Stockholm Culture Night (Kulturnatt)

kulturnattstockholm.se 

This Saturday, April 20th, is Culture Night (Kulturnatt) in Stockholm. This is the fourth annual Culture Night in Stockholm and it has become quite popular! So, what is a Culture Night? Well, it basically is an evening devoted to all things cultural... and FREE! Different cultural institutions in Stockholm are open during the evening (6pm to midnight), including museums, art galleries, libraries, churches, palaces, clubs, theatres, cinemas and more. To break it down in numbers, this festival will have around 350 events taking place at over 90 different locations throughout the city! And, as I mentioned earlier, admission is free... so this is a great opportunity to get cultural without damaging your wallet.

Photo by Robert Höglund, Kulturnatt Stockholm

So there is a lot to choose from... art & museum exhibitions, concerts, guided tours, performances, viewings and parties. Something for every taste! You can find a program to download in English on their website (click here) in which they have hand picked events where knowledge of the Swedish language isn't necessary. More detailed information in Swedish along with the full program can be found by clicking here.

Photo by Robert Höglund, Kulturnatt Stockholm

The official After Party, with free admission of course, will take place at the iconic Stockholm City Hall (Stadshuset)... where the Nobel dinner/party takes place every year. It starts at 10:30pm and goes on to 3am. The City Hall is located on Kungsholmen. If you are staying at the Rival Hotel, stop by and talk to me and I can explain in more detail about the different events.

Culture, Youth and Summer Cinema Festivals 2012

Gustav Adolf Torg stage, photo by Thomas Karlsson

Stockholm is just recovering from the Pride festival and already next week we have three festivals simultaneously! The largest of the three is The Culture Festival (Kulturfestivalen). This is one of my absolute favorite festivals in Stockholm... there is lots to see & do, good people-watching opportunities and (most importantly) it is 99% free-of-charge! The festival runs from the 14th to 19th of August and its location is concentrated in the downtown area. Most events are to be found in three squares: Gustav Adolfs Torg (in front of the Royal Opera), Brunkebergstorg and Sergels Torg. All three squares are very close to each other and easy to walk between. There are lots of fun events to choose from... Brazilian Samba Party, circus artists, African dance show, opera gala, concerts and other live performances. One highlight should be the concert on Thursday evening with Ola Salo and the Radio Symphony at Gustav Adolfs Torg. Click here for a full program of events. If you are traveling with children then make sure to visit Brunkebergstorg during the day for their Maxat för Mini... lots of activities for children!

Ola Salo, photo by Emma Svensson

There are two other smaller festivals going on at the same time in Stockholm. Next door to the Culture Festival you have Ung08, a youth festival, taking place in Kungsträdgården. It is basically a free music festival geared for youths age 15 to 19. The second festival (and another personal favorite) is the outdoor Summer Cinema Festival (Sommarbio). Every evening at 8:30pm, between the 15th and 19th of August, they will be showing a classic movie in the great outdoors at the park Rålambshovsparken. The theme this year is monster movies and they have some great ones lined up... from Jaws to Fellowship of the Ring. Click here for the schedule, but be aware that Pan's Labyrinth is in Spanish with Swedish subtitles and Let the Right One In is in Swedish with no subtitles. Otherwise the others are in English with Swedish subtitles. Bring a picnic basket, bottle of wine and a blanket and enjoy some great cinema (free admission).
If you are staying at the Rival Hotel, stop by and talk to me to get more information about these festivals!

Upcoming Festivals & Events

Photo by Yanan Li, Stockholm Visitors Board

I have posted about all of the festivals and events this summer, but I thought I would give a little reminder for the big events in the upcoming weeks.

• Stockholm Gay Pride (July 30th to August 4th)- very popular annual festival. Pride Park is located in the park Tantolunden. Here there will be performances from both Swedish and international artists, as well as restaurants and bars. Lots of parties at different venues all week long! The Pride parade is on Saturday afternoon and is a big event in Stockholm with thousands coming out to watch.
• Stockholm Music & Arts Festival (August 3rd to 5th)- new festival on the island of Skeppsholmen. A great line-up of artists to perform: Marianne Faithful, Laleh, Patti Smith, Emmylou Harris, Björk among others. Should be interesting!
• Royal Philharmonic (August 12th)- free outdoor concert in Gärdet, starts at 2pm. Come early to get a good seat (see picture below).
• Culture Festival (August 14th to 19th)- culture, art, music, live performances throughout the city. Best of all? Free entrance to 99% of the events! Always popular...

So... lots of fun events coming up in the calendar! I will write about some of these, with more information, as we get closer to the actual dates.

(Royal Philharmonic) Photo by Jeppe Wikström, Stockholm Visitors Board

Stockholm Culture Night

Photo by: Robert Höglund

Tonight is the night when Stockholm goes purple and celebrates culture: Stockholm Culture Night! There are about 100 events taking place at around 90 locations throughout the city between 6pm and midnight, with even an after party at Sergels Torg until 3am. Many museums, art galleries, palaces and other cultural spots are open all evening... with the vast majority of events free of charge! Click here for the full program, otherwise there will be an information center at Kulturhuset open from 6pm to midnight. There will even be a free bus and a free boat tour all evening long with two departures an hour.
The museums that are participating are the Jewish Museum, The Royal Palace, History Museum, Nobel Museum, Nordic Museum, Sport Museum, Maritime Museum, Stockholm City Museum, Transport Museum, Strindberg Museum, City Hall and the Museum of Far Asian Antiquities. Plenty of free concerts at various churches in the Old Town...

