14 Icelandic projects receive grants from the West Nordic Capital Fund

The fund's board. Back row: Guttormur í Skála, Dóra Björt Guðjónsdóttir, Kjartan Magnússon, Lone Rosengreen Pedersen, Nitta Lyberth Mørch.Front row: Elsa Berg, mayor of Tórshavn; Poul Petersen, deputy mayor of Nuuk; and Mayor Heiða Björg.
Board of the West Nordic Capital Fund

The West Nordic Capital Fund held its annual board meeting Friday, April 10, at Nuuk City Hall in Greenland. The meeting focused on reviewing grant applications for cultural projects submitted by the three capital cities.

The West Nordic Capital Fund board comprises mayors and city councilors from Nuuk, Tórshavn, and Reykjavík. The fund's mission is to support cultural collaboration among the three cities.

In 2023, the board decided to increase the total funding available for 2024 and 2025, since significant surplus funds had built up from distributions made during the pandemic. Each city had 300,000 Danish kroner available for their allocations this year, the same as last year.  

Mayor Heiða Björg says maintaining strong ties among the West Nordic capitals while supporting their cultural collaboration is a priority.

"With these grants, we are nurturing a creative dialogue across the ocean and strengthening our shared West Nordic capital city partnership. These are investments in ideas that bring us closer together and enrich our communities. Culture thrives when people connect."

Reykjavík Cultural City reviewed the applications and presented its official statements to the fund's board in Nuuk, Greenland. The board decided to fund 14 projects after reviewing whether each project's content and scope aligns with the fund's rules and objectives.  

The projects are:  

Day in My Life — Voices from Reykjavík and Tórshavn — Átak, association of intellectually disabled people

West Nordic Deaf Capital Cooperation at the Nordic Deaf Culture Festival — The Icelandic Association of the Deaf

Bókahátíðin í Hörpu / Reykjavik Book Fair — Félag íslenskra bókaútgefenda

Vestnorden Disc Golf, collaboration and founding of an association — Frisbígolffélag Reykjavíkur

Ingi Bjarni Tríó — Bárður Reinert Poulsen

The possibilities of public art for lifelong and non-formal education. — Reykjavík Art Museum

Stages — North Atlantic Islands Dance Network

Elsta land í heimi — Pétur Magnússon and Lóa Björk Björnsdóttir

Sex education for teenagers — Pörupiltar

Chess in schools — Róbert Lagerman

Living with Art — Private art collections in the Nordics — Sigurður Atli Sigurðsson

Can — Atlantica — Iceland Music/tónlistarmiðstöð

CRAZY-CHESS — Vinaskákfélagið

Vaka þjóðlistahátíð — Vökufélagið — Félag
þjóðlistafólks

Reykjavík City congratulates all grant recipients and thanks everyone who applied for submitting strong, thoughtful proposals.