NEST mainly targets (semi)professional mid-career musicians, and the venues and cultural organisations who work with them. The initial focus is on music with roots in the (wide) jazz and experimental scene, because my network is strongest there. However, happy to expand into rock and indie and beyond, and open to other disciplines too!
Concretely, NEST is a 'creative talent pool', a pool of musicians and people who want to help musicians develop according to their own needs. All those in NEST are part of a community, a sounding board to each other, and a source of information and contacts. Together we create a network in which knowledge and experiences are shared. This pool is made visible on this website.
NEST wants to create a safe space, a warm nest to experiment in, a home to explore and develop. Below you can read more on the different activities, who are primarily aimed at musicians, but venues too can make use of our services.
AVIATION 2.0 refers to the coaching activities in the pool and more specifically the talent development offered by Lobke. She fulfils the role of 'light management': NEST supports the musicians in their career by offering one or several consults. The difference with a more conventional management agency is that NEST doesn't work with a fixed roster. Instead, AVIATION 2.0 caters mainly to musicians who haven't found a spot at an agency or rather prefer to keep control over that part themselves but could use a sounding board every now and then. NEST helps them with concrete questions and follows up for a few weeks, depending on the need. The questions could be the following (for example):
Importantly, these questions concern specific support with a concrete aspect or project, (mostly) defined in time. AVIATION 2.0 offers support and follow-up when there is a need, but lets the musician leave the nest once they can manage on their own, so that we can help other musicians.
AVIATION 2.0 targets mid-career musicians. The reasoning behind this is purely practical on the one hand and content-wise on the other: we feel a great need for such support with specifically these musicians and realise NEST won't have the capacity to support all musicians. Therefore this target audience is defined, to keep the work load under control and prevent disappointing musicians. On the other hand, musicians at the start of their career have other kinds of questions, most of which can be answered by other organisations such as VI.BE or Cultuurloket, or during the workshops ('Flock') we might offer.
Naturally, AVIATION 2.0 welcomes individual musicians who would like a sounding board, but venues are equally welcome to engage NEST to support their artists-in-residence.
Next to AVIATION 2.0, the project-driven talent development, a second activity of NEST are our HOTBEDS. This is a more long-term talent development. We offer several musicians or bands a 1- or 2-year long coaching trajectory. For HOTBEDS, NEST collaborates with cultural venues:
HOTBEDS is ready to get going, but at the moment we are working out which venues to collaborate with on this long-term trajectory, and awaiting funding for a collaboration with KAAP, Rataplan, JazzStation and Trefpunt.
Our 'Hatched!'-evenings are open lab concerts, experimental stages. At a Hatched!, the stage is the extension of the experiment space. Musicians who have had a residency through HOTBEDS, for instance, can show their work process to other musicians and audience members. Alternatively, musicians who would like to invite certain peers on stage with them can try this out during a Hatched!-evening. Hatched!-concerts are not finished performances, but experimental playgrounds. No loose jams, but open and publicly accessible test tubes. We feel the need in many musicians for such informal moments to meet and see each other at work, and learn from one another.
NEST collaborates with Vol Pension (Ottogracht 38A, 9000 Ghent), a cosy music bar owned by two music loving bartenders and a very open-minded audience, and from September 2025 onwards also with creative workspace de Koer (Meibloemstraat 86, 9000 Gent). The first series of Hatched!-concerts ran from November 2024 until March 2025. Every middle Thursday of the month you could discover new work by exciting musicians.
From September 2025 onwards we invite you to our second series, every middle Wednesday of the month, alternating between Vol Pension and de Koer. Check out the programme on our calendar page!
Hatched! is supported by the City of Ghent and Ghent Culture.
Our 'flock' sessions bring artists together, stimulate peer learning and make knowledge accessible within the musicians' pool. These activities can range from informal get-togethers over coffee, talking about a specific theme or recurring question coming from the pool itself, with both musicians and other professionals joining in the conversation, to concrete workshops with an external speaker or communal, guided writing sessions for funding applications.
The very first flock session is scheduled for 3 February 2026, as the brand-new collaboration between tussen NEST, Mosca Blanca and Trefpunt. The idea is to start a series of open workshops and get-togethers for (semi) professional musicians, that take place every two months, in order to create a space for peer learning, questions, knowledge exchange and community building.
The very first session focuses on the needs of the musicians: What is holding you back? What are you struggling with? What would you like to know more about? What is lacking in the ecosystem? Your input will determine the content of the following sessions.
📍 Trefpunt (above Café Trefpunt)
🕢 Tuesday 3 February 2026, 18h30–21h30
🍽 During the break we share a meal together (bring something from home or get some take-out close by)
💸 Free entrance
You can register via this link (in Dutch for now), but just showing up on the day is allowed too.
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