Which musician has earned NOK 100.000 this year?
For the second time, DNB and Kongsberg Jazzfestival are seeking candidates for the #huninvesterer grant. Last year's recipient LILJA used the grant to record album number two under her own name and tour extensively - with a baby in the tour bus.
DNB and Kongsberg Jazzfestival established #sheinvests-stipend in 2022, a development grant of NOK 100.000. The scholarship will go to a performer at the start of their career who has shown a significant will and uncompromising commitment to their own artistry.
The deadline for applications and nominations for the #huninvesterer scholarship is 15 June.
The scholarship turned into a record and a tour
She has used the grant to record the album "Mirage", which was released earlier this year.
- When you're making a record, it's nice to have the opportunity to get it as good as you want. It requires both time and resources. I am very grateful that I am allowed to work with the very best, she says.
Possible to combine career and children
Perhaps just as important was the timing in relation to another very important "release", daughter Amalia, who is now seven months old.
- She has been involved everywhere until now. Touring with your own band is in itself often resource-intensive. With children and a babysitter in addition, it was a very good fit with the grant to be able to carry out everything in a comfortable way.
The symbolic value of having the opportunity to continue "as before" even if you have children should not be underestimated, she believes.
- It has been important for me to show that it is actually possible. Many artists are afraid of having children, they think that they have to choose between children and career. I was also anxious about it. But with good help, I have been given the opportunity to continue with the tingingsverket in Voss, record release and tour.
In the summer, she will return to Kongsberg Jazzfestival to perform the concert LILJA Extended, with several guest musicians in the band for the occasion. She plays at Energimølla on Thursday 6 July.
Create balance in the industry
- Through the #huninvesterer grant, DNB and Kongsberg Jazzfestival together want to shine a spotlight on the capital gap between women and men that we see both in private finance, but also in the music industry, says Aina Lemoen Lunde, marketing director at DNB.
This is also in line with Kongsberg Jazzfestival's work to improve gender balance and diversity in the industry. The festival committed itself in 2021 to Key Change, which is an extensive international movement where various actors in the music industry commit to work for gender balance and increased diversity.
Gender balance and diversity in the Norwegian music industry has been a recurring theme throughout the 2000s. Several leading artists have pointed out that there are structural patterns and assumptions in the music industry that stand in the way of equality and visibility.
- There are an awful lot of good female musicians out there now, it is our female artists who have the most to report at the moment. At the same time, it is important not to be governed too much by gender either. Art must be free, says Oddrun Lilja.
Different expectations
On the other hand, she believes that there is a concept that is absent in the equality debates in the music industry: Expectations.
- I find that there is quite a big difference in what is expected of girls and boys. "You play well - for being a girl," one might hear. It is as if many people expect a lower level from women than from men.
Oddrun Lilja fears that this in turn affects girls' ambitions, achievements and career opportunities. She herself has first-hand experience of what it's like to have to prove a little extra what you're good at under demanding gender equality conditions.
- I have played quite a bit in India. There I had to work very hard to prove that I had something to risk. Here I come, a white lady playing raga music on an electric guitar!
This is the #huninvesterer scholarship
There are both criteria and expectations for the worthy recipient of the #huninvesterer grant:
- The scholarship will go to a musician in the establishment phase of their career who has shown a significant will and uncompromising commitment to their own artistry.
- The candidate may also have demonstrated the ability to reach a new audience through new communication methods, and the ability to collaborate across borders/spheres/expressions.
- The grant is a development grant to be used to invest in your own career. It can be recordings, tour/travel, investments in equipment, composing etc.
- The scholarship recipient will be profiled in both DNB and the festival's channels, and must be available to make an appearance for DNB during the next year.
Deadline: 15.06.2023
Here you will find the application form for the #huninvester grant.
