On Belval campus, the last traces of a feverish week-end are fading away, and the excitement of the Luxembourg Open Air (LOA) season opening makes place for the daily buzz. During a short break in his busy schedule, we talked to our alumnus, co-founder & managing partner of LOA Sebastian Jacqué, about the electronic music festival and what it means for our student community.
How did the idea of LOA first came about?
The original idea came from one of my co-founders Ivan Cardoso at the end of 2018. Together with Tom Wecker, Felix Hemmerling , we developed the concept and created the first LOA edition in 2019 at Place de l’Europe.
After this first success, I was the one of us four to switch to working on the project full-time and developing it into what it is today: a bi-annual music festival over 4 days with over 30,000 visitors per year. At LOA, I’m as much the organiser and driving force of the music festival as the manager of the business and team behind Luxembourg Open Air.
Students love LOA and are looking forward to it each time. How do you engage with students?
Many students from the University of Luxembourg volunteer at LOA or work for LOA during the weeks leading up to the event. We are very grateful for all the helping hands and they are an essential part of creating the positive atmosphere at LOA.
We want to make the event accessible for all age groups, hence European Youth Card holders can get a 20% discount.
Let’s get back to you. What made you chose Uni.lu for your degree?
After highschool I had a strong interest in the humanities, particularly history and literature. The Bachelor in European Cultures at the University of Luxembourg covered five disciplines (History, Philosophy, German studies, French studies, English studies) and thus combined my interests in one degree. I studied from 2008 until 2011.
Later on, it was particularly my PhD in Rotterdam that was most relevant to entrepreneurship in terms of some key skills: Managing a project from start to finish, sharpening writing, communication & presentation skills, analysing and synthesising information, working independently and resilience.
What is next for LOA?
The Season Opening just took place last week-end, and we’re now working on the line-up for the Season Closing on the 13th and 14th of September. This will take place at a new location, the iconic old industrial site Metzeschmelz in Esch-sur-Alzette, so accessible for students via public transport.
Students wishing to enrol with LOA can write to applications@loa.lu.
