Music City - Collaborative projects
Collaboration
Music City supports a variety of smaller music-related initiatives throughout the year, including music festivals, music-related conferences, individual music events, and educational endeavors.
Workshops with music festivals
Music City Reykjavík, ÚTÓN, and Íslandsstofa organize an annual, closed workshop for organizers of Icelandic music festivals.
The workshop seeks to create a platform for Icelandic festival organizers to meet, network, share knowledge, ask questions, and learn about sponsorship opportunities.
All those involved in organizing Icelandic music festivals are welcome to attend, and participation is free of charge.
The Hotbox
In collaboration with Hitt Húsið Youth Center and ÚTÓN, Music City Reykjavík annually invites musicians who advance to the finals of the Icelandic Music Experiments to participate in The Hotbox.
The Hotbox is a class on the music industry designed for the empowerment of those taking their first steps in the music scene. The class features engaging guest lecturers from the Icelandic music life, panel discussions, and practical assignments. Ása Dýradóttir, Music City Project Manager, leads The Hotbox class, with about 20 years of experience in the music industry, both domestically and internationally, as an artist and in music business roles.
Participants receive assistance with marketing, promotion, creation of press kits, as well as help identifying their target audience, guidance in financial management of music-related projects, solving technical issues with professionals, and more. There is also a strong emphasis on enhancing participants' networks within the Icelandic music industry through well-known guest lecturers.
At the end of The Hotbox, a concert is held where participants have the opportunity to perform for key figures in the Icelandic music industry and put into practice what they learned in the class.
Korda Samfónía
The Korda Samfónía is a community music project that could be called Iceland's most unconventional orchestra, as its members range from professionally trained and active musicians, students from the Iceland Academy of the Arts, to individuals in various stages of rehabilitation, some with experience in music creation and others without. The large ensemble comprises 35 people of all ages with diverse backgrounds but a common goal: to collaborate on creating new music and use it as an empowering force in their lives.
For people to thrive in life, they need to feel accepted and active participants in a society that listens to them. Korda is characterized by equality and support in a creative atmosphere where people work together, strengthen, and grow.
Korda Samfónía is managed by Sigrún Sævarsdóttir-Griffiths and her British production company Metamorphonics and is supported by Music City Reykjavík, vocational rehabilitation centers, the Iceland Academy of the Arts, and Harpa.
Firestarter / Innovation Waves
Music City, ÚTÓN, and Icelandic Startups have supported innovation in the Icelandic music industry through projects like the music-related business accelerator Firestarter.
In 2023, the accelerator was transformed into the workshop Innovation Waves in collaboration with Iceland Innovation Week, emphasizing the introduction, development, and implementation of new business ideas in the Icelandic music scene.
Love Record Stores
Love Record Stores (I. Elskum plötubúðir) is a live music celebration organized by Music City and the city center record stores; 12 Tónar, Smekkleysa, Lucky Records, and Reykjavík Record Shop.
Love Record Stores takes place twice a year, in late summer in collaboration with Summer City, and as part of the off-venue schedule at Iceland Airwaves.
The project aims to highlight the important history and operations of our record stores and invigorate the city center, with Love Record Stores set up so that visitors can casually walk among the shops to follow the program.
Artist residency
Music City Reykjavík manages the country's only music-related exchange residency, in partnership with the city of Nantes in France and the music cluster Trempo. Every year, we welcome an artist from Nantes, providing them with a space in the creative venue Hafnarhaus for three weeks, where they perform at Iceland Airwaves off-venue events and final concerts, run a workshop at Alliance Francaise, and immerse themselves in the Reykjavík music scene. In return, we send an Icelandic artist to Nantes for a three-week residency each September, where they engage in the music scene of Nantes city, are provided with an apartment to use, and a workspace at Trempo with full access to technology and contacts.
The residency is organized by Music City, with applications opened each March. Only applications from individuals are accepted, as the residency is not intended for bands.
Other supporters of the exchange residency include ÚTÓN, Stef, the French Embassy in Iceland, Alliance Francaise, Trempo, L'institut Francais, and Nantes city.
Upprásin
Upprásin, a monthly concert series, supports the Icelandic music scene’s grassroots, brought to you by Music City, Harpa, and Rás 2.
Taking place in Kaldalón at Harpa, these concerts are held on one Tuesday evening each month throughout the winter, from September to April.
The goal of the concert series is twofold: to improve access for grassroots and youth across various music genres to Harpa, and to ensure music enthusiasts can consistently experience new Icelandic music emerging directly from the grassroots performed in the optimal conditions of the nation’s concert hall.
Contact
Ása Dýradóttir, Project Manager and Musician, leads Music City Reykjavík.
You can contact us by sending an email to tonlistarborgin@reykjavik.is