The Movement network
Five festivals join forces, presenting artists from all around the world this autumn in Norway.
Oslo World is proud to present the Movement network - a collaboration between festivals in Bergen, Tromsø, Skien and Molde. The goal is to present a wide array of international music to Norwegian audiences. Bergen International Music Festival is our partner in Bergen, and in addition we will be joined by three brand new festivals - Skien World, Molde Mundo and Tromsø World.
Every year, Oslo World chooses a theme for the festival, to provide us with a common thread in the booking. This year, the theme is Movement. We have chosen it for several reasons: Movement to music has been sorely missed at concerts the last two years. We also want to focus on political movements and how music plays a role and we want to highlight the importance of movement across borders and continents and the way it contributes to cultural progress.
The founding of the Movement Network is a central part of this year's theme. In years to come, we want to share a selection of the artists visiting Oslo World with other Norwegian cities. Here at home, Oslo World is a big festival - but in the grander scheme of things, we are still in the periphery. Hopefully, this will make Norway a more attractive music market for international artists.
These 5 city festivals have already become a large global family before. We got artists like PONGO to choose Molde over Copenhagen, and we will launch several names together throughout the spring.
Alexandra Archetti Stølen, festival director, Oslo World
In the first 18 years of our festival's history, we were part of Concerts Norway (Rikskonsertene). We booked tours at schools and concert venues across Norway. Ever since we became a separate entity, we have looked for an opportunity to become part of a new network. This will come in handy in the years to come - in a post-pandemic world, a lot of festivals and venues will be more risk averse than they used to be. Robust networks can make it safer and more attractive to book artists from all around the globe. We may also need to rethink the concept of exclusivity going forward. What is the value of announcing that an artist will play the “only concert” in Norway, or Scandinavia for that matter, at our festival? In a situation where the Norwegian concert market might shrink, we believe it sends a stronger message to announce artists in five Norwegian cities than “one night only”.
Pongo and Chango Spasiuk are the first two artists announced as part of the Movement tour this fall. There are more to come. We are looking forward to working together with experienced and ambitious bookers in Skien, Tromsø, Bergen and Molde. Together, we will create new movements in Norway!
