The Flemish Association for Management and Policy (VVBB) recognises the innovative career path of Gunther Broucke, intendant of Brussels Philharmonic and the Vlaams Radio Koor (Flemish Radio Choir). They praise his strategic insight, political consultation, innovation, networking and talent management.

Gunther Broucke, manager of the Brussels Philharmonic and the Vlaams Radio Koor (Flemish Radio Choir), has been named 2016 Public Sector Manager of the Year.

For the 20th time the Flemish Association for Management and Policy (VVBB), which brings together business administration academics and senior civil servants, has picked out two excellent public sector managers for special recognition. In so doing the VVBB wants to show the general public that there are highly capable people working in the public sector who are able to bring about innovative and relevant changes in sometimes very challenging circumstances.

Gunther Broucke was accorded the Public Sector Manager of the Year Award on account of the enthralling, difficult but also innovative approach he has adopted to his work over the last 10 years with the Brussels Philharmonic and the Flemish Radio Choir.

“The VVBB values the innovative approaches that Gunther Broucke has been bold enough to adopt. He has transformed the former BRT orchestra and choir, together accounting for 125 people, into the vigorous ensembles that they are today, lifting them to the levels of regard and recognition they currently enjoy at home and abroad.”
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Solid and sound development

In the post of manager since 2003, Gunther Broucke has succeeded in getting the staff of the orchestra and choir, who were facing a very uncertain future in the early 2000s, to believe in their own ability again, and has done so in concerted action with the board of directors, the changing ministers with political responsibility, his direct staff and the wider personnel group. In an organisation that relies on extremely enthusiastic and highly trained staff, who for that matter represent 18 different nationalities, successfully bringing off processes of change of this kind is particularly difficult, and it is this that makes Gunther Broucke’s merits all the greater.

Innovation

The Brussels Philharmonic and the Flemish Radio Choir have a programme planning that reflects the organisation’s self-will and opts for contemporary classical music. 2015 saw the setting up of the ‘Centre for Future Orchestral Repertoire’: an international platform and database for 21st century symphonic music that sets about looking for the repertoire of the future. Among other things this led to the recording of new symphonic music for the iconic Deutsche Grammophon label in 2015.

Furthermore Broucke has sought and secured forms of cooperation with the business community, which he has developed into various commercial projects, including a successful foundation for stringed instruments. In 2013, in conjunction with the PuilaetcoDewaay Bank, the Brussels Philharmonic Foundation was set up: valuable stringed instruments are purchased by external investors, and played by musicians in the orchestra.

On the artistic front Gunther Broucke also developed a successful strategy to make the organisation more receptive to new forms of cooperation. The Brussels Philharmonic has specialised in film music, for example, and as well as being the resident orchestra at the Ghent Film Festival, is much in demand as a partner for international soundtrack recordings. In 2012 a spin-off was set up, focusing on commercial recordings of film and television scores and game music – another example of ways in which the non-profit-making association has been strengthened and new opportunities have been tapped for the musicians.

“Gunther Broucke has pushed back frontiers between worlds (the private and public sector), between industries, between communities and probably most of all among his own staff. It is due to this that the staff’s faith and pride in their own organisation have grown.”
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Changes and belief

For the general public the most visible high point of all these changes, of the recognition and the renewed belief in the organisation’s own ability, was undoubtedly the Oscar for the film music for “The Artist” in 2012. The most recent evidence of confidence on the part of the public authorities is the fact that the subsidy has been increased and the new youth orchestra structure has been housed in the Brussels Philharmonic.

It was the combination of strategic insight, sustained development in consultation with the responsible political officers, daring, innovation in cooperation and networking, and management of people’s talent, that convinced the VVBB to grant the 2016 Public Sector Manager of the Year Award to Gunther Broucke.

Mark Suykens, outgoing general manager of the Association for Flemish Cities and Municipalities, won the public sector career award.

The VVBB brings public sector managers who can make the difference into the limelight, and in so doing cuts across all kinds of preconceptions and stereotypes that exist regarding the public sector.