The festival Nordic Matters is launching on Saturday 14 January in the Southbank Centre in London, with an opening weekend of fika and fun for all the family, inviting everyone to immerse themselves in Nordic culture, music, storytelling, workshops and a marvellous cinnamon bun bake-off!
Southbank Centre has announced the first details of Nordic Matters, a year long exploration of Nordic arts and culture throughout 2017. The programme will embed Nordic culture and artists in Southbank Centre’s year-long artistic offer and annual festivals and provide a platform to some of the more unknown creative talents from the Nordic region; from Åland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. This is the first time that Southbank Centre has programmed a year-long festival dedicated to one region.
The festival Nordic Matters’s opening weekend taking place across Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall will host a programme of talks, discussions, music, storytelling, workshops, debates and to it all up – a mass cinnamon bun bake-off.
The cinnamon bun bake-off will not only feature as the festivals ‘icing on the cake’ but be related to and learn more about sustainable food preservation, with advice coming from top Nordic chefs.
Talks and panel discussions will explore the three main themes; children and young people, gender equality, and sustainability with speakers including Icelandic poet, novelist, and lyricist Sjón and Anu Partanen, author of The Nordic Theory of Everything. Workshops include a ‘Learning through Play’ session hosted by a LEGO team.
Norwegian musician and social activist Moddi will perform a blend of folk music and pop and story-telling. Recent Nordic films will be shown throughout the day and colourfull installation ‘Falling Shawls’ by Sami artist Outi Pieski (inspired by the Sami people’s traditional costume) will be unveiled.
This festival is a result of the Southbank Centre’s year-long exploration of Nordic arts and culture, merging it all into one magical event, to celebrate the Nordics.
We can’t wait to visit!