Culture Festival

kulturfestivalen.stockholm.se/

We are gearing up for the next big festival in the city... this coming week, August 16th-21st)  we have the Culture Festival (Kulturfestivalen) taking place in Stockholm. Culture of all sorts take to the streets and squares of central Stockholm and 99% is free of charge! There will be 500 shows performed by 250 artists during this week and there will be something for everyone: music, theater, film, literature, dance, performance art, etc; When it comes to music you can enjoy everything from jazz to rock to opera with a little Motown thrown in for good measure. While many cultures, like Turkish, African and Latin, will be represented... this year's theme is Norway, which has taken on special significance since the terrible terror attacks in Norway a couple of weeks ago. Besides culture, there will also be food and drink tents in the festival area.

Photo: Thomas Karlsson

The festival will be held in three centrally located squares and their side streets: Gustav Adolfs Torg, Sergels Torg and Brunkebergs Torg as well as Kulturhuset. You can access the program (with times) for each venue on their website by clicking here. If you are traveling with small children, then Brunkeberg Torg during the daytime is the place to take them... called Maxed Out for the Small Ones, this mini children's festival will be filled with activities where children can play, dance, sing and listen to stories.

Photo: Karin Nilsson

To get to the festival area from the Rival Hotel... it's just a 20-25 minute walk through the Old Town or else three subway stops (red line north to T-Centralen, exit Sergels Torg).

Vodou Exhibition

No, I did not misspell "voodoo"...  this is actually the Haitian spelling which the Etnografiska Museet (Museum of Ethnography) has chosen for their new exhibition on the West-African/Caribbean religion. They did this to make a point that the exhibition focuses on true vodou and not the voodoo that one might assosciate with Hollywood movies. This is an international travelling exhibition that looks at both the light and dark forces within vodou and contains many exciting artifacts from Haiti. "Vodou" will be on display at the museum from February 12th until August 21st.

Photo by: Jonathan Watts, Etnografiska Museet

The museum is located in northern Djurgården right next door to Tekniska Museet (Museum of Technology)- which, as luck would have it, is showing an interesting exhibition called "Nasa, A Human Adventure". So it is perfect to combine the two!
Etnografiska is open 7 days a week, 10am to 5pm weekdays and 11am to 5pm on weekends. Free entrance! Tekniska is open everyday from 10am to 6pm, 160 SEK for adults and 95 SEK for children 7-18yrs. Free entrance with the Stockholm Card. The easiest way to get to these museums from the Rival Hotel is to make your way to the downtown area and then take bus #69 from either Sergels Torg, NK department store or Norrmalmstorg heading east.
For more museum exhibitions this winter/spring, click here!
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Five Days & Five Nordic Films

From this Saturday through next Wednesday (Oct 16th through 20th) the five films competing for the 2010 Nordic Council Film Prize will be shown at the Klara Cinema in the Culture House (Kulturhuset). Each of the five Nordic countries will be represented by a movie. The good news for foreign visitors is that 4 of the 5 movies will be in English or at least have English subtitles. The movies in English will of course have Swedish subtitles. Here are the films being shown:

• Iceland- The Good Heart (in English)
• Norway- Upperdog (English subtitles)
• Finland- Steam of Life (Finnish w/ Swedish subtitles)
• Denmark- Submarino (English subtitles)
• Sweden- Metropia (in English)

The criteria a film needs to meet to be nominated is to be "rooted in Nordic culture and of high artistic quality. It must also stand out through its artistic originality, and refine the many elements of film in a convincing and integrated work." So viewing one of these movies on a chilly autumn day might be the perfect way to immerse yourself in Nordic culture! Two movies will be shown each day, so you have a couple of chances to see each film. Kulturhuset is located on Sergel's Square in the downtown area. If you are interested in seeing one of these movies, please contact me at the hotel for more information on times and tickets.

Festival: Culture Festival

Just a little heads up! Today (August 10th) is the first day of the Stockholm Culture Festival, which will be going on until Sunday, August 15th. There is plenty to do and see and the best thing of all is that it is free admission to 99% of the scheduled events! A theme of this year's festival is Denmark... with many of the artists, music, theater and movies coming from our neighbours to the south. All types of "culture" will be represented and there is something for everyone (whatever your age). Take a look at their website (linked above) and check out the program. The performances and events are happening throughout the city though all of them are centrally located and close together... Skeppsbron in the Old Town, Gustav Adolfs Square, Brunkenbergs Square and Sergels Square. There is also a special area just for children at Strömsparterren in front of The Parliament Building.
I will be there tomorrow evening and come back with a more detailed report!
EDIT: And I'm back... took a stroll through the festival area. I didn't see any of the main performances as it was in the afternoon and they take place mainly in the evening. But they had plenty of bar/restaurant tents... and I visited Sergels Square where they have set up booths selling various items. Tonight I'm planning on revisiting the festival with friends to first see the 100-man gospel choir at Sergel Square and then samba queen Simone Moreno at Gustav Adolf Square. Be aware that there is another festival for youths going on simutaneously at nearby Kungsträdgården called Ung08.