Nordic Culture Week 2016 in Ida-Viru County

Time: September 19-24 2016
Location: Ida-Viru County  

Ida-Viru County is to play host to a range of cultural events with a Northern European flavour this autumn, with Nordic Culture Week 2016 set to take place from 19-24 September. Guests will include musicians from Lapland, a jewellery artist from Iceland and a circus from Finland that is sure to put a smile on the face of every school kid in the county. Free screenings in the Amadeus cinema at Jõhvi Concert Hall and at Narva College of the University of Tartu will give visitors the chance to see the best Nordic films of recent years, from romantic comedies and family films to gripping thrillers. Entertaining and educational exhibitions that showcase life and art in the Nordic countries will be popping up in spaces both indoors and out.

The aim of this year’s festival is to also contribute to the cultural life of Ida-Viru County itself, and to recreate a shared space between Estonia and the people who live here and the Nordic countries via culture. Throughout history there have been close ties between Ida-Viru County – Narva in particular – and the Nordics. But how do Northern European artists think and create what they create in this day and age? What inspires young Sami musicians, and what kind of musical landscape to they work within? How do the fantastic minds of circus artists from across the gulf differ from those of others? A whole raft of events will be taking place in Narva, Sillamäe, Jõhvi and Kohtla-Järve, but people from all over the county are welcome to come and savour the rich imagination and depth of meaning of Nordic creativity. There will be something for everyone.

Nordic Culture Week 2016 is the follow-up to last year’s Nordic Film Week. In the wake of the film festival’s success we decided to take a broader look at Nordic culture. We hope the week of cultural events becomes an eagerly awaited annual tradition in Ida-Viru County’s autumn calendar.