Borealis is a festival for genre crossing music and art that takes place over 5 days each March in Bergen, Norway. The festival presents concerts, installations, performances, lectures, film screenings and radio broadcasts at concert venues of all sizes across the city – from art galleries and cultural arenas to surprising places you may not have visited before. Borealis is a place for adventurous listeners, celebrating music that doesn’t fit neatly in to any boxes. We present new projects from Norway and around the world that push the boundaries of what music is and how we listen.
But we are more than just five days of concerts and events in March. As an organisation we are here all year round, thinking about how we can create experiences and spaces that reflect the society we live in, whilst trying to contribute to the society we want to see. For us this means working hard to present gender balance in our programming and giving space for many different expressions of excellence. It means thinking not just about who is on stage, but about who feels excluded from our audience. We do this work through our project Borealis Radius which is intricately woven into the way the organsation works. Outside of the festival our Borealis Listening Club creates a space for people to listen to new sounds together, and our Borealis Ung Komponist mentoring scheme helps build a grassroots new music culture in the West of Norway.
MEMBERS OF
Borealis is member of the Keychange initiative, Balansekunst, Brak, Proscen and Bergen International Cultural Centre.
Borealis is certified Grønn Festival in 2021. It’s especially in the main areas Transport, Purchasing and Food & Catering that we’re making green choices.
In 2017 Borealis was awarded the first Equality Price from the Norwegian Society of Composers.
THE BOARD
Chair of the Board: Elise Sæle Dahle (she)
Deputy chair: Karianne Mjelde (she)
Members of the Board: Kathleen Mathisen (she), Ruth Grung (she), Katarina Isaksen (she)
Deputy members: Johanne Øra Danielsen (she), Sergeij Tchirkov (he), Ole Øvretveit (he)
MEMBERS OF BOREALIS
- Avgarde
- BEK
- Bergen Barokk
- Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester
- Bergens Kammermusikkforening
- Bergen Kunsthall
- Bergen Nasjonale Opera
- BIT20 Ensemble
- BIT Teatergarasjen
- Cinemateket i Bergen
- Collegiûm Mûsicûm Kor og Orkester
- Den Nationale Scene
- Edvard Grieg Kor
- KODE Kunstmuseer og komponisthjem
- Lydgalleriet
- NyMusikk Bergen
- Sjøforsvarets musikkorps
- UiB Fakultet for kunst, musikk, og design
- USF Verftet
SUPPORTED BY
Borealis recieves support for the festival and all-year-round running of the organsation from Arts Council Norway, City of Bergen, Vestland County Council and Bergesen Foundation.
In 2024 Borealis receives project funding from Arts Council Norway, Vestland County Council, City of Bergen, Music Norway, Fritt Ord Foundation, Nordic Culture Point, Nordic Culture Fund, Norwegian Embassies, and the project New Perspective for Action by Re-Imagine Europe supported by the European Union.
