The Institut Saint-Luc is an arts school in Brussels. It consists of six departments, with a total of 2200 students and some 430 employees, divided over five locations in Ixelles and Saint-Gilles.
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The school was founded by members of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, a French order created in 1680 by Jean-Baptiste de la Salle in France. Different Saint-Luc Institutes were founded all over Belgium, the first one in 1863 in Ghent. The first school in Brussels is founded in 1882 in Molenbeek, which moved in 1887 to Schaerbeek. In 1904, works start for a new Institute in Saint-Gilles, then called the Institut Jean Béthune, with in total 14 students. Works on this school are finished by 1908. This is still one of the current locations of the school, although it has been renovated and expanded since, especially from 1995 on.
The school (called both Institut and Instituts, depending on the point of view) is divided in six departments:
In 1969, comics creator Eddy Paape, who had worked since 20 years for the two leading Belgian comics magazines Spirou and Tintin, started a course in comics, with the support of Hergé, an alumnus of the Institut. It was the first of its kind in Belgium, and was soon developed into a full Bachelor.[2] Eddy Paape was followed by Claude Renard in 1976. The course soon become a well-known breeding ground for new Belgian talent. From 1975 on, they produced the magazine Le 9ème rêve (The 9th Dream, a reference to the in Belgium and France commonly used description of comics as the 9th Art). This magazine receivces in 1978 the Award for the best promotion of comics from the French Angoulême International Comics Festival. Later teachers include alumnus François Schuiten. Between 1984 and 2006, 286 students received a Bachelor in Comics.[3]
About 50% of the students later work in the comics industry.