Today, the collaborative network STATUS has released the findings of an investigation into the environment and conditions of contemporary and classical music in Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The report underlines the creative energy and circumstances that also challenge the art music and its place in the Nordic countries.

STATUS is a collaborative network of music centres in the Nordics, which aims to strengthen Nordic collaborations in classical and contemporary music. The network includes Iceland Music Information Centre (IMIC), Music Finland, Music Norway, Unga Tankar om Musik (UTOM, Sweden) as well as the Danish music organisation Art Music Denmark (formerly Snyk), who also initiated the network last year. The network has now published a report on the environment of contemporary and classical music in the Nordic countries.

According to the report, the contemporary and classical music scenes in the represented countries both undergo many exciting changes and face new challenges which call for collaborative solutions. Despite the differences between the five countries, the study finds that many of these challenges and changes occur across the countries in one way or another.

With the report, the STATUS network strives to reach out to music sectors, stakeholders and local leaders in the Nordics. STATUS will follow up on their research with two projects mentioned in the report: The mapping of music organisations in the Nordics and a Nordic conference on the conditions in the Nordic contemporary and classical music sector.

The many cases from the report ideally inspire to examine and experiment with new possibilities, ultimately contributing positively to art music’s condition in the Nordic countries. Thematically, the cases concern questions related to collaborations, structures, audiences, values and productions.

The methodology of the report was developed by the recognised Danish agency Bespoke. You can access the report for free on nordicstatus.org.

STATUS is supported by Augustinus Fonden, The Nordic Culture Fund, The Danish Art Foundation, Signatur and Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation.