Thriving on quality, cultivating talent
The Municipality of Hjørring has a rich and flourishing arts scene with many active and high-profile local artists and craftspeople whose works of international standard place Vendsyssel on the cultural map and help profile the local region. This is clearly visible in the landscape, in the urban and rural space – and all over the municipality, where small galleries and exhibitions flourish alongside numerous ceramic and glassblowing workshops. You will find them everywhere along the coast and in rural areas, where particularly local arts and crafts are created. The wild and dramatic coastline, open skies and characteristic landscapes combine with active and productive cultural environments to attract artists and other creative people who find peace of mind and inspiration in these surroundings.

Many cultural beacons and landmarks
Vendsyssel Museum of Art (www.vkm.dk), one of the municipality’s flagships, houses an artistically valuable collection of Danish art dating from 1945 to the present day. The emphasis is especially on works by artists and craftspeople with connections to Vendsyssel, including the landscape painters Engelund, Ekelund and Hoffmeister. However, younger generations of artists are also richly represented, the most famous perhaps being Poul Anker Bech. Kunstbygningen in Vrå with its Engelund collection and annual Vrå exhibition is highly acclaimed in artistic and architectural circles and is also of great importance to locals in Vendsyssel. www.kunstbygningenvraa.dk

In 2007 the two museums will launch the project ‘On the art trail’, a novel combined art and nature experience offering guided tours on the trail of the landscape artists, where participants are introduced to the famous scenes in real life.

The old monastery Børglum Kloster (www.boerglumkloster.dk) provides the dramatic and spectacular setting for a large number of cultural events throughout the year, including concerts, special exhibitions and theatre performances.

The Willumsen Collection
(www.willumsen-samlingen.dk) is located in Mygdal. Denmark’s most extensive collection of sketches by J. F. Willumsen is exhibited in various rooms at the more than 600-year-old Odden, a manor house characterized by great charm and atmosphere.

If you are interested in cultural history, don’t miss Håndværkernes Hus (www.haandvaerkernes-hus.dk) in Hjørring, which aims to preserve and communicate the knowledge of old traditional crafts through living workshops which allow visitors to see, hear and feel the atmosphere of the old crafts. There is also the Vendsyssel Museum of History (www.vhm.dk), which communicates the cultural and natural history of the Municipality of Hjørring via its branches in Hjørring, Hirtshals, Rubjerg, Mosbjerg, Tornby and Børglum.

Finally, there is the Print Workshop (www.hgv.dk) in Hjørring which – in addition to producing lithographic art of international standards, which attracts much interest abroad – functions as an important catalyst for alliances between business and the arts. The Print Workshop is a natural centre for much art production in Vendsyssel, e.g. as the initiator of a number of exchanges and workshops with an untraditional and unconventional slant and a special gift for bringing together professional artists and cultivating local creative talent. The most recent initiative is a comics school for talented cartoonists taught by e.g. Peter Madsen (Valhalla) and Carl Quist Møller (Amazon Jack).

The Print Workshop has 45 acclaimed artists as members and is fully professionally equipped for lithographic, stone and copperplate printing. The workshop is used not only by artists with connections to Vendsyssel – but also by artists from the rest of Denmark and from Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, England and Scotland.

The Municipality of Hjørring has room for popular art, for our cultural heritage (the landscape painters) and for recognised and highly-paid professional artists. The widespread popular interest in arts and crafts is reflected in a number of art societies within the municipality which arrange regular and popular exhibitions of works by local artists and artists from further afield, e.g.

•    The Easter exhibition in Hirtshals

•    The Spring exhibition in Poulstrup

•   The exhibition in Gøgsigs Pakhus in Sindal

      – opened on ‘Sindal Art Day’

•    The Vrå exhibition at Kunstbygningen i Vrå

In addition, especially ceramic artists are very active and have established extensive and visible collaboration across the old municipal borders, which benefits citizens and visitors alike. This active collaboration consists of important international exchanges with open workshops, exhibitions and sale of ceramic arts and crafts.

Art in the urban space
The reason why there is so much art around in Hjørring is the long-standing artistic tradition and interest of the town and its citizens. There are currently more than 150 public artworks of high quality. Since the 1970s, the Municipality of Hjørring has had an art committee consisting of members of the city council, Vendsyssel Museum of Art and the society Kunstens Venner (Friends of the Arts), who have dedicated themselves to art in the streets, lanes and squares of Hjørring.

Urban art also plays an important role in other towns in the municipality. In Hirtshals, Dorte Dalin and Mogens Møller’s staircase monument has given the town a work of art, the scale, form and function of which create a unique connection between the town and the harbour. In addition, the Skagerrak Sculpture Festival ensures that there are special annual exhibitions in the urban space near Hirtshals town centre during the summer months. You will also find urban art in Sindal, which has built up an image as a town of fountains and water art.

Come hear the music play
The Municipality of Hjørring has an active and multifaceted music scene, characterised by the Music School and a strong local interest which expresses itself in a large number of local music societies, choruses, orchestras and bands throughout the entire municipality. Hjørring is home to the band ‘De Gyldne Løver’, world-famous (at least locally) for its Danish folk music inspired by the Irish tradition and its well-known brand of Vendsyssel humour. The band celebrates its 40-year anniversary in 2007. Niels Hausgaard, one of Denmark’s best-loved entertainers, also resides in the municipality.

The Music School in Hjørring consists of the central Music School with its headquarters in Hjørring and centres in Hirtshals, Sindal and Vrå as well as teaching activities at local schools and some institutions. The Music School has a long tradition of finding and cultivating small and great talents and has fostered several prize-winning and professional musicians in both Danish and international orchestras. Hjørring’s talent programme has