Student Kick-Off vzw

Student Kick-Off vzw is a non-profit and independent organization driven by and at the service of students in Ghent. Our major activity is to organize Student Kick-Off, in late September. This festival marks the start of the academic year for the 80.000 students in Ghent, the most student-minded city in Belgium. For the last four years, we have been able to gather about 30.000 unique visitors, which makes Student Kick-Off the very largest student festival in Belgium. In 2021, we celebrated the 15th edition of the festival. Student Kick-Off is built upon three main pillars. 1) Music is the major bonding agent used to connect and entertain our visitors. Two separate line-ups focuses on pop/rock and Electro/Dance respectively. The Electro-Dance stage is hosted by Eristoff and Moonday 2) We consider it our mission to guide and inform all students that join our beautiful city each year. Therefor, but also as useful information for our senior students, a major Student's Village is installed on site. This information platform includes different representative organizations for the students of Ghent, such as sport facilities, city services, student unions,... 3) Whereas we're all lucky to have had easy access to education, we are well aware not everybody has that comfort. Although we are proud to be, and plan to remain, a free festival, we demand 1 euro before accessing the festival. The complete revenue from this access fee, is offered to various development projects in the field of education. We also give opportunities to young music bands to compete in our very own Student Rock Rally. The winners get a spot on our Main Stage on Student Kick-Off. Although the operational organization is in the hands of students, the overall responsibility relies with a Board of Directors. This Board is composed by alumni of the organization, and ensures a smooth transition between the changing teams.