European heritage and arts celebrated at Oslo City Hall on 11 June under Creative Europe

Oslo City Hall will stage a major event celebrating Europe’s heritage and the arts on 11 June. The award-giving ceremony for the 2015 EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards, considered Europe’s highest honour in the field, will feature artistic interventions by the French collective G. Bistaki and musical performances by young and renowned musicians from Norway. The Awards scheme run by Europa Nostra and the artistic acts presented by IN SITU member Scenekunst Østfold are supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme, which is coordinated at the national level by Arts Council Norway. For the first time, these two remarkable examples of European cooperation in the cultural field will be shown together in Norway. The entire ceremony will be live streamed on the Europa Nostra YouTube channel.

 

The European Heritage Awards Ceremony will be co-hosted by Plácido Domingo, the renowned opera singer and President of Europa Nostra, and Tibor Navracsics, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, and will be honoured by the presence of HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway. The Mayor of Oslo Fabian Stang and the Norwegian Minister of Climate and Environment Tine Sundtoft will welcome an audience of 600 heritage professionals, volunteers and supporters from all over Europe.

The EU Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards will be presented to 28 winners from 15 countries taking part in the EU Creative Europe programme. Amongst this year’s most outstanding achievements are two projects from Norway: the Manor House in Eidsvoll, in the Conservation category, and the Outbuilding Project in Røros, in the Education, Training and Awareness-Raising category. During the ceremony, the seven Grand Prix laureates, selected by independent juries and entitled to receive €10,000 each, and the Public Choice Award winner, chosen in an online poll conducted by Europa Nostra, will be announced.

A rich artistic and musical programme will enhance the European Heritage Awards Ceremony. The French collective G. Bistaki will greet and surprise guests with creative performances, combining dance, different sound sources and physical elements. G. Bistaki is a charismatic ensemble which explores the choreographic possibilities in the relationship between body, object and space. Excerpts from their performance Cooperatzia include the unusual manipulation of classic French roof tiles and women’s handbags. Their temporary occupation of Borggården – the courtyard of Oslo City Hall – will certainly leave a lasting impression, as will their intervention in the ceremonial hall.

Norwegian musicians and ensembles – the soprano Frøy Hovland Holtbakk, the violinist Sonoko Miriam Shimano Welde, the pianist Joachim Kwetzinzky, the Barratt Due’s UT Brass-ensemble and the Trombonet quartet – will enchant the audience with their diverse interpretations based on Norway’s rich musical legacy.

The European Heritage Awards Ceremony is part of Europa Nostra’s European Heritage Congress 2015 which will take place in Oslo from 10-14 June. As a core activity of Europa Nostra’s network project ‘Mainstreaming Heritage’, the Congress has the support of the EU Creative Europe programme. Among the main partners of the Congress at the national level are the City of Oslo, Riksantikvaren – the Directorate for Cultural Heritage, and Arts Council Norway as the coordinating body of Creative Europe at the national level.