The “Disgustingly Wholesome” OPIA Community Welcomes Everyone

Grapevine talks with Managing Director Hildur Maral

Since its founding in July of 2023, Ólafur Arnalds’ OPIA Community has united musicians, creatives, and fans of the musician within its multi-faceted hub. OPIA Community is “three-pronged;” they have six signed artists within their record label, they have hosted their travelling festivals in London, Berlin and the Netherlands, and maintain an online forum for all community members to interact and collaborate.

The first seed of OPIA originated at a one-day festival in 2019. Hildur Maral, Managing Director of OPIA Community, tells me of this first event, “I remember talking to the team back then about OPIA and the next steps, and there was so much that was in the works, as the first steps were being taken,” then adding, “but then we all know what happened around this time.”

After pandemic restrictions lifted and the group was able to gather again, they began to plan and think about what they wanted to become. Hildur joined the team to steer the ship and has now been leading operations for the festivals, record label, and the general day-to-day. “There’s a little bit of everything,” Hildur says of her work, and laughs. “It definitely keeps me on my toes… I like it because no two days are the same.”

Harmony on Discord

A unique facet of the OPIA Community is their online Discord server, which is open to anyone. The organisers offer events, such as dedicated “Feedback Fridays” where anyone can ask for constructive feedback on something they’re working on, in addition to “very nerdy song breakdowns in Pro Tools for the composers in the community” and more introductory “Music Industry 101” conversations.

The forum also sponsors projects; in the OPIA Community launch video, Ólafur explains that their “idea is to be some sort of support network for the things that happen in this community, and to help bring them to the real world.” Without me mentioning this quote, Hildur validates it while telling me a story.

“There were a few people who mentioned on the Discord server, ‘Hey, OPIA should have a magazine,’” Hildur says, continuing, “And I was just like, ‘Okay, we’ll print this. You guys make this, and we’ll just print 2,000 copies, and we’ll distribute it for free at our next festival.’” The planning process for this magazine, she explained, “was a Zoom meeting with nine strangers, from Iraq, India, Australia, different places in Europe, just coming together because they wanted to create something.”

Wholesome and intentional

Offline, OPIA Community’s biggest real-world events are their festivals. There were two last year, but none yet this year. Their events have taken place in different countries, partly due to ensuring their festival partners have a “similar ethos” to them. But also, Hildur adds, “the reason why we’re a travelling festival is environmental. We know that our community is based everywhere around the world, and we want to come to them. And we want to tap into what’s happening on a local level.”

Talking about these events, Hildur speaks with palpable care. “Every festival just reinforces to me that we’re doing something that has value. People really do seem to feel that we’re putting our hearts into it.” But I’ve heard this sort of statement often when people talk about their festivals. So I ask her: What do you think makes OPIA Community different?
“Every festival just reinforces to me that we’re doing something that has value.”

She immediately replies, “I have two guesses.” The first: “One thing that has come up a few times when we’re talking about [OPIA Community], is that it’s ‘disgustingly wholesome,’” she says with a laugh. “The overall tone and vibe just feel very inclusive. And that’s not something that I can create, or a team of people can create, right?” She refers back to the online forum, saying, “The Discord is over 5,000 people, and especially with online communities, it can be a tricky thing. We have moderators who are there to ensure that if there’s some hate speech or there’s anything that goes against our community standards, they would flag it. I don’t think that has ever happened.”

In addition to their wholesomeness, she also cites OPIA Community’s tendency to be “intentional and slow.” Hildur explains, “I think we live in such a fast-paced world, and, with all the stream of content… we’re not on TikTok, for example. We would rather make more long-form content where people can really sit and feel something, rather than try to get a bunch of new followers by doing 30-second clips.”

Open call

The team behind OPIA Community is close-knit, too. “It’s working with friends, which is great,” Hildur states, then laughs. “I don’t know why people say that’s a tricky thing to do. I guess it can be if you’re not communicating correctly, or, I don’t know. But for us, it’s worked really well.”

As our conversation winds to a close, Hildur makes a final statement: “If there’s anyone reading this in Iceland who feels some type of calling, we’re always interested in hearing from people who might want to partner with us and do something. You know, Iceland is our home. It’s where most of us are from, and even though it’s not a full-blown festival right away, there’s a lot of different things we can do.” So, if OPIA resonates with you, you know what to do.

Learn more about the community on opiacommunity.com, where you can also find the link to join their Discord.