Aarhus Festuge is a 10-day arts and culture festival in the city ofAarhus, Denmark. It takes place every year in late August to early September. Since its start in 1965, the festival has grown to become one of the largest cultural events in Scandinavia and showcases a mix of local, national and international artists.
Description
Aarhus Festuge presents a very broad array of cultural events from theatre, music and literature to gastronomy, visual arts and architecture. The festival hosts several minor festivals in their own right, such as the Food Festival or the rock and experimental jazz festivals of Underland and Ujazz. Sports are also a part of the festivities, both on a small scale and as major events including Marselisløbet, featuring the traditional Marselis Run and the Marselis Bicycle Racesince 1972. As the city of Aarhus is largely an educational centre, Aarhus Festuge are concerned about presenting events affordable for young students and efforts are made to include the children of the city as well. The event brands itself as "WindMade", meaning that the festival is powered by wind power. The patron of Aarhus Festuge is HM Queen Margrethe II, and the Mayor of Aarhus is Chairman of the Festival Board. The festival attracts a large number of additional events and acts, organized by individual operators independently of the Aarhus Festuge secretariat. In 2014, this amounted to more than 700 events, while Aarhus Festuge officially covered over 200 arrangements. Aarhus Festuge always has a common inspirational theme, and larger events, exhibitions and venues plans accordingly. Examples of themes from recent years, include: "The Future Is Near!", "Neighbours", "Beautiful Mistakes", "BIG" and "Light - more light", which featured several light art installations around town. From 2017, themes are only changed every three years, and in 2017-2019 Aarhus Festuge operated under the same theme of "Bridging". A new specially designed art-poster for the festival is issued each year.
History
Aarhus Festuge was established in 1964, debuted in September 1965 and has since then become one of the largest themed festivals in northern Europe. In 2014, Aarhus Festival took place from 29 August to 7 September. It was the festivals' 50th anniversary, and was marked with the theme ‘Same but different’.
Similar cultural festivals are simultaneously held in some nearby cities. Randers Ugen has been celebrated in Randers since 1976 and Trekantsområdets Festuge since 2014 in the cities of Vejle, Fredericia and Kolding and surrounding smaller towns, collectively known as the Triangle Region.
