Serge Rangoni, a Belgian who trained as an actor at the Brussels Conservatory in 1982, was unanimously chosen as the new artistic director of the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB) in Lisbon. He began his duties on February 2, 2026, for a four-year mandate. Previously, he directed the Liège Theatre in Belgium for 21 years and was president of the European Theatre Convention between 2017 and 2023. His candidacy was praised for its "consistency and ambition," based on the promotion of cross-disciplinary artistic work.
The CCB's new 2026-2027 season, opening from September 11 to 13, reflects Rangoni's vision of creating a meeting space between participatory installations, dance, music, theater and performance. The programmatic pillars are hospitality, diversity, freedom, participation and knowledge. The artistic director argues that cultural spaces are "perhaps the last places where we can cross differences, where we can find diversity," in a world where audiences are more fragmented and where communication through screens has reduced the capacity for empathy.
Rangoni intends to open the doors of the CCB to new creators and artists who have not yet had the opportunity to present their work at the institution. He highlights names such as Catarina Miranda, Marco Martins, Joana Craveiro, Ondjaki, Tiago Correia and Victor Hugo Pontes. The goal is to create more opportunities for Portuguese artists and structures to connect with the European artistic context, through co-productions, circulation of performances and artistic residencies.
The strategy also involves strengthening partnerships with Portuguese institutions such as Culturgest, the Teatro Nacional D. Maria II and São Carlos, and organizing meetings with theaters interested in internationalization. Rangoni is already developing projects with the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, involving ten global partners for artists from the margins and peripheries. The director wants that within two years, the CCB will have greater audience diversity, more connections with visual arts and that more Portuguese artists will be known outside the country.
