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Bodø2024, European capital of culture, opens this weekend. One year, 1000 events throughout Nordland. To the net sum of NOK 300 million. A joint venture between business, the state, the county council and the municipality. And the grumbling started already when the idea came. Everyone, from politicians to the commentariat, to everyman, to the beloved and hated “waste ombudsman”, has their negative opinion about money spent on culture and about the “subsidized, red wine-drinking artists who live on public funds”.
People in my own party have also expressed doubts about the use of money. Should the money have been used for elderly care and school? Or traffic and asphalt? Maybe. In a short-term perspective, it would probably have given us greater value. In a longer perspective, I am sure that the investment is worth far more than any of us see today.
In Tromsø, the New Year’s marathon brings together more than 1,000 international participants. Millions of visitors travel to Berlin every year to experience the Philharmonic. In Stavanger, large numbers of people from Norway and the world gather for the annual food festival. To a small village in England, participants come from all over the world to injure themselves in something as special as an unceremonious but brutal cheese race. And what would Pisa in Italy have been if the tower that began to lean had been demolished instead of being completed?
What all of these have in common is that someone once dared to dream about something new and exciting. They have dared to bet on something out of the ordinary. Without them, we would not have had so many world attractions.
In Nordland, we have also had the courage to bet. The Hamsun Center and the Viking Museum in Lofoten are two examples. The puppet theater in Nordland, which is based in little Stamsund, receives a standing ovation in the New York Times. But we may not have dared to bet big enough. Until now, with the first European capital of culture north of the Arctic Circle.
In 2018, tourists left NOK 14.5 BILLION worldwide. The potential in the tourism industry is enormous. Here in Northern Norway, we have all the prerequisites to get a big piece of that cake. We have nature, we have the northern lights, we have the midnight sun. We have skrei, whales, eiders and sea eagles. We have urban and modern cities in arctic regions, which in itself is highly unusual. And we do, in fact, have world-class culture. But we must dare to build on this industry as well.
Every kroner invested in a cultural event returns the investment many times over to the local communities. Participants and visitors spend money on accommodation, food, shopping and other experiences when they first travel somewhere. This money in turn provides higher local tax revenue, which provides more money for schools and care for the elderly.
Through high-quality cultural practice, we also build pride, identity and belief in ourselves. Pride in what we manage to achieve in our village, our municipality or our county. Imagine that we, in a small town, north of the Arctic Circle, managed to get the status of European capital of culture. It shows that we have something to offer that no one else has. Within an area that few have faith in. Still, we made it.
Close to Okstindan you will find a spectacular tourist cabin, Rabothytta. On a small island outside Bodø is the Immersion Room in Fleinvær. Both are examples of how we create architecture in close interaction with nature. We are and live in the north – in interaction with nature, architecture and culture. Now the rest of Europe will get to experience what we get to experience every day. And we will gain a lot from that in the long term, both in the form of pride, identity and well-being, but also in the form of kroner and øre.
From Hattfjelldal and Brønnøy in the south, to Andøy and Narvik in the north – this year and in the years to come we get every opportunity to experience the results of someone’s dreams – it gives us great experiences in small places. And a pride that will remain for many years to come.
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