Needcompany is the artists’ house founded in 1986 by Jan Lauwers, Grace Ellen Barkey and Maarten Seghers. Since 2023, the trio has shared the artistic management of Needcompany. Within it they showcase their multidisciplinary artistic work - theatre, dance, performance, music, visual art, text, etc. Their creations are staged across the world in broad contexts; from notable festivals to off-spaces.

Right from the start, Needcompany has presented itself as a trans-/international, multilingual, innovative and multidisciplinary company. It prioritises the role of the individual artist. Authorship is essential. Everything stems from the artistic project, the veracity, the necessity, the meaning. The medium is constantly called into question. There is an ongoing exploration of the quality of the substantive message in relation to the concrete execution, leading the artistic work to branch out into an array of disciplines. Needcompany represents an important voice in the social debate vis-à-vis art’s urgency and beauty, both at a national and an international level.

Needcompany constantly seeks out ways to open itself up to new impulses, and to relate to the world. Since 2017, the company has been based at MILL, a versatile, open workplace in Molenbeek that delivers a local translation of Needcompany’s values and artistic practice.