bluefactory creates a foundation to promote its culture strategy

The bluefactory innovation district is taking a decisive step in its commitment to culture. From 2026, a newly created foundation will be responsible for implementing BFF SA’s ambitious culture strategy and ensuring long-term project sustainability. With its own governance and dedicated personnel, this independent structure will be developing an ambitious programme at the intersection of the arts, sciences and social issues, while managing the ongoing operation of the site’s cultural spaces, including the transformation of the Silo, the district’s distinctive landmark.

From 2026, bluefactory will be unfolding a new chapter in its development with the creation of a legal structure dedicated to artistic and cultural activities. The mission of this new foundation is to develop, operate and promote all the district’s cultural activities, while mobilising new funding levers. The structure will be supported by a Foundation Board bringing together personalities from the cultural, scientific and business sectors. With an operational team that works independently from BFF SA, the foundation is going to offer a programme of projects that combine the arts and sciences, while ensuring the management and operation of existing and future cultural spaces, including the Silo, the site’s flagship building (see box below). The foundation will be set up by the beginning of next year and will be financed by a mix of private, public and semi-public funding.

A cultural institution in its own right

From its inception, bluefactory has worked as an incubator of cultural innovation by adopting a participatory approach and offering fertile ground for multidisciplinary projects. This form of “permaculture” has encouraged the emergence of artistic and social initiatives, led by local and international artists who have benefited from a flexible and welcoming environment that favours experimentation. BFF SA’s cultural management has carried out in-depth analysis of these accumulated experiences. The new strategy is based on these findings and aims to highlight culture at bluefactory as an interdisciplinary laboratory combining arts and sciences.

 The new strategy is fully in line with the vision promoted by the Charter for the use of the bluefactory site, in particular with regard to spaces dedicated to cultural and artistic activities. It is also in line with the strategic orientation of the cultural policies of the Confederation (Culture Message 2025-2028), the State of Fribourg (Revision of the LEAC) and the City of Fribourg (CULTURE2030). The strategy supports and encourages artists, promoting their professionalisation and supporting them as entrepreneurs and researchers.

 Approved by the Board of Directors of BFF SA, the new strategy takes a long-term approach to culture at bluefactory and will be giving it a strong identity. By promoting hybrid projects, at the crossroads of arts, sciences and experimentation, the aim is to position culture as a lever for societal transformation. Firmly rooted in the region, the foundation will also seek to cultivate an ambitious national and international reach.

Sustainable spaces for culture

 Having experimented with temporary spaces, the priority is now to develop permanent configurations to meet artistic needs. The Silo will play a central role in the district’s cultural offer, complemented by other proposed spaces to continue long-standing cultural partnerships, such as the one established with the SMEM. All these locations are to be designed, developed or renovated not only to offer working conditions that meet the needs of artistic research and creation, but also to welcome audiences from here and elsewhere. As catalysts of social cohesion, these places will become focal points for meeting and dialogue between artists, researchers, site tenants, visitors and spectators. In this way, the new spaces will reinforce bluefactory’s identity as a nerve centre for interdisciplinary artistic innovation and promote its integration into the rest of the city, the canton and Switzerland.

A model of culture

 In collaboration with public authorities, BFF SA aims to structure its cultural commitment for the long term with this strategy. The company has a clear ambition: to make culture at bluefactory a driver of interdisciplinary artistic innovation in the service of societal issues. Complementing existing cultural offerings in the canton of Fribourg, the district is developing a singular and adventurous approach. The objective: to create a living, open and sustainable place that brings together arts and sciences to encourage discovery, experimentation and new forms of collaboration.

A driver of interdisciplinary cultural innovations

bluefactory’s cultural approach aims to nurture interdisciplinary artistic innovations from all horizons. The research support programme will encourage artists and scientists from here and elsewhere to compare their practices and mutually enrich their areas of exploration. This infrastructure offers an environment conducive to research and creation, in line with the evolution of the site and its space specifications.

In its strategy, bluefactory sees itself as a recognised place of experimentation, strengthening exchanges between the Swiss and international scenes, in partnership with other cultural institutions. Cultural mediation will play an essential and transversal role, facilitating access to culture, stimulating public participation and opening spaces for dialogue around creations, artistic practices and heritage.

The Silo at the heart of artistic research

The Silo’s preliminary project phase has been launched following the parallel study mandate (MEP) procedure conducted in 2023. The objective is to give a strong identity to this emblematic building, the most visible on the bluefactory site. The BARAKI architecture & ingénierie sàrl project unanimously appealed to the college of experts, thanks to its use rationale and flexibility. The winning design preserves the Silo’s monolithic structure while opening it up to its environment. The plan provides differentiated spaces to host a varied cultural programme accessible to all audiences. Destined to become a true tourist attraction, the Silo will be a place for meetings, artistic residencies and interdisciplinary developments. The upper levels will host events and provide catering areas. The building’s inauguration is scheduled for 2030.

BFF SA

Founded in 2014, Bluefactory Fribourg-Freiburg SA (BFF SA) aims to develop, build, operate, promote and animate the bluefactory low-carbon innovation district. The site is now home to 700 people working in over seventy entities (SMEs, start-ups, university research institutes and innovation actors). It actively promotes the principles of sustainable development as well as those of the circular economy.