Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane new main sponsor

Gunn Aase Moldestad, Per Idar Almås, Marianne Kleppe Nordal and Elin Aaland - after the signing of the new sponsorship agreement between Førdefestivalen and the Savings Bank of Sogn and Fjordane.

Førdefestivalen , the largest festival in Scandinavia for acoustic folk and world music, has Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane as its main sponsor.

– This feels very right. There is something about collaborating with a local bank that has its headquarters in Førde here where we also have our main arena. I have great faith in this collaboration, says Per Idar Almås, director of Førdefestivalen .

The sponsorship agreement is for three years and also includes donations that will go to specific projects. In 2021, the donations include earmarks for BarneFolk and VestaFolk .

VestaFolk is a new initiative that will create folk music tours in Vestland county. The initiative aims to make it easier for small and medium-sized organizers around the county to organize concerts by offering ready-made productions at reduced costs.

BarneFolk is a new concept, and the goal is to reach new target groups with folk and world music. In collaboration with district musicians and cultural schools, we want Førdefestivalen to increase the range of experiences with low-threshold offerings such as concerts, courses and special performances for children. 

Develop each other

– We are very happy to receive Førdefestivalen as partners, and for us it is nice that they create activity outside of the festival week itself. There is something happening throughout the year for different target groups, and that is important to us, says Gunn Aase Moldestad, Marketing Manager at Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane.

This year's theme for the festival is HOME. This means that all the artists are based in Norway, but many of them have two homelands. The theme also points out that home is where we have all been most in the past year, and that the feeling of home is both universal and individual.

– We feel like we have come home a little when we get Sparebanken Sogn og Fjordane as a sponsor. We had the bank as a sponsor a good number of years ago too, so now we are looking forward to seeing what we can come up with together, developing the collaboration and developing each other, says Marianne Kleppe Nordal, finance and sponsorship manager at Førdefestivalen .

Demanding festival planning

What activities the summer will offer is still uncertain. But there will be a festival, and the program will be released on March 25th.

– We are planning three different outcomes. An optimistic scenario with 500 audiences, a mid-range arrangement with 200 audiences and a pessimistic scenario with an audience limit of 50, explains Almås.

He continued:
– We have a lot of support from both the county council, the municipality and sponsors, so we have to go to great lengths to make something happen. We have to start normalizing cultural life, and we want people to feel that it is safe to come to us. If anyone can create safe arenas, it is us who arrange this in a professional context.

– I think we are all longing to experience a little cultural enrichment now. We are happy that there will be a Førde Festival this summer, and of course we hope we can get the optimistic outcome. In any case, we are looking forward to being a sponsor and creating activity, says bank manager Elin Aaland.