Theatre festival Boulevard in 's-Hertogenbosch can look back on an inspiring 41st edition. The 11-day performing arts festival attracted around 107,500 visitors, including 54,500 visitors to the performances (37,000 tickets sold and 17,500 visitors to the free programme) and a visible growth in younger visitors.
Motto
The festival motto was 'in community of wonder', which resonated throughout the programming. For Boulevard, curiosity remains the best remedy against hardening and polarisation. The festival saw this confirmed in the strong sense of community - on the square, in halls and tents, in festival buses - and in the diversity of the audience.
Trekkers
Boulevard 2025 offered around 125 different performances, concerts and installations in the (cutting) fields of theatre, dance, music and visual arts, including 16 premieres. Major crowd-pullers were the large location productions by the Flemish companies Berlin/NTGent (Living Apartment Together), KOPERGIETERY/vzw Forevergem (Foreeververandgem), Circumstances/Piet van Dycke (BEYOND) and - from our own province - Het Zuidelijk Toneel (Not Quixote). Also scoring high were Louis Janssens (Family), Miet Warlop (Athale Delirium Exhale), Cheroney Pelupessy (Mama'ku) and Joseph Toonga/Alexsander 'Mumu' Afonso Costa/ Leonardo Laureano Ciriaco & Peterson Napoleão (The Black Body Festival: Joy isn't always Joy). The extensive Future Feels/Club Felix student programme was also massively attended.
Mix of disciplines and visitors
A broad palette of disciplines was shown in Tent Purple, from rap to dance theatre, battles to improv, as well as football and comedy. The audience included both new - and often young - and curious loyal visitors. The programming of this stage, designed by Amsterdam-based spatial designer Eddy van der Laan, came about in collaboration with dance maker Arjuna Vermeulen of the Bossche hip-hop crew Cypher HQ.
I MAKE ME
A first experienced family square IK MAAK MEE, the meeting and activity place for children. In particular, the Sprokkelroute, the daily workshops and the special children's menu in Restaurant LOF attracted many young visitors and their parents/carers.
Locations
Since 1985, Boulevard has played at 238 different venues in and around 's-Hertogenbosch. In 2025, the list grew to include five new venues: Flat de Hoge Slagen, residential care centre Antoniegaarde, garden Sint Janscentrum [seminary], garden in Berlicum and car park De Gruyter Fabriek.
Accessed
Culture should never be a privilege for some and a loss for others. Based on this conviction, Boulevard also put a lot of effort into accessibility this edition. In cooperation with interest groups, space was made for opportunities and encounters: from four-handed interpreters for Deaf-blind visitors, Meet & Feel sessions that make a performance tangible and the Signs Café at the Hertog Jan La Tramontana bar to free programmes for newcomers, for example, and over 450 Give a Ticket tickets for people who cannot afford much financially.
