The Project in Relation to the North Denmark Region
by Thomas Østergaard, former Head of Culture and Leisure, Frederikshavn Municipality

The Project in Relation to the North Denmark Region
by Thomas Østergaard, former Head of Culture and Leisure, Frederikshavn Municipality
The project contributes to, and takes shape within, the intersection between creative alliances and collaborations between culture and business. It involves artists, cultural institutions (Vendsyssel Theatre, Grafisk Værksted, the Design School Kolding), the business sector (Aalborg Portland), knowledge institutions for dissemination and evaluation of results (Aalborg University (APEX) and University College of Northern Denmark), as well as the tourism and experience industry through local and regional cultural events along the European canals. The project is also directed towards young people – thereby reaching out to a new generation of cultural consumers.
Furthermore, the project will be launched with the involvement and contributions of institutions and municipalities from Frederikshavn, Hjørring and Aalborg. In this way, it will help to strengthen the perception of North Jutland as a progressive and dynamic region with a vibrant cultural life.
Through its networks and European scope, the project will enhance the quality and visibility of the overall cultural offering in North Jutland, promote the development of the region’s institutions, emerging talents and networks, and sustain knowledge-intensive and creative artistic workplaces through challenging, network-based work. Like several of Marit Benthe Norheim’s previous projects (The Lady from the Sea, The Rat Maiden, The Camping Women, among others), the project’s participatory character and ambitions will also engage and involve young people as cultural actors, cultural creators, and cultural audiences.
The project supports the objectives of The North Jutland Cultural Agreement: to promote growth conditions for artistic production in the region; to retain and further develop the skills of artists already based here; and to help expand their working methods and forms of expression through international and interregional collaboration between culture, business, and innovation.
It also addresses the Agreement’s emphasis on children’s culture, as thousands of children in North Jutland and along the European canals will encounter professional art in their everyday lives, participate as cultural bearers and co-creators in a professional artistic process, and at the same time experience North Jutland being highlighted as an open, tolerant, and artistically rich and talented region in Europe.
The project will employ new technology in both communication and construction, thereby contributing to the creation of new platforms for dissemination and showcasing the ability of North Jutland’s artists to collaborate across interregional networks and between cultural and knowledge institutions, using new digital and interactive media.
Finally, as with The Camping Women, the project will have a strong media impact. With the right strategic planning, it can significantly increase North Jutland’s visibility across Europe.