Aarhus Festuge

Aarhus Festuge

An outdoor interactive light and sound installation at Aarhus Festuge 2014.
Genre Culture and arts
Location(s) Aarhus, Denmark
Founded 1965
Website
Aarhus Festuge

Aarhus Festuge (Aarhus Festival) is a 10 days arts and culture festival in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. It takes place every year in late August to early September, in week 35-36. Since its start in 1965, the festival has grown to become one of the largest cultural events in Scandinavia and showcases a mix of local, national and international artists.[1]

Description

Aarhus Festuge presents a very broad array of cultural events from theatre, music and literature to gastronomy, visual arts and architecture. The festival hosts several minor festivals in their own right, like the Food Festival or the rock and experimental jazz festivals of Underland and Ujazz in 2014.[2][3] Sports is also a part of the festivities, both on the small scale and as major events like Marselisløbet, featuring the traditional Marselis Run and the Marselis Bicycle Race since 1972.[4][5][6]

As the city of Aarhus is largely an educational centre, Aarhus Festuge are concerned about presenting events affordable for young students and efforts are made to include the children of the city as well.[7][8] The event brands itself as "WindMade", meaning that the festival is powered by wind power. The patron of Aarhus Festuge is HM Queen Margrethe II, and the Mayor of Aarhus is Chairman of the Festival Board.[1] The festival attracts a large number of additional events and acts, organized by individual operators independently of the Aarhus Festuge secretariat. In 2014 this amounts to more than 7-800 events, while Aarhus Festuge officially covers 2-300 arrangements.[9]

In 2014 Aarhus Festival takes place from August 29 to September 7. This year will be the festivals' 50th anniversary, and this is marked with the theme ‘Same but different’.[1]

History

Aarhus Festuge was established in 1964, debuted in September 1965 and has since then become one of the largest themed festivals in northern Europe.

Every year a new theme is chosen for the festival and events, exhibitions and venues are planning accordingly. The theme for Aarhus Festival 2012 was "BIG" and the Festival took place from August 31 to September 9. In 2011, the theme was "Beautiful Mistakes", in 2010 it was "Neighbours" and in 2009, "The Future Is Near!" was the main theme of Aarhus Festival.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "About Aarhus Festival". Aarhus Festival. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Food Festival
  3. ↑ "Festivals". Aarhus Festival. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Marselisløbet (Danish)
  5. ↑ Marselis Run
  6. ↑ Marselis Bicycle Race
  7. ↑ "For students". Aarhus Festival. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  8. ↑ "Festival activities for children". Aarhus Festival. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "Aarhus Festuge" (in Danish). Rethink, European Capital of Culture Aarhus 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aarhus Festuge.

Coordinates: 56°09′12″N 10°12′03″E / 56.15333°N 10.20083°E