Kraumur Music Fund introduces the allocation of grants to artists and projects. Larger and fewer grants. Pascal Pinon and Retro Stefson received the largest grants. A total of ISK 9 million to 15 projects of Icelandic music.
Kraumur music fund announced today its allocation to projects by artists, bands and other Icelandic musicians. Among the recipients are the bands Pascal Pinon, Árstíðir and Endless Dark for the promotion of their music internationally – in addition to continuous support to Retro Stefson and Dikta. In both cases Kraumur supported the bands in preparing and recording albums in 2009 and 2010 (Get it Together and Kimbabwe), that are now to be promoted further internationally.
The music festival Eistnaflug, the tour Póst rokk & ról, the composer Guðmundur Steinn Guðmundsson and Sjóræningahúsið (the Pirate House) in Patreksfjörður receive sponsorship for concerts as a part of the fund’s Conquest-project. The objective is to increase the artists’ possibilities of having concerts, give them a chance to promote their music outside the capital area and boost people’s access to musical events in the countryside.
Kraumur received a total of 233 applications and very early it became clear that Kraumur would not be able to sponsor but a very small part of the projects, as the fund’s policy is to support fewer projects/artists but do it considerably in order for the support to be relevant for the success of the projects and artists. Today it was announced that Kraumur will now allocate to and support a total of 15 projects.
A change has been made in the selection of the projects. Kraumur will now support fewer artists and projects but the amounts are higher and the support more extensive than in the last allocation. This is in line with the decision of the Kraumur council of specialists as well as the performance assessment made by the School of Business of the University of Iceland for Kraumur Fund and Aurora Design Fund and was presented last March. It showed that the number of the fund’s support to projects and artists had increased but the amounts have gone down since the establishment of the funds – which can decrease the fund’s uniqueness as well as the opportunities for success for those who receive support.
The main objective of Kraumur is to support Icelandic music, primarily by sponsoring young musicians. Since the establishment of the fund early in 2008 around 70 bands and artists have received support from the fund and Kraumur has also initiated various projects (audio workshops, the Conquest – support of touring around Iceland, the Kraumur Awards and the Kraumur List) in addition to the projects Musical Experiments of Tónabær, Iceland Airwaves, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Reykjavík Jazz Festival, Við Djúpið, etc. that have benefitted a broader spectrum of artists.
Of the 15 projects that received support from the recent application period there is a joint project that has already taken place; a workshop for musicians of Aldrei fór ég suður (English: I never went south).
Pascal Pinon, Touring and promotion of his first project abroad – ISK 1.200,000
Retro Stefson*, Touring and promotion, the Nordic countries and Europe – ISK 1.000,000
Árstíðir, Touring and distribution in Russia and East Europa – ISK 800,000
Dikta*, Touring and promotion of their work in USA – ISK 800,000
Endless Dark, Preparation and promotion of their work overseas – ISK 700,000
adhd, Promotion and touring in Iceland – ISK 600,000
Kalli, International promotion – ISK 600,000
Anna Þorvaldsdóttir, Preparation and recording of a portrait CD – ISK 600,000
Who Knew, Touring to International music festivals – ISK 600,000
Eistnaflug, The Conquest: Music festival in Neskaupsstaður – ISK 500,000 Aldrei fór ég suður, The Conquest: Workshop for musicians and guests – ISK 400,000 Guðmundur Steinn Guðmundsson, The Conquest: Touring in Iceland – ISK 300,000 Póst rokk & ról, The Conquest: Touring of Lockerbie and others around Iceland – ISK 300,000 Sjóræningjahúsið, The Conquest: Multiple concerts in Patreksfjörður – ISK 300,000 Sleepless in Reykjavik, Production of a video about the Icelandic music scene – ISK 300,000 A total of: ISK 9.000.000
*Kraumur has supported the preparation and recording of Dikta’s albums (Get it Together) and Retro Stefson (Kimambwe) that the groups are now working on releasing and promoting internationally – with the support of Kraumur.
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Kraumur Music Fund was established early in 2008 by the Aurora Fund and has the main objective of promoting Icelandic music, mainly by supporting young musicians, to help them do their artistic work and promote it in Iceland as well as internationally. The objective is to support young musicians in Iceland with direct funding, professional assistance and cooperation of various sorts. Kraumur endeavours to support and promote musical innovation and ambition.
Since Kraumur was founded over seventy artists and bands have received support from the fund, among them are Amiina, Bang Gang, Bloodgroup, Celestine, Daníel Bjarnason, Dikta, Elfa Rún Kristinsdóttir, Hjaltalín, Lay Low, Melkorka Ólafsdóttir, Mugison, Nordic Affect, Njútón musical group, Ólöf Arnalds, Seabear and Víkingur Heiðar Ólafsson. Kraumur has also worked jointly with Tónabær’s Musical Experiments, Reykjavík Arts Festival, Reykjavík Jazz Festival, Iceland Airwaves, Aldrei fór ég suður as well as others.
In addition to direct support to individual artists and bands – and their projects that involve releasing of albums, touring and promoting themselves and their work in Iceland as well as internationally – Kraumur has launched and operated its own projects of a broader support to the musical scene, such as The Conquest, a support to touring in Iceland, the Kraumur List to promote and support the releasing of Icelandic music and the titles that are believed to exceed in originality and ambition – and the audio workshops in cooperation with the Music Experiments where young and promising musicians and bands are given the opportunity to record new material with the guidance and assistance from experienced musicians.
