Through our funding programmes, partnerships and cultural policy work, we aim to stimulate the development of art and cultural life and ensure flexible frameworks for new transnational collaborations.
Opstart is the Nordic Culture Fund’s investment in the initial phases of artistic and cultural projects. The programme supports the joint development of new and promising project ideas, with a view to strengthening the Nordic ambitions of the projects. You can apply for up to DKK 25,000, and there is no requirement for co-financing. Opstart has a rolling application deadline, and you will receive a reply within 20 working days.
Globus is our major thematic initiative towards 2024. With Globus, we are turning our gaze outwards, bringing art and culture into global arenas, and giving artists and cultural practitioners new opportunities to seek support. The focus is on collaborations that simultaneously embrace both the local and the global.
The Nordic Culture Fund continues the cooperation with Göteborg Book Fair in 2023. This year, the fund is involved both as a co-host of the Nordic Summit on Literary Policy on the 27th of September, as well as hosting a seminar on the Future of International Cultural Cooperation on the opening day of the fair. Göteborg Book Fair is one of the largest cultural events in the Nordics, lasting four days, from September 28 through October 1.
As Director of the Nordic Culture Fund, Maria Mediaas Jørstad will contribute to the further development of the Fund’s forward-looking efforts to strengthen Nordic cultural cooperation. She will be responsible for managing the day-to-day operations and the secretariat in Copenhagen.
Thursday the 31st of August the Nordic Culture Fund hosted a “Future seminar” about the Nordic cultural cooperation, together with the Swedish Embassy in Copenhagen. The program of the evening featured musical and literary performances, conversations, and speeches. The circumstance of the event is the departure of Benny Marcel, the Fund’s Director for the past 8 years, and his passing of the responsibility to the new Director, Maria Mediaas Jørstad.
In the years 2017-2022, the Nordic Culture Fund has worked to develop the live music scene in the Nordic region through its initiative Puls. The most important experiences and knowledge gained from the initiative have now been compiled in a report that shows that Puls has helped to create lasting collaborations between venues and festivals in the different Nordic countries and contributed to increased inter-Nordic movement of music.
Reflections – art culture politics society has come into being as a result of the Nordic Culture Fund’s ambition to expand the view of art and culture policy and develop an understanding of art and the importance of culture in society. The book was published in June 2021.
Contemporary puppetry network Nordic-UA will support Ukrainian puppetry artists by bringing together puppeteers from the Nordic region and Ukraine for a series of workshops that will focus on artistic exchange and common European values such as democracy in the arts and artistic diversity.
The Nordic Literary Summit in Gothenburg gathers politicians, researchers, writers and professionals from different Nordic countries. The meeting is organized in connection with Bokmässan in Gothenburg in collaboration with Göteborg Bokmässa, Västra Götalandregionen, Litteraturstaden Gothenburg and the Nordic Culture Fund.
The Nordic Culture Fund organises a seminar on “International cultural cooperation in a new era” at Göteborg Book Fair. The panelists are Linda Zachrison, Artistic Director of Gothenburg’s Stadsteater; Kristin Danielsen, director of Arts and Culture Norway; Madeleine Sjöstedt, Director of the Swedish Institute; Stefan Ingvarsson, Analyst at the Center for Eastern European Studies; and Susanna Pettersson, Director of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The conversation is moderated by Ellen Wettmark, operations manager of Bonniers Konsthall. The seminar will be opened by the Nordic Culture Fund’s new Director, Maria Mediaas Jørstad.
The Nordic Culture Fund is this year participating in the very first Diversify Nordics-conference in Oslo. The Fund is taking part in a workshop entitled “Decolonising, Bridging and Belonging in the Arts and Culture Sector: A Framework”, sharing insight and experience on the topic.
The Nordic Culture Fund is participating in a panel discussion on the implementation of WHO’s project, Music and Motherhood, a project on how singing groups help reduce symptoms of postpartum depression. The project is part of an ongoing partnership between The Nordic Culture Fund and WHO’s Regional Office for Europe, as part of the Globus-programme.
The newsletter brings you for example news about the Fund's funding programmes and other initiatives.
The Nordic Culture Fund awards grants worth approximately DKK 29 million every year.
The Fund receives 1,400 applications every year.
Every year approximately 180 receive Project Funding, 105 receive Opstart and about 57 receive Puls funding.