters are to keep a high level despite difficult financial times. If we stand together and create together, we can have an incredible impact. I dream of creating stronger bonds and further collaborations across European public media.
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Laetitia is one of the 73 locals who has generously contributed to our city guide 'Brussels by locals' by sharing her favourite spots in town.
Pictures by Stephanie De Smet taken at the Parc Tenbosch, one of Laetitia's recommended spot.