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Since 1965, the Aarhus Festival has during the first week of September laid on a mosaic of art and culture for local citizens, Jutlanders, Danes and visitors from abroad. Today, the festival has grown into one of the largest and most well-reputed festivals of art and culture in Northern Europe, staging dance, theatre, exhibitions, music, sport and all manner of entertainment for children and adults alike.

In 2005, a survey estimated that the Aarhus Festival attracted approx. 200,000 visitors to the just over 300 events held in and around Aarhus. By far the most, approx. 160,000, were East Jutlanders, while the remaining 40,000 were tourists, of whom approx. 8,000 came from abroad.

The constant schism for the Aarhus Festival is striking the right balance between local fête, national art and cultural event and international festival. However, the

Secretary General of the Aarhus Festival, Martin Lumbye, believes that this adds a unique perspective, making the world bigger and providing the audience with a better understanding of the global world in which we live.
“But we must keep our hearts warm and remember that the festival is based in Aarhus, and that the festival is a product of the city. The artistic traditions must take heed of this,” says Martin Lumbye.

“The Aarhus Festival shares in the responsibility for developing the city’s art scene. Consequently, we have allocated almost 8 mil-lion kroner to supporting the local institutions from 2006 until 2008. I am convinced that to-gether we will be able to create dynamic and impressive results.”

New theme each year
Since 1979, the Aarhus Festival has been centred on an annual theme, including geographical areas and cultures. However, recent themes have been Love and The Fairy Tale of My Life in celebration of Hans Christian Andersen’s bicentenary in 2005. The theme for 2006 is Women and for 2007 Dance. The choice of theme is based on considerable research.

“Of course, the festival secretariat spends a long time discussing possible themes, but we also consult futurologists and other experts who know what the near future will bring and the trends of the time. Once a theme has been decided on, we start working on the details in collaboration with ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Concert Hall Aarhus and other members of our network,” Martin Lumbye explains.

For Martin Lumbye, it is important that the Aarhus Festival is for all, children and adults. The festival must offer a multitude of events, and ticket prices must be kept low for it to be realistic that the festival, of which Queen Margrethe is patron, has something to offer to everybody ...