Cocktail reception & Pro DrinK

Julien Fournier graduated in journalism and communication at Université Libre de Bruxelles. His journey has led him since the early 2000s to work with Radio Campus Bruxelles, Radionomy, Les Siestes Electroniques, Vlek and a few other projects, always within the music, media and communication sector. 

Hired at Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques (a public agency specialized in supporting exports for the Wallonia-Brussels Federation’s music industry in Belgium) in 2012 as head of the current music sector, he took over the management of the agency 6 years later. 
Today, he designs and implements, with his team, the policy of transversal support (all musical genres) for artists, bookers, labels and broadcasters residing in the French-speaking part of Belgium. He also recently joined the board of EMEE, (the association of European export agencies for the music industry) and is a founding member of SCIVIAS, a platform working towards a better gender balance in the local musical sector.

Wallonie-Bruxelles Musiques (WBM) is a public service agency specialising in export support for the music sector of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation (Belgium).

Kenneth is the general secretary of the Brigade d'Intervention Culturelle (BIC), an association in charge of the export of the pop music scene in Hauts-de-France for more than 20 years. The BIC promotes emerging regional scene to France and abroad, on events such as the MaMA festival (FR), the Reeperbahn festival (DE), FrancoFaune (BE) or Bars en Trans (FR), and participates in the Hello Music consortium alongside 4 other organizations of pop music industry in the European metropolis of Lille.

Since 2016, the BIC is the administrator of the Crossroads festival.
Kenneth is also a consultant within the ExtraCité SCOP based in Lille, and a speaker in college. He works throughout France on cultural policies, project development strategies and European cooperation.

Crossroads festival (Roubaix, Hauts-de-France)

The Crossroads Festival was launched in 2016 to promote the modern music sector of the Hauts-de-France region to professionals from other regions and countries, and to set up inter-regional and international artistic and professional exchanges.The festival offers every year, mid-September, in Roubaix to discover around thirty artists, in a « showcase » format, as well as professional meetings. The strategic location in the heart of the Paris-London-Brussels triangle was one of the main considerations that gave impetus to the project. The cross-border and European dimension must therefore important for the development of the Crossroads festival.

The actors of the sector in the Hauts-de-France work in synergy to program emerging artists from their territory. The festival also welcomes groups proposed by various partners (export offices abroad, venues and professional networks in France), and chosen by la BIC’s board.

The professional meetings are co-organized with the Haute Fidélité regional cluster and the Pôle Emploi Spectacles et Audiovisuel Hauts-de-France. Workshops, speedmeetings, conferences, shared work spaces… are offered to invited professionals (more than 400 accredited in 2019) in order to make contacts and exchange on current events in the sector. Musicians and project developers in the region are also invited to participate in these meetings or to take advantage of individual meetings during dedicated times.