Brussels. In view of the financial and political turbulence which accompanied the implementation of the Kanal-Centre Pompidou branch, scheduled to open on November 28, one would be tempted to infer the announcement of the departure of its general director, Yves Goldstein, appointed by the Brussels Region from the start of the project. But that’s not the case. “I had a mission and it is about to be accomplished. The opening of Kanal marks the finish line and, in the concrete and daily management phase, another person is needed to lead the boat,” he declares. Even if it was he who embodied the future museum in front of the media and politicians, collegial governance is shared between the general director, the artistic director and the operations director, he insists.
A call for applications for the position will be launched by the board of directors just before or after the summer holidays. The profile must obviously present managerial skills, but also an ability to navigate the institutional mysteries and negotiate with the public authorities, the primary agents of the institution. The choice will be made by the board of directors of the Kanal Foundation from the profiles proposed by a jury composed of its president, Michèle Sioen, and external members. There are no plans to use a headhunting firm. “I have the weakness to think that the interest in the position will generate many extremely positive applications,” observes the president.
One of the priorities of the new director will be to negotiate with the Region a new management contract for the period 2029-2033, hoping to be able to convince those responsible to increase an annual subsidy announced to 10 million euros, which would be very insufficient to operate the museum as it was planned.
Without delay, the team intensified contacts and the search for external investors to set up public-private partnerships in commercial management.
In the immediate future, cost-saving measures have already been taken to keep the 2027 budget in balance. Thus, a major exhibition planned for the summer of 2028 as part of a partnership with three major international museums has been canceled. Other measures, such as a limitation of opening days, are on the table, but the decision will depend on the outcome of ongoing discussions with the Region, which must approve Kanal’s 2027 budget a few weeks before the opening of the branch. “We are talking about a few million euros between the waterline that we had set and that of the table of the budget agreement of the government of Boris Dilliès (minister-president of the Region), indicates Michèle Sioen. I also hope that the success of the project, if it is marked from its opening, will create a dynamic which will be able to influence the government in the final determination of the Foundation’s endowment. »
