THE NORWEGIAN YOUTH FESTIVALS OF ART

Without Regret - from the UKM-Festival 2010

Ungdommens kulturmønstring (UKM), or The Norwegian Youth Festivals of Art, is a cultural initiative for children and youngsters from the age of 10 to 20. The objective of the initiative is to stimulate young people to be creative and active, and to develop and make their cultural activity visible.

All young people between the ages of 10 and 20 are welcome to participate in the UKM, whether they sample beats & loops, dance the halling (a traditional folk dance) carve huge wooden sculptures with their chainsaw, play classical music on the piano or make 3-D animated films on their PC. The UKM is designed to be flexible and informal; it aims at tickling the participants’ curiosity, titillate their creativity and broaden their cultural horizon. The UKM is open to all young people, but has a special responsibility for youngsters that are not members of any one organization.

The UKM is one of the Government’s most important priority area on the field of youth culture and the festivals has been an annual event since 1987. There has been a tremendous growth in participation over these years and in 2002, more than 26 000 young people took part in all the local Youth Festivals of Art. As from the autumn of 2002, the young may register online.

The UKM is divided into three levels: the local festivals, the regional festivals and the national festival. Everyone who registers for a local festival is included. The UKM is not a talent show. The jury’s selection is based upon elements such as originality, creativity, the performers’ ability to create contact with the audience as well as quality. The selection is to reflect the scope of the local festivals both as to modes of expression and age.

The management system of the UKM is made up of network that consists of county councils, local councils, regional music councils, youth councils and a number of associations and organizations.

The UKM has an ambition to form a part of the development of the cultural expressions of young people. The mobile Internet editorial office of the UKM imparts and documents the activities of young people. The technical equipment facilitates the production of multi media material from the individual festivals. The editorial staff reports live from the festivals by presenting the news from the concerts and the shows continuously on the Web. The UKM wants to include the work of the Internet editorial staff in the spectre of expressions with which young people may participate and therefore the staff mainly consists of young people.