– What this petition is about is telling the government that they must stop opening more oil fields, says musician Marte Wulff. During the annual Kulturytring conference in Drammen, she has used the stage to play through the entirety of her latest album “Øya/Øyet”. The concept album is largely about the climate crisis. – They are starting to be embarrassed to come from Norway. It’s getting uncomfortable, says Wulff to news after the concert. On 10 May, the government announced 92 new blocks for oil and gas exploration. At the same time, both the UN and the International Energy Agency (IEA) have said that the world already has more oil and gas than we can use up. Read the full response from the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy at the bottom of the case. Marte Wulff has recently released the album “Øya/Øyet”, a concept album with the climate crisis as its theme. Photo: Ine Julia Rojahn Schwebs / news 12 artists’ organizations have now signed a petition demanding that the government withdraw the call immediately. In total, the organizations and groups that have signed the petition have over 14,500 members. The last to sign the petition was the Norwegian Association for Composers and Lyricists (NOPA). Artist organizations that have signed the petition for no to new oil exploration Creo – the association for art and culture Norwegian Association for Composers and Lyricists (NOPA) Norwegian Film Directors Association Young Artists Society Dramatists’ Association Visual Artists Association in Hordaland Aksjonsgruppen Writers against oil exploration Concerned Artists Norway Architects Climate Action Network Norway Stop oil sponsorship of Norwegian cultural life Spillerommet Klimakultur Wulff sits on NOPA’s green working committee and has worked for a long time to ensure that NOPA also includes the demand to end the exploration for oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf into its own statutes. There was a recent push for that. – With us, there was a majority, and I am very happy about that, says Samsaya Sampda Sharma, artist and 1st deputy chairman of NOPA. – We have been in a relationship with oil for too long. So long that we don’t think we can manage on our own. Culture should become the new, biggest export, she continues. Artist and NOPA deputy chairman Samsaya Sampda Sharma is happy that NOPA voted through the decision to say no to oil exploration. Photo: Ine Julia Rojahn Schwebs / news Six other artists’ organizations have also included similar requirements in their statutes. Among them are Norwegian Film Directors. Initiator and film director Thomas Østbye points out that the broad appeal is new for the cultural field. – Now, in one year, seven trade unions have decided in their highest bodies that they are against all Norwegian exploration for petroleum. This is about protecting members, the emergency we face in relation to climate and ecology threatens our members, says Østbye. Artist organizations that have voted no to further oil exploration Creo – the association for art and culture Norwegian association for composers and lyricists (NOPA) Norwegian film directors Dramatists’ association Norwegian visual artists (NBK) Unge Kunstneres Samfund Visual artists’ association in Hordaland Also the Norwegian Film Association and Norwegian Dance Artists will during the year consider decisions that require a halt in Norwegian oil exploration. DnF voted no – 159 authors voted yes It is the authors Ingvild Burkey, Agnar Lirhus and Maria Børja who have initiated the signature campaign. Author Ingvild Burkey is the initiator of the petition, together with author colleagues Agnar Lirhus and Maria Børja. Photo: Oktober forlag When the Norwegian Authors’ Association (DnF) in May voted no to a decision to demand an immediate halt to all new exploration for oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf, the three authors started a counter-petition. 159 authors immediately signed the petition. Later, more people joined the Action group Authors against oil exploration, which now has 199 members. – Our goal is to make it clear to the public that Norway pursues a fossil fuel policy that is directly at odds with what the world must do in order to have any chance of reaching the goals of the Paris Agreement, says author and initiator Ingvild Burkey. Will cut oil sponsorship Some of the organizations want the cultural field to go even further and drop funding from the oil and gas sector completely. Among other things, a group of artists has formed the initiative Stop oil sponsorship of Norwegian cultural life. Julie Forchhammer has worked with sustainability and culture for over 20 years, including as environmental manager for Øyafestivalen and festival manager for Vinjerock. Photo: Arne Sørenes / news – The Kulturfeldet will continue to sweep its own doors. We must have as many sustainable events and cultural organizations as possible. But it is not enough. We must also work to change the systems of which we are a part, says Julie Forchhammer, partner in Klimakultur. She points out that large parts of the cultural field in England have gotten rid of oil sponsorship. Last out was the British Museum, which has had an oil sponsor for nearly 30 years. – And then we are talking about cultural organizations that have much less support than our Norwegian ones, says Forchhammer. FrP: – Posing for goodness Silje Hjemdal, spokeswoman for cultural policy in the FrP, reacts negatively to the call. – The art organizations will accept oil-smeared money with one hand, and point the finger at Norway’s most important industry with the other. I think people see through the kindness posturing, she says. Hjemdal believes that the current state artist grants are one of the first things to be cut if Norway stops using income from the oil sector. – This is possible because 18 per cent of the national budget is financed with oil money, she says. Silje Hjemdal (FrP) believes it is a double standard for cultural actors to bite off the hand that feeds them. Photo: Ida Yasin ANDersen – It doesn’t help to be rich on a dead globe Forchhammer, on the other hand, believes that cultural life would do just fine without oil money. – It doesn’t help to be rich on a dead globe. If we remove the oil money from Norwegian cultural support, we will have an economy on a par with Sweden and Denmark. And they manage to produce art and culture. Norway is among the three countries that will open the most new oil fields in the coming years, shows an overview from Energy Monitor. – We have a super-aggressive oil policy and we actually cannot have that, says Forchhammer. – Transformation takes time Andreas Bjelland Eriksen (Ap), State Secretary in the Ministry of Oil and Energy, writes in an e-mail that Norwegian oil and gas have never been more important. – We must support the energy transition that is needed to solve both the energy and climate crisis. At the same time, we have to deal with the fact that change takes time. Today’s Norwegian oil production can be maintained for the next four to five years, Eriksen points out. – After that, the levels we can deliver to Europe will quickly decrease. Continued exploration and development of fields is therefore crucial for us to continue to play our role as a safe, long-term and predictable energy partner in a Europe in transition. The Ministry of Petroleum and Energy responds to this: “As a result of Russia’s throttling of gas exports to Europe, the Norwegian continental shelf has never been more important for the European energy supply than now. We must support the energy transition that is needed to solve both the energy and climate crisis. At the same time, we have to deal with the fact that change takes time. Europe will need Norwegian oil and gas for many years to come, perhaps even in the foreseeable future if we manage to develop blue hydrogen. Norway can maintain its current production for the next four to five years, but after that the levels we can deliver to Europe will quickly decrease. Continued exploration and development of fields is therefore crucial for us to continue to play our role as a safe, long-term and predictable energy partner in a Europe in transition.”
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Artists demand a halt to oil exploration – news Culture and entertainment
