I am a freelance percussionist, associate professor at NMH, former curator at nyMusikk, and member of the ensemble Pinquins. I would like to underline five matters.
The first is that the reason I live and thrive in Norway is because of the intensely rich music and arts scene we have here. This scene is unique: its activity far exceeds the size, and the free creativity fostered through the funding and educational opportunities has made Norway a true leader in the field of new music internationally. We must not take this for granted. It has taken years to build up and show its fruits, and to also attract people from all over the world to build a life in Norway, just as I have done. All around us we see cuts in the arts. Sweden, Finland, Berlin, Denmark are strangling their artists and forgetting to maintain (much less continuing to build) their vibrant cultures. This must not happen in Norway.
Three problem areas:
As a freelance musician and member of Pinquins I do an uncountable amount of hours of administration that is completely unpaid. There are no viable funding streams that help fund and develop small organization’s ability to do administrative work with pay. This is totally unsustainable and a key reason why so many artists burn out in their late 30’s and beyond.
As a freelance musician I am also never paid to practice through a basis income similar to that of the dance and theater field. This is completely unsustainable as it is further unpaid work that leads to burnout and poorer quality of performances. It is time for a fund for musician’s basis pay just as dancers do (SKUDA). Musikeralliansen is never prioritized in the budget.
As a creator and collaborator I spend huge amounts of time in workshops and creative processes. However very few funds actually honor the reality of the time spent in workshops, often earmarking the money strictly for the commission (to a single composer). This attitude results in even more unpaid and underpaid work, and greatly restricts the possible methods of making music.
The arts council funding for new works has also been compressed so that “all” genres of music are in the same area. This has caused the creation of a jury that spans all of these genres. This has meant as few as 1 person who works with samtidsmusikk as such is on the jury. I am concerned with this for two reasons, the concentration of power to one person, and the fragility of that knowledge base on the committee in the case of that person being biased, leaving the room and with her taking all knowledge related to the specifics of that genre. We need to reinstate more specific genre-based juries while maintaining a diversity of methods of composing.
As a curator at nymusikk one of the biggest issue we faced is the rising cost of venues compared to the flatlined funding together with the fact that there are so few suitable (affordable) venues for new music. We need a samtidsmusikkens hus.
Thank you for your important work.
Jennifer