Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

Some arts schools are emerging from strong local demand and being developed through
volunteer support and private philanthropic funding at the local level, as the following example
shows:
The school pays for one art teachers (painter). The drama department is run by volunteers. The school is more
or less independently run – with an agreement between them – under the name of the Art School. The school
directors (or heads of each division) meet once a month and plan joint projects. This spring we were going to do
a musical which will have to be postponed until next year because of the poor economy. The school has been
getting support from banks and other big companies; perhaps 500.000 ISK annually from each bank or company.
Production like a musical would cost between 4-5 million in total and would end with a public show, free for the
public. During the last week of February we go out in the community and play for people – the old people's
home, the public schools, homes for the disabled, etc. Dance is not yet offered in the school, but hopefully we'll
have that soon. Next year a new secondary school will be built in the community with emphasis on the arts, out
doors, nature, literature and sports.
The pattern of instruction in the private arts schools varies considerably. Some visual arts
schools focus on learning formal techniques, crafts and producing works for exhibition. Other art
schools offer a range of visual arts experiences including film making, drawing, painting and
sculpture. Jewellery making and ceramics may be offered. Craft may also be available, especially
textile. The range of offerings often depends on the interests in the community and the skills of
the available teachers and volunteers. Where dance is taught, it is primarily classical ballet or
jazz ballet. Some schools have tried to introduce folk dancing or ballroom dancing. Drama
schools are often closely linked to amateur theatre and prepare plays, musicals and pieces for
performances. The arts schools often have classes of mixed ages, including adults.
This quote 15 from the principal of Iceland’s major art academy in 2005 points to the
differences in availability between music institutions and those catering for other art forms:
The visual art schools are not as numerous as the music schools. Most of them being “course-schools” that
provide courses for children and adults alike. Myndlistarskólinn á Akureyri is notable as it defines itself, for the
most part, as an undergraduate institution. Myndlistarskólinn í Reykjavík (‘The Reykjavík School of Visual Arts’) is
an all-round school that runs a robust foundation programme preparing for undergraduate studies. Both schools
receive financial support from the state and their respective city councils. One film school operates in Iceland,
Kvikmyndaskóli Íslands. The school’s main source of income is from tuition. The school is privately run and
operates in line with the upper secondary level national curriculum. Listdansskóli Íslands is the only special art
school that is still directly operated by the state. The school offers both primary and secondary education.
Former students of the school now form the core of dancers and dance-artists responsible for the contemporary
dance scene in Iceland. Theatre arts have been left out. There is no comprehensive foundation programme in the
field – despite of repeated attempts to put right.
Many of the arts schools have emerged from `grassroots` initiatives, but have gone on to
have strong support in the community and offer interesting and extensive programmes. Some
manage to become entrenched and are able to then leverage some level of public funding, as
the following example shows:
Vignette 1.13.1 We offer something that everyone
I ran a gallery in another house. I started then to do some art lessons – painting and drawing. Then we moved in to a
bigger house in 1991. We began introducing other art forms. We started with more arts experiences, like pottery.
Then we introduced music and drama. My husband is a music teacher. Form there we added in ballet.
We get teachers coming to work here from all over the world. A lot of our teachers come from Finland, Denmark and
Poland. We sent our teachers and some of the ballet pupils to Finland for three weeks. There were no local teachers
because Icelandic teachers don’t want to leave Reykjavik. The Finnish teachers are excellent. I think arts education is
very good in Finland. They are quite amazing too. They learn Icelandic in only 3 or 4 weeks.
15 Hjálmar H. Ragnarsson: Menntaskóli listanna (‘College of the Arts’) the principal director of the Icelandic Academy of the
Arts. Published in Morgunbladid October 2005, page 3.
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