A free festival of community-led creativity and design returns to Brussels for the third time this summer. From 9 to 13 June 2026, the Festival of the New European Bauhaus will for five days light up the Parc du Cinquantenaire and inspire the city to build a more vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable future.
Actors, musicians and performers will fill the park for a FEST of dance, music, drama and crafts. A FAIR will spread the message further, showcasing some of the innovative concepts and projects that are already transforming Europe. High-level speakers in and near the Art & History Museum will discuss the future of Europe at a FORUM of debate about affordable, sustainable and inclusive living.
With world events again touching on citizens’ energy bills and raising fears about the cost of everyday essentials, the Festival will focus on affordable housing as the foundation for strong, inclusive societies. As democracy becomes an ever more precious value for Europe to defend, the Festival also highlights that democratic engagement means involving citizens in shaping their communities.
Because buildings and common spaces should be designed around the people who live in and use them.
Let’s shout: a Fest for a sustainable future
Among the dozens of artists travelling to the Fest from around Europe, you will find AAA, a European project working to improve accessibility to live performance venues for deaf and hard of hearing audiences. Or catch The Boondocks, an award-winning rock band from Estonia. Blending gritty narratives with a cinematic aesthetic, The Boondocks mirror core NEB values of beauty and sustainability.
Why not check out the Danube Dance Alliance, as they explore the relationship between body and architecture through dance? Or Mariana Piñar, a multidisciplinary artist who believes textiles are “a medium for storytelling and self-expression, offering a unique way to connect the personal with the universal.”
Look out too for the sarcastic, desire-filled multimedia dance duet: BURKICOM. “Let’s shout, be bold and not be afraid,” the project’s introductory statement says, in words that could perhaps echo around the Fest.
It’s only Fair: Improving the lives of Europeans
The Festival of the New European Bauhaus is a place where people come together to hear how communities across Europe are working together to bring sustainable, inclusive change.
But this Festival isn’t just about the future. At the Fair, exhibitors this June will also talk about projects already underway in Europe.
Some of the many organisations on site to inspire participants are AHA Affordable Housing for All: a Budapest-based energy-efficient project aiming to provide “quality, stable, and dignified housing for those in need.” The European Collective Housing Award meanwhile celebrates new and renovated projects “proclaiming the value of European-style collective housing.”
BIOARC showcases construction and insulation panels made from agricultural waste, while Pit-board turns olive pits into tabletops and Bauhaus of the seas sails has tiles made of oyster shells and seaweed
AI, fashion, schools, hospitals…. The Fair has ideas about all these and much more. Come and hear them. See what’s possible.
The Forum and the people
The opening session on 9 June will see European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa joined by Helle Søholt, CEO and co-founder of Gehl and Hanna Bondar, architect and member of the Ukrainian Parliament, as they consider the Festival title of “Life. Spaces. Buildings” at the Forum.
They will be followed by dozens of expert interventions over three days, on topics ranging from transforming the construction sector and developing climate-ready communities, to heritage, social media, and democracy. The full programme of Forum speakers and topics can be found here.
All this is part of a huge movement. The New European Bauhaus is growing and scaling-up: everyone can be part of it.
In Brussels, families and young children will be able to learn about and develop Festival of the New European Bauhaus values of design, sustainability and inclusion. Workshops and activities include an architecture school for kids.
A full Cinema programme of films showcasing NEB values will be held at the world-famous Brussels’ Centre for Fine Arts: Bozar.
A trophy design competition asked students to imagine the first official trophy for New European Bauhaus prizes: a lasting symbol of sustainability, aesthetics, and inclusion. The winner will be named at the Festival.
Past, Present, Future
The original Bauhaus was an art school developed by architects in early 20th century Germany, with the aim of developing crafts, objects and functional architecture for a broad public.
The New European Bauhaus first saw the light of day a century later, in Brussels, in response to challenges including climate change, the digital transition, and societal shifts.
Both movements have people, craft, and durable, democratic design at their core. Today, the New European Bauhaus is driving forward Europe’s clean transition.
The Festival of the New European Bauhaus takes place from 9-13 June 2026. Save the date, have fun and be part of the change!
