Between Ghent and Kanazawa

Hera Van Sande 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa by SANAA

Architectural platforms in both cities will be working over the next five years to foster exchanges on design, heritage and urban development.

On the 5th of October, Ghent and Kanazawa will renew their partnership. For the first time, this city-partnership – which dates back more than fifty years – will be expanded to include a new track focusing on architecture and urban development. Over the next five years, the two cities will exchange knowledge, students, designers and experts, and will work together to organise exhibitions, summer schools, lectures and symposia along this track.

The collaboration is supported by the Ghent Architecture Platform (GAP), which brings together eight Ghent-based partners from the field of architecture since 2020: Ghent University, KU Leuven/Sint-Lucas, HOGENT/KASK, Design Museum Ghent, STAM, sogent, Archipel and Team Stadsbouwmeester. In Kanazawa, the Kanazawa Architecture Platform (KAP) was established this year. There too, the platform brings together different perspectives from the field, including the Kanazawa Institute of Technology, Kanazawa College of Art, the Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, JIA Hokuriku, heritage experts and the city of Kanazawa.

This collaboration will be unveiled to the public on Tuesday evening, 6 October, at the Vitrine.

In September, the first actual exchange between Ghent and Kanazawa will take place. A summer school entitled ‘Ecologies of Encounter’ will focus on places of encounter in Ghent. A team of 40 students and lecturers from Ghent and Kanazawa will explore the city from 14 to 20 September. The results of this workshop week will be on display at the Vitrine from the 20th of September until the 6th of October. Find out more about this workshop via this link
Furthermore, this evening we will introduce Ghent and Kanazawa to one another and roll out the red carpet for the next five years. We invite you to join us on this adventure.

Ghent Youth Jazz Orchestra: jazz as a bridge between Ghent and Kanazawa

The Ghent Youth Jazz Orchestra is a big band made up of young jazz musicians, an initiative of the non-profit organisation Muziekmozaïek, conducted by Filip Verneert. They are coached by renowned conductors during intensive project weeks featuring concerts both at home and abroad.

Since the 2014–2015 exchange between the GYJO and the JAZZ-21 youth big band from Kanazawa, the two bands have become ‘sister big bands’: the musicians from Ghent travelled to Kanazawa, whilst the young people from Japan came to Ghent. In 2025, the orchestra travelled to Kanazawa once again for a week packed with jazz, concerts and meetings with the JAZZ-21 project. An ensemble from the GYJO performs between the lectures.