From Iceland — Icelandic Musicians Awarded COVID-19 Recovery Grants

Icelandic Musicians Awarded COVID-19 Recovery Grants

Published June 9, 2020

Poppy Askham
Photo by
Art Bicnick

Grants for Icelandic musicians have been announced as part of the Icelandic government’s post-coronavirus economic recovery programme. The 81 million ISK fund will be shared between 162 musical projects.

Minister for Education and Culture, Lilja Alfreðsdóttir released the full list of grant recipients yesterday, June 9th. The ministry received 540 requests for funding totalling over 400 million ISK, meaning around 30% of applications proved successful.

The highest grants of 1 million ISK (€6,680) each were awarded to eight projects:

  • Agent Fresco’s third album
  • Andres Thor Gunnlaugsson’s concert series in Hafnarborg
  • Brák Baroque Ensemble
  • Hatari’s upcoming EP
  • Kristjana Stefánsdóttir’s Big Band
  • Pera Opera Collective
  • Pétur Sigurþór Jónsson
  • Ragna Kjartansdóttir

A further 28 projects received grants of 600,000 ISK, including feminist hip-hop collective Reykjavikurdaetur who are planning a Youtube show.

You can expect to hear some great music coming out of Iceland over the course of the next year.

Note: Due to the effect the Coronavirus is having on tourism in Iceland, it’s become increasingly difficult for the Grapevine to survive. If you enjoy our content and want to help the Grapevine’s journalists do things like eat and pay rent, please consider joining our High Five Club.

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