Art in Wallonia: an economic sector in its own right...
Art is generally viewed through the prism of culture, creativity, heritage or personal expression, and is less often seen as an economic activity.
Yet behind a work of art, a performance, a film, an exhibition, a museum, a publication or any other work or production considered artistic lies an entire ecosystem, in contrast to industrial production, which encompasses numerous sectors:
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men and women,
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businesses,
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salaried workers,
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self-employed people,
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production sites,
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venues for public display,
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manufacturing and packaging activities,
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delivery services,
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service providers: accountants, solicitors, notaries, electricians, joiners, printers, etc.,
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investments,
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trade,
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exports.
The cultural and creative industries (CCI) bring together various stakeholders within this ecosystem.
To gauge their significance, it is therefore more appropriate to consider this economic activity as a whole rather than attempting to isolate the “artist” alone.
The scope of studies on the CCI includes, in particular, the visual arts, the performing arts, film and audiovisual media, music, publishing, heritage and museums, as well as other creative activities, depending on the classification used.
It should be borne in mind, however, that the scope of these studies is not always the same. Organisations and researchers may select different activities or use different statistical sources.
An economic reality already quantified in Wallonia
Wallonia has a reference study dedicated to the economic weight of the CCI: The Economic Weight of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Wallonia and Brussels, carried out by Elisabetta Lazzaro and Jean-Gilles Lowies for IWEPS (the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Forecasting and Statistics).
The study was carried out by the Cultural Management Department of the Université libre de Bruxelles, at the joint request of the Government of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and the Walloon Government. It covered 173 five-digit NACE activity sectors, grouped into twelve CCI domains in line with the 2012 ESSnet-Culture European recommendations. It took into account the entire CCI value chain, including distribution activities.
The study was completed in December 2014 and published by IWEPS on 3 March 2015. It covers the period 2008–2012.
In 2012, the CCI accounted for nearly 60,000 jobs in Wallonia, representing 4.9% of total employment in the region.
Taken together, Wallonia and Brussels accounted for around 104,000 jobs in the CCI, representing 5.4% of total employment across the two regions.
The study also estimated that the CCI accounted for 7.4% of employers in Wallonia and approximately 10% of active VAT-registered entities in the region. It distinguished between salaried employment and self-employment, identifying nearly 42,000 salaried positions and almost 16,000 self-employed people.
These figures relate to the period 2008–2012. They are not presented as a current snapshot of the Walloon economy. They constitute our historical starting point.
What share of the wealth generated do they represent?
GDP measures value added, not turnover. It is therefore not possible to take the turnover of cultural enterprises and present it as their contribution to GDP.
However, in 2011, the CCI generated €3 billion in gross value added in Wallonia, representing 4.0% of the region’s gross value added.
A study published in Brussels Studies uses regional accounts and data from Statbel to calculate the value added generated by the cultural and creative economy in Wallonia. It gives figures of €1.90 billion in 2008, €1.98 billion in 2011 and €2.05 billion in 2014.
These studies are complementary. They do not use exactly the same calculation methods, nor do they necessarily cover the same scope of analysis.
Thousands of businesses and self-employed people
The IWEPS study shows that the CCI constitute a sector characterised by a large number of small organisations.
For our overview of Wallonia, we distinguish between the number of businesses active in the CCI, the number of self-employed people and the number of salaried employees.
In 2012, IWEPS recorded nearly 16,000 self-employed people in the CCI in Wallonia, representing 11.1% of all self-employed people in the region.
In 2023, Le Forem recorded 32,603 self-employed people in the CCI in Wallonia.
As a proportion of the total number of self-employed people in Wallonia, this represents approximately 9.96%, based on the INASTI data used by Le Forem and the regional distribution of self-employed people.
The absolute number of self-employed people in the CCI is therefore significantly higher than that recorded in the IWEPS study, while their relative share of all self-employed people is lower.
The two sets of data relate to different years and different sources.
Small businesses
In 2012, IWEPS indicated that 86.4% of employers in the CCI in Wallonia were very small enterprises.
In 2023, Le Forem reported that 87.24% of Walloon establishments in the CCI had fewer than ten employees.
These two figures are not identical: they relate to different periods and come from different sources. Nevertheless, they demonstrate the strong presence of small businesses in the sector.
| Self-employed people in the CCI | Approximately 16,000 | 32,603 |
| Share of self-employed people in Wallonia | 11.1% | 9.96% |
The number of self-employed people in the CCI has more than doubled in absolute terms. Meanwhile, the total number of self-employed people in Wallonia recorded as at 31 December 2023 had increased by 46.3% compared with 2004.
In 2023, the CCI accounted for approximately one in ten self-employed people in Wallonia.
Employees
In 2023, Le Forem recorded 11,108 salaried jobs in the CCI in Wallonia. The source cited is the ONSS, decentralised statistics for December 2023.
