Arts and Cultural Education in Iceland : Professor Anne Bamford

centres had this, but all found this to be an excellent idea but one they had not thought about
before. Hitthúsið was an exception, where young people were heavily involved in all aspects of
management. In the case of Hitthúsið, it was stressed that all the ideas should come from young
people. Despite the lack of representation on boards or management groups, the cultural
agencies focus group unanimously agreed that the situation regarding young people and art
education had improved considerably over recent years.
Icelandic youth are highly international in their focus and are more likely to aspire to
international art forms than those associated specifically with Iceland, as these comments
exemplified:
Icelandic music is bad, weird, boring.
Icelanders like to be like Americans. They are no different.
What do young people like doing?
I like going to the cinema, playing football, being on Facebook and generally on the computer.
I like techno and hippo. I am getting into some tribal music and old rock, like Cold Play.
Of the young people interviewed, most preferred international music to Icelandic music,
citing the following sorts of reasons for their choice:
Icelandic music is weird.
Icelandic music is sort of too creative and different.
It sort of sounds strange.
Most of the young people interviewed felt they would leave Iceland for their future
education and careers. Of the group interviewed, 60% said once they had studied overseas that
they doubted they would come back to Iceland to live. as these sample comments indicate:
I think I would like to work in property in the USA.
I would like to be a doctor and travel in Canada.
I will do pilot training in Germany.
The young people interviewed found arts education in secondary school to be:
A bit babyish and boring.
A lot of hard work.
Makes me nervous.
Lots and lots of learning is different.
Unlike many of their European counterparts, Icelandic young people are not worried about
tests or exams and are generally happy with where they have grown up, as this quote typifies;
“We live in the right size sort of place. School is really good, but we are sometimes a bit
isolated.”
Despite the overwhelming preference for international culture, some young people did
comment (almost with surprise) that when they had tried some of the more traditional Icelandic
culture, they had actually enjoyed it.
We have a disco once a month. Different kids do sets as the DJ. We all try to be like everyone in America and
Europe. I really liked it when we did the old time dancing in school. It was actually cool. I would like to do more of
it. We do things for the Talent Quest, and the winning group gets to go to Reykjavik.”
I don't agree , Mugison, Múgsefjun, Emiliana Torrini, Reykjavík, these are quite
good...
While the earlier section on the music school shows a quite traditional choice of music,
instruments and curriculum, some more progressive music schools are seeing a rise in demand
for pop music and more international music from adolescent pupils (who may have pulled out of
more traditional music lessons). In the case of these pupils, it is self-generated interest that
brings them back to the music schools, as this comment from a music school director outlines:
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