Cancelled Roskilde Festival reveals 2019 beneficiaries

Thirty-two applicants will each receive between 10,000 and 1.4 million kroner (€1,340–€188,000) from the money earned from Roskilde Festival 2019, the non-profit Danish event has announced.

“In a time in need of new approaches to strengthening social cohesion and sense of community we can take comfort in the younger generation’s commitment and ability to act. It is with great joy and pride that we now announce the donation recipients of our most ambitious open call [for funding] to date, Open Call: Young Voices,” reads a statement from the festival, whose 2020 edition is cancelled.

Among the successful applicants, who were chosen from 296 applications, are:

• Kedelcentralen: A electronic music venue and recording studios which will be the “physical manifestation” of an established dance music community in the city of Roskilde, INSP Sound. It receives 1m kr.
• Re-ACT!: A 24-hour festival for activism and hip-hop culture, organised by the NGO Rapolitics and taking place at Ungdomsøen (Youth Island). Re-ACT receives 500,000 kr.
• Green study trips: Danish green think tank CONCITO, and specifically its initiatives the Climate Embassy and GRO SELV, will be helping students, especially at secondary school-level education, to arrange climate-friendly study trips. CONCITO receives 1.355m kr.

“Unfortunately, there will be no Roskilde Festival in 2020 […] We are, however, working on finding other solutions”

Every year, Roskilde Festival donated all earnings to cultural humanitarian/charity work, with an emphasis on children and young people. Since 1972, the festival has donated more than 420 million kr. (€56.3m) for those purposes.

“Open Call: Young Voices was really an inquiry about what is important for young people and how they connect to the world. We have asked and have been answered,” says Roskilde Festival spokeswoman Christina Bilde. “The idea to earmark, for Roskilde Festival, an unusually large amount for an open call has been fruitful. We see young people who want to be a part of society and are willing to take on great responsibilities, and we see young people helping each other as well as wanting to move art in new directions.

“We do, however, also get a clear picture of the pressure young people of today are facing from a sense of responsibility to, and expectations for, themselves and the world. These are thoughts and feelings we will try to address in the future.

“Unfortunately, there will be no Roskilde Festival in 2020, and thus we are unable to generate earnings to donate to children and young people. We are, however, working on finding other solutions for us to support children and young people’s opportunities. This has always been and will continue to be the purpose of Roskilde Festival.”

 

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