Music City - Collaborative projects
Collaboration
Music City supports various music-related projects and grassroots Icelandic music throughout the year, including rehearsal spaces, music festivals, music conferences, individual events and music education.
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 Iceland Music, 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.
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 will also be a strong focus on building networking opportunities for participants in the Icelandic music industry through prominent guest speakers.
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
Music City has supported innovation in the Icelandic music industry through projects like the music-focused business accelerator Firestarter.
The business accelerator aims to nurture music entrepreneurs, strengthen business frameworks and enhance connections between music and the innovation and technology sectors.
The initiative focuses on implementing, developing and executing new business concepts within Iceland's music environment.
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 Iceland Music, 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 us
Guðmundur Birgir Halldórsson, project manager and musician, serves as the project manager of Reykjavík Music City. You can contact us by sending an email to gudmundur.birgir.halldorsson@reykjavik.is
General inquiries can be sent to tonlistarborgin@reykjavik.is.