The Nordic House in the Faroe Islands (Nordens Hus på Færøyene) is the most important venue for international and local conferences in the Faroe Islands.
It is run as a Nordic Culture House, with a diverse program of activities including music, literature, performing arts, film, visual arts, lectures, etc.
Beyond this, the Nordic House is a meeting place for locals and visitors through its café Systrar, which serves sustainable vegetarian food (including local fish) and is presently under construction.
In Part II we show an example of how to make green transformation understandable through a cultural experience and what festival is the perfect case study for event planners to follow, when it comes to organising a sustainable event!
Case Study for Green Transformation – One Dancer and Thousands of Mealworms
A performance in 2020 highlighted the problems posed by waste, demonstrated possible solutions and poetically questioned the purpose of our actions as a human race.
The “MASS performance” has been centred around the scientific knowledge that Mealworms can eat plastic waste Not can they only eat it, they also digest it in non-toxic processes.
Read More about the performance in the given link and about a connected event with food and artist talk.
MASS-bloom explorations trailer on Vimeo
The Øyafestivalen in Oslo is a great role model and case study for Gunn and her team at the Nordic House and can serve as an inspiration for the event industry to learn and copy:.
According to the Festival’s own website, it wants to be:
“one of the world’s greenest events. For us, this means finding sustainable solutions for waste, food, transportation, energy and the things we buy – from toilet paper to power grids. We want our festival to contribute to a sustainable future – and work towards a festival that is renewable, plantbased and circular.”
Some of the main sustainability achievements at Øya in a nutshell:
– The festival has been run on renewable energy from the grid since 2009
– Over 90% of all food served is organic, and almost 40% of the 100 000 portions of food sold is meat-free
– Plastic-free food and drink serving: All food packaging is compostable (and is turned into biogas after the event) and all drinking beverages are reusable cups. This means since 2016, use of plastic was cut by 60%!
– All waste is handsorted in 15 different fractions and over 60% of the waste is reused for new products
– 98% of all audience arrive by walking, biking or using public transportation.
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Through the Nordic Council of Ministers’ work with Vision 2030 «The Nordic Region will become the world’s most sustainable and integrated region», “environmental” work and concerns will be in strong focus in coming years across all Nordic Houses.
“Together we will promote a green transformation of our society and green growth based on knowledge, innovation, mobility and digital integration.”
Therefore, it is only natural that the Nordic House Team in the Faroe Islands follows up on this principle – both externally and internally – to work with the environment and sustainability. The house was built in 1983, and already then sustainability was a concept for the architecture and the choice of materials.
Says Gunn Hernes, the director of the Nordic House in Torshavn
“Through our daily work, everyday choices and in major investments, we aim at being an institution that helps to promote and show the way for sustainable development in the Faroe Islands.”
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More stories showcasing sustainability aspects for international events are shared in Visit Faroe Islands Meetings LinkedIn profile – make sure to follow the LinkedIn showcase!
Johanna Fischer for Visit Faroe Islands Meetings, March 2022
