News

UNESCO, in collaboration with the Nordic Culture Fund, has recently launched the working paper “Acting for the Recognition of Culture as a Global Public Good and a Stand-Alone Goal”, which highlights the pivotal role of culture as a catalyst for sustainable development.

The Fund has changed its guidelines for final reporting and auditing. The new guidelines apply to all projects with a reporting deadline on or after 1 January 2025.  

The Fund has granted funding to 9 collaborative initiatives through the Globus FORWARD programme. In 2025 there will be one Globus Opstart+ application deadline in April and one more application round in the Globus FORWARD programme in September.

Maria Mediaas Jørstad will leave the position as Director of the Nordic Culture Fund at the end of the year to take on the role of CEO at Kunstsilo, the new art museum in Kristiansand, Norway.

In the annual report, you can gain insight into the development of the fund’s support programs, partnerships, knowledge sharing, network formation, and strengthened global focus. 

From May 29th to 31st, the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) will hold its General Assembly in Copenhagen. The Nordic Culture Fund has contributed to several elements of the program as part of the Fund’s GLOBUS initiative.

Globus FORWARD is a new direction within the Nordic Culture Fund’s thematic initiative Globus and replaces the previous Globus Call–programme. The support is targeted at existing collaborations that demonstrate potential and readiness for further development. It is the grantees themselves who decide on the aims and content of the specific development activities. The programme will be open for applications during 14 June – 15 September 2024.

Maria Mediaas Jørstad, Director of the Nordic Culture Fund, believes that art and culture have a vital role to play in a world that is becoming increasingly divided and chaotic. Art and culture provide nuance and gets us out of our echo chambers. Read the portrait here. 

You can now watch the full recording of our webinar from the 20th of March 2024, introducing the new digital platform designed to share knowledge and insights from the the Fund’s Globus Programme.

Globus Opstart will open for applications on February 19th with renewed criteria and a new name, Globus Opstart+. With the update, the Fund will allow for a more flexible and long-term approach within the initial phases of new Nordic/Global collaborative projects.

Which elements comprises an optimal residency? Where in the Nordics can actors within crafts and design get to access specialised knowledge and skills of production?

This year’s ”Folk och Kultur” conference in Eskilstuna presents a series of Nordic events as part of a new 3-year partnership between the three large cultural-political gatherings: ”Kulturytring” (NO), ”Folk och Kultur” (SE) and ”Kulturmødet Mors” (DK).

The Fund has launched a digital knowledge platform that gathers key experiences and insights from the international projects within arts and culture supported by the Fund’s Globus programme – our international thematic initiative throughout the past five years.

The Nordic Culture Fund has granted funding to 13 transnational art and culture projects through Globus. In addition, the Fund’s Board has decided to extend the initiative by one year to ensure a more long-term anchoring of the initiative’s aims and potentials. The next phase of Globus will include both an adjustment of existing forms of support and an increased focus on disseminating knowledge from the initiative.

The Nordic Culture Fund has contributed to the initiation of a 3-year co-operative effort between the three great Nordic cultural gatherings “Kulturytring” (NO), “Folk och Kultur” (SE) and “Kulturmødet Mors” (DK). The purpose of this effort is to strengthen the democratic dialogue between all the Nordic countries, with a particular focus on the younger generation.  

On the 6th of October, the WHO Regional Office for Europe held an international conference on art and health in Copenhagen. Through specific efforts and projects, the one day conference explored the possibility for membership countries in all of Europe to implement art based interventions in health care. The Nordic Culture Fund participated in the conference as part of an ongoing partnership with WHO. 

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.  

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.

The annual report showcases the Fund’s work with cross-cutting strategic initiatives and funding programs in the past year.