World Festival of Folklore Schoten
Schoten, Belgium
July 6 - July 13, 2007

In 1959 members of a folklore group and the local tourist association founded The World Festival of Folklore in Schoten in order to promote folk art by presenting it to the public in a beautiful setting, being the historical castle and its surroundings.

The festival takes place every year from Friday before through Friday after the second Sunday in July. Eight to 10 high quality foreign dance ensembles present their program to an audience totalling 30 to 35.000.

It is an amateur festival and therefore meant in the first place to non-professional folk art groups of a high artistic standard. For the sake of preservation the organisers prefer authentic folklore, but they accept adaptation to the stage.

The aim of the organisers is not only to preserve the cultural heritage but also to allow people all over the world to learn to know each other better. Therefore much time is reserved for playing music, dancing together, making excursions, demonstrating handicrafts and playing games.

For the same reason and with their consent some groups stay in families. We do not organise any competition between the groups. Each participating ensemble receives the festival's Gold Medal.

Schoten is a residential suburb, 9 km north of Antwerp, a city with a long cultural tradition and great economical importance with one of the largest seaports in the world. It has direct access to the European railway and highway systems and is only 50 km away from the international airport of Brussels.

As Schoten is part of the Flemish region of Belgium, the language spoken is Dutch, but guides and interpreters in many languages are at the disposal of the groups.

Contact Information:

World Festival of Folklore Schoten
Kasteel van Schoten
Kasteeldreef 61
B – 2900 Schoten
Belgium

Tel.: +32 3 658 10 58
Fax: +32 3 658 13 66
e-mail: This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
web site: www.festivalschoten.be