A special edition of Rock for Specials 2019

1 Field, 2 days, 7 000 visitors. Live music, blue hats and oodles of atmosphere. That’s Rock for Specials, an initiative that has been backed by KBC for many years. It’s a special festival for special people from all corners of the globe.The festival was the brainchild of Luc Verbeke, who recognised that specials also like to rock, but many of them find accessing other festivals too difficult. it's also a celebration of togetherness, but this year the whole thing had to be turned on its head.

Luc Verbeke, director of Den Dries, an organisation which supports 120 people with intellectual disabilities in Evergem: ‘We've been organising Rock for Specials for 24 years now, so we know how to do it. We run on a tight schedule; each of our many volunteers knows what they have to do: get the field ready, man the bar or look after security and safety. It’s the same on our campsite, where a good 1 000 people stay during the festival, and where everything normally runs like clockwork. This year, however, lockdown meant we suddenly had to come up with an alternative. We ended up by turning it into a festival-at-home, and we’re now busy making Rock for Specials TV.

We ended up with a mix of film clips, live music and contributions from our roving reporter during visits to care homes. Den Dries invited specials and those around them to send in videos. It was a huge success: they were deluged in video submissions!  
 
Staff of Den Dries worked day and night to put together a brilliant compilation which included everyone who had submitted a film. The artists who were on the programme also sent contributions, with names such as Clouseau, De Kreuners, Sioen, and even government minister Wouter Beke. 
 
Professionals were brought in to make sure the event could also be streamed smoothly. All this made this special edition of Rock for Specials an unforgettable event.

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