The Horizon Foundation and the Mela Festivals
Horizon Foundation, or ’Horisont’ in Norwegian, was established in 2000 by the Arts Council of Norway in order to enhance cultural, religious and artistic diversity in Norway. Today, as an independent body, Horizon´s main objective is to prevent social exclusion of ethnic minorities by focussing on activities which bring the majority and the minorities together. To achieve this objective, we are trying out new methods of cultural exchange between Norway and the the countries from which the minorities come.
The Mela Festivals started in 2001 with a “Mini-Mela”. The venue is the big City Hall Square in Oslo. In 2002, around 50.000 people visited the festival. The independent evaluation of Mela 2002 concluded among other things with, “Upon the successfull termination of such a programme and project, it would be meaningless to let the network and the competence built up die…In other words, Mela ought to be established as a part of Norwegian cultural life.” We would also like to include here a statement from one of the participants: “The Westeners have been the signifiers and we have been the signified. They have been living in the luxurious assuption of modernization, “globalization”, assimilation. Mela refuted this assumption.”
In 2004, the festival attracted a public of 70.000. This makes Mela one of the largest festivals in the country. It is also, with the exeption of London Mela, the biggest festival of its kind in Europe. This is also reflected in the fact that this is the only festival created by non-Norwegians which the Royal Family of Norway feels a strong obligation to visit and support.
