The handing out of International Ibsen Projects 2008
According to the statutes laid out by the Norvegian Ministry of Culture, the first scholarships for International Ibsen Projects were given to a person or institution that works in the spirit of Henrik Ibsen during The Skien International Ibsen Conference 2008. The scholarships for 2008 were spread globally, to a total of 4 projects in USA, Asia and Europe.
The Scholarships were handed out by the mayor of Skien, Rolf Erling Andersen, who opened with the following speech:
“In a global society the maintenance of some meeting-points of humanity is increasingly important. Art is probably one of the better ways of finding common ground. Henrik Ibsen’s work provides grounds for personal exchange in easily recognized issues concerning all cultures. Through his work we can discuss challenging human problems without invading anyone’s private space. Still, today, some of the content in Ibsen’s plays are politically controversial, and can bring to light important and difficult political issues. We wish to support models of artistic work that do not directly interfere in politics or military conflicts, but focuses on the artistic issues both in form and content. Where artists are given the opportunity to communicate something other than what public media is already filled with at any given time. Ibsen Awards and the Norwegian Ministry of Culture wish to acknowledge such initiative. The motivation of giving the scholarships is to acknowledge those who in their own free will, has chosen an artistic approach in the spirit of Henrik Ibsen.”
Afghanistan:
Mr. Poya Faryabi, Minister Counsellor of the Afghan Embassy, accepted the scholarship on behalf of the Afghani project. It is the Ibsen Award’s ambition to contribute to give Afghani artists the possibility to express their stories in a dramatic form. We therefore wish to provide a platform for a few chosen writers to develop their material with the guidance of professional dramatists and theatre academics.
Bangladesh:
Mr. Abdul Mannan accepted the scholarship on behalf of the C.A.T,Bangladesh has only one professional theatre company: C.A.T (Centre for Asian Theatre), the theatre was founded in 1994. The Company has produced several plays by Ibsen (Ghosts, Wild Duck, A Doll’s House, Peer Gynt and Brand) and now they would like to produce The Lady from the Sea together with a Norwegian female director, setdesigner and dramatic adviser.It is difficult for women to work as artists in Bangladesh; this is an important contribution in the efforts to include women in the productions. There is also a spoken ambition to develop a new expression for Ibsen’s colon as a result of the cooperation between the Norwegian and Bangladeshi artists.
USA:
Mr Hal Cropp accepted the scholarship on behalf of the Commonweal Theatre Company. The Commonweal Theatre Company from Minnesota USA, was founded in 1989 and has specialized in Ibsen. They have presented a new play by the dramatist every year since 1998. Their teatre programme comprises up to six plays with more than 200 performances a year. The theatre wishes to continue giving its artistic staff more challenges and more experience through studies and travels to other theatres, among others Ibsen Theatre in Skien and the National Theatre of Norway. The major part of the scholarship will be used for the project:”Bringing Ibsen to the Rural Midwest”.
Norway:
Ms Monica Emilie Herstad accepted the scholarship on behalf of herStay and TWIRL.Rosmersholm is one of Ibsen’s more provoking dramas with several possible interpretations. herStays experiment, TWIRL, is an interesting experiment based on Ibsen’s Rosmersholm as grounds for a reinterpretation of the drama’s themes. The experiment is based on the caracters Johannes Rosmer, Rebecca West and a retrospective of Beate. TWIRL is herStay’s third Ibsen related performance.
Photos by Dag Jenssen.