This figure encompasses the various types of employment contracts. We shall therefore not seek to distinguish here between permanent contracts, fixed-term contracts and temporary agency work, as the source used does not provide a meaningful breakdown of these categories.
Le Forem indicates that there were 1,834 CCI establishments in Wallonia in 2023. Of these, 87.24% had fewer than ten employees.
Le Forem’s data also allows us to examine the distribution of salaried jobs across the five Walloon provinces.
| Liège | 38.06% |
| Hainaut | 26.70% |
| Walloon Brabant | 16.92% |
| Namur | 13.58% |
| Luxembourg | 4.74% |
The age of workers
In 2023, Le Forem reported that 33.7% of workers in the CCI were over 50 years old.
This figure highlights the significant presence of experienced workers in the sector. While it does not, on its own, allow us to measure the transfer of knowledge between generations, it nevertheless highlights the importance of experience and knowledge acquired over time.
Turnover
Turnover is a different indicator from value added. It measures the economic activity generated by businesses, but should not be equated with GDP.
According to the IWEPS study, the CCI accounted for the following:
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In 2008, 4.2% of regional gross value added in Wallonia.
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In 2011, 4.0% of regional gross value added in Wallonia, amounting to approximately €3 billion.
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In 2012, the turnover of the CCI in Wallonia was estimated at 4.4% of the region’s total turnover, or approximately €6.9 billion.
To update these figures, turnover statistics by economic activity and NACE categories must be aligned with the scope of the study adopted for the CCI.
Some NACE activities are directly linked to the CCI; others are only partially linked. We will therefore distinguish between activities that are directly linked and those that are partially linked.
Exports
According to an IWEPS study, in 2024, Wallonia’s international exports of goods and services across all sectors, including the CCI, reached €75.6 billion. This comprised €49.8 billion in goods and €25.8 billion in services.
International exports of services from Wallonia amounted to €25.8 billion in 2024.
This figure relates to the Walloon economy as a whole and is not presented as an export figure for the CCI.
NACE, artistic professions and activities
An economic classification system such as NACE categorises economic activities. It does not constitute an exhaustive list of artistic professions.
Le Forem associates professions such as visual artists, photographers, ceramicists and potters, musicians, dancers, actors, and circus and variety performers with the CCI.
The absence of an artistic profession as a separate NACE category does not therefore mean that this profession is absent from the sector.
Training facilities
Technocité has a training centre dedicated to the CCI. Its courses cover, in particular, video games, immersive technologies, sound design, special effects, storytelling and other professions related to digital media.
A distinction should be made between professions involving design, creation and production, and those of users or consumers of cultural products.
When artists invent, design or inspire
Certain historical examples illustrate documented links between artistic creation, design and technical innovation. These examples are presented as historical facts, without attributing to artists inventions that are not documented as their own.
Samuel Morse was a painter before becoming an inventor. He developed the electric telegraph and a coding system that would become Morse code, with contributions from Alfred Vail, among others.
Hedy Lamarr, an actress, co-invented a communication system with George Antheil, covered by US patent No. 2,292,387.
Jules Verne, a writer, inspired pioneers of underwater exploration, notably Simon Lake.
Leonardo da Vinci carried out studies and produced technical designs devoted, in particular, to flight. He left behind drawings of flying machines several centuries before the advent of modern aviation.
R. Buckminster Fuller, an architect, designer and artist, developed and patented geodesic structures and contributed to their dissemination.
When art is incorporated into activities that are not themselves artistic
Art can also be used in activities that are not themselves considered artistic.
Creative practices and aesthetic research can be applied to economic activities that are not themselves classified as artistic.
In patisserie, for example, shape, colours, volume, materials and decoration can all contribute to the presentation and enhancement of a food product.
The same applies to certain gastronomic practices, where the presentation of a dish draws on principles of visual composition.
Art as an educational tool
Artistic practices can also be used as educational tools when teaching subjects that are not themselves artistic.
A concrete example, reported in the Liège press in November 2000, describes an experiment carried out in a third-year primary class at Saint-Véronique School in Liège. Pupils explored concepts in French and mathematics, particularly geometry, through drawing and watercolour painting.
The article in La Meuse, entitled “How Can You Learn French and Maths Through Drawing?”, recounts this original initiative and states that it had been running since the previous year. It was led by a Liège-based artist specialising in drawing and watercolour painting and involved a third-year primary class. The article describes, in particular, exercises in geometry, verb conjugation and the representation of concepts of time through drawing.
This example is particularly significant in the context of this article: the aim here is not to revisit general scientific research on the integration of the visual arts into mathematics teaching, but to document a concrete educational experiment carried out in Liège.
In such situations, art is not necessarily the subject being taught: it becomes a more concrete, playful and different way of conveying or exploring other subject matter.
Art in the field of health
In 2019, the World Health Organization published What Is the Evidence on the Role of the Arts in Improving Health and Well-being? A Scoping Review, a literature review devoted to the role of the arts in health and well-being.
The report by Daisy Fancourt and Saoirse Finn summarises the findings of more than 3,000 studies focusing, in particular, on music, singing, dance, the visual arts and theatre.
The research examined covers prevention, health promotion, and the management and treatment of certain diseases.
In February 2026, WHO/Europe and the European Union announced plans to strengthen the integration of the arts and culture into health systems, citing dance, music and singing in various contexts.
Here again, art is not the medical product itself: it becomes a tool used within another sector—that of health.
Art, creativity and territorial transformation
Academic research also examines the role of culture and creativity in processes of transformation, urban regeneration, attractiveness and territorial development.
A study carried out at the University of Liège examines, in particular, the role attributed to culture in Liège’s economic restructuring following successive waves of deindustrialisation.
Some data on Liège
In 2023, the province of Liège accounted for 34.2% of CCI establishments in Wallonia and 38.06% of salaried jobs in the sector.
These figures are presented as regional statistical data.
Why is this measurement important?
Public policy can only be properly evaluated if it takes account of the economic reality of the sector it supports.
The CCI can be analysed using several indicators: employment, businesses, self-employed people, value added, turnover and trade.
These indicators do not all measure the same thing and must be interpreted in the context of their sources and methodologies.
Art may also feature beyond the statistical scope of the CCI: as a source of inspiration, as an educational tool, as an element in the presentation of a product, or as a resource used in the health sector.
These different realities must not be confused. They simply illustrate different relationships between artistic creation, the economy and society.
We do not seek here to produce a new statistical estimate or to impose a conclusion. The data and facts are presented as they are. Their interpretation is left to the reader.
Methodological note
The figures presented in this article do not all come from the same study and do not necessarily cover exactly the same scope of analysis.
Differences may be explained, in particular, by the period studied, the statistical sources used, the economic classifications applied, the NACE categories included, the treatment of activities that are only partially cultural, and the availability of regional data.
Each figure must therefore be considered in the context of its source and methodology.
This article brings together and compares existing data and research, enabling an assessment of the role of cultural and creative activities in the Walloon economy and, more broadly, the various ways in which artistic creation can contribute to economic and social life.
Victoria B. Lohay
Ambassador, Wallonia.be
Sources and documentation
Elisabetta Lazzaro & Jean-Gilles Lowies, The Economic Weight of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Wallonia and Brussels, IWEPS, report completed in December 2014, published on 3 March 2015, pp. 1 and 3, sections “Context and objectives of the study” and “Methodology”; IWEPS, official presentation of the study, published on 3 March 2015.
Elisabetta Lazzaro & Jean-Gilles Lowies, The Economic Weight of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Wallonia and Brussels, IWEPS, report completed in December 2014, published on 3 March 2015, p. 8, section “Share of gross value added down between 2008 and 2011”.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section “Key figures for the sector”, data sourced in particular from INASTI 2023 and calculations by Le Forem.
IWEPS, Self-employment (excluding assisting spouses and helpers), factsheet L015-INDEP, data as at 31 December 2023.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section “Key figures for the sector”.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section on the size of establishments.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section “Key figures for the sector”.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section “Sources”.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section on the age structure of salaried jobs; calculation based on data published by Le Forem.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, 2023 data, section on the provincial distribution of salaried jobs.
Le Forem, Cultural and Creative Industries, section “Occupations associated with the sector”.
STATBEL.
NACE-BEL 2008 — Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Belgian version.
Caterina Mauri, Jef Vlegels & Walter Ysebaert, “The Cultural and Creative Economy in the Brussels-Capital Region”, Brussels Studies, No. 126, 10 September 2018, sections on methodology and value added. Table 3 is not reproduced in the article; it is mentioned here as a source consulted for methodological comparison.
BIANCHET, Bruno, BERGER, Naomi, CLAEYS, Dorian, MALDAGUE, Hubert, MASSART, Fabian, VEYS, Marie & WILMOTTE, Pierre-François. Emerging Economic Dynamics and Territory(ies) — A Look at the Digital, Circular and Creative Economies. CPDT Research Notes, No. 82, March 2022. Permanent Conference on Territorial Development.
PERMANENT CONFERENCE ON TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT (CPDT). The CPDT Newsletter, No. 59, 2022. Article: “Emerging Economic Dynamics and Territory(ies)”.
IWEPS. Composition of Walloon foreign trade. Data for 2024; regional accounts published in March 2026 by the National Accounts Institute.
NATIONAL BANK OF BELGIUM. Foreign transactions — Collection manual / nomenclature of international transactions. Nomenclature of international services, including audiovisual and related services and cultural and recreational services.
La Meuse, “How Can You Learn French and Maths Through Drawing?”, Liège, Thursday 9 November 2000, an article about an initiative launched the previous year in a third-year primary class at Saint-Véronique School in Liège, with Ms Dominique Lohay, a watercolour artist. Article provided by the author in the form of a photographic reproduction of the newspaper page.
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