2nd Arctic Arts Summit kicks off in Rovaniemi today

The three-day second Arctic Arts Summit will begin in Rovaniemi on Monday.

The summit will be held at the University of Lapland and Lappia Hall with the view to strengthen and promote art and culture as a spearhead in the circumpolar cooperation, build lasting networks for development and interaction in arts and culture, cultural education and community life in the Arctic.

The theme of this year´s summit, “Sustainability – Arctic laboratory,” refers to sustainability as a wide issue and means that sustainability can be developed in the Arctic and it can be applied elsewhere.

The organisers already completed all-out preparations to host the summit successfully.

“We are working very hard but we are happy. It is clear that this event has great importance to the arts and culture in Arctic,” Maria Huhmarniemi from the Faculty of Art and Design, University of Lapland, told Daily Finland, adding that maximum number of participants registered for the summit.

She said that in addition to official representatives from ministries, many institutions send delegates to the summit.

“About 40 participants will come from Canada and are supported by the Art Council in Canada, the Inuit Art Foundation, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and Canadian universities. More than 80 participants come from Norway, where the summit took place in 2017 to attend the summit,” she said.

The summit is expected to be an arena to develop insights and knowledge about the Arctic and create a broader discourse in the field of northern areas. The project involves cooperation between several key social areas in the Nordic region and presents perspectives from all of academia, politics, industry and art.

One of the central themes in the Arctic Arts Summit 2019 is that art and culture seen as an important part of the regional development in the Arctic.

The title of the event ‘Arctic as a Laboratory for sustainable art and cultural policy’ refers to the innovative collaboration between the art and cultural sector, creative economy, business owners and regional development. We will invite business development agencies and authorities responsible for regional development to participate in the event.

The Arctic Arts Summit, held in Northern Norway in 2017, was the first in which all the eight Arctic countries participated to highlight circumpolar arts and culture, said an official press release.

The summit is as a biennale planned to travel through the Arctic countries to facilitate perspectives and establish ownership for the important role of arts and culture in developing the Arctic. Finland has now taken over the project from the Norwegian project team.

After the success of the Arctic Arts Summit 2017, Norway’s project group has worked to keep the policymakers and stakeholders accountable for the final statement of the Harstad Summit.