The Season of a Journey Begins

Umeå’s year as the European Capital of Culture is coming to a close. The year’s eighth and final season, Tjakttjadálvvie (early winter), was inaugurated on Friday 21 November in conjunction with the opening of Umeå's new cultural centre, Väven. Thousands of lanterns and cool beats created a fantastic atmosphere.

Central Umeå park Rådhusparken was transformed for the evening, with cosy fires and thousands of small lanterns to create a magical setting. The lanterns were made by local children, hundreds of whom took part in the evening’s events together with their families. They were treated to a traditional Sámi bread called gakko, dried reindeer meat and warm drinks. On the stage in front of the new Väven cultural centre, beats from Femtastic’s DJ May Dar helped warm up the crowd.

Umeå personality Staffan Ling provided his own interpretation of Tjakttjadálvvie, the season of a journey:
“We are in a constant state of wandering. We all originate from Africa and our ancestors have slowly been migrating north. Today, we continue to wander. We're actually not going anywhere specific, but keep doing things along the way. Together, we will keep wandering into eternity,” he said.

Marie-Louise Rönnmark, Mayor of Umeå and Head of the Capital of Culture Committee, inaugurated the season, saying:
“Soon, the residents of Umeå have wandered through a whole year as European Capital of Culture, and the world has discovered Umeå and been amazed.”

Also during the evening, popular comedy duo Karin & Sara wandered around the park and inside Väven to gather comments from visitors for their next podcast.

Press photos from the event: First, click on this image bank login, and then click here to se the photos

Many Umeå residents were naturally curious about the new cultural centre, Väven. The centre comprises 15,000 square metres shared between Umeå City Library, stages, a women’s history museum, cinemas, an art gallery and creative workshops. Väven’s inauguration programme drew a crowd thanks to its abundance of music, exhibitions and other activities. The opening festivities will continue until 4 December. Read more at vaven.se.

The programme during the final season of the Capital of Culture year has many highlights and interesting projects, including the dance production Waves by French choreographers Héla Fattoumi and Éric Lamoureux with newly composed music by Peter Von Poehl; Corners Ersboda, in which some 15 artists from throughout Europe have partnered with residents of one of Umeå’s neighbourhoods; and the Umeå European Film Festival. View the complete programme at www.umea2014.se.

Another big event to look forward to is Northern Light in the Rådhustorget square on 13 December. It promises to be a colourful show with amazing light projections and performances by such artists as Seinabo Sey, INVSN, Kitok, Caotico, Maxida and Mimi Märak, Katarina Barruk and Svante Henryson. Northern Light is a multi-disciplinary artwork based on innovative stories combining speech, sound, images and movement. The evening of 13 December will also mark the passing of the baton to the next two European capitals of culture, Mons in Belgium and Pilsen in the Czech Republic.