The party at home!

découvrir :: immeubles en fête (discover :: buildings celebrating) text | dominique van nieuwenhove The party at home! Celebrating with your neighbours… The idea is simple and convivial. Yet someone had to think of it. It has been a reality for a few years now. The concept has its origins in France and is winning over more and more followers across Europe. [Photo caption] "Immeubles en fête", a welcome initiative that lets you meet your neighbours in a different way… Have you ever chatted with the neighbour on your landing or pavement? Do you even know their name or face? In big cities, where individualism and isolation prevail, exchanges between neighbours are rare. Yet a gesture, a smile or a simple hello is sometimes enough to break the indifference and start a dialogue. Faced with this observation, Atanase Périfan and a group of friends created, in 1990 in Paris, an association aimed at strengthening local ties and mobilising against isolation. After setting up numerous mutual aid projects between neighbours, the group launched, in 1999, a brilliant concept: les immeubles en fête (buildings celebrating). The success was immediate, mobilising more than 10,000 residents. From 2003, it was also organised in other European cities. In Belgium, more than three out of four people live in towns, and people there generally know each other little. This is what prompted Carl De Moncharline to import this immeubles en fête concept. The principle is simple: once a year, you invite your neighbours for a drink, to share a meal, to dance, in short, to party. But you can also team up to organise the evening together. The "one recipe per floor" formula has already been devised (starter on the ground floor, main course on the first floor and dessert under the roof). To send out the invitation, simply put up the poster provided for the occasion on the door of your house or in the hall of your building, writing your name, the time and the place of the evening. You can also invite your neighbours with postcards slipped under their door. In practice Immeubles en fête: Tuesday 31 May 2005 from 7 pm to 10 pm (indicative time) throughout Belgium. Posters are available one week before the event in most daily newspapers. They can also be downloaded (together with the postcards) from www.immeublesenfete.be Touring | 30 | MAY '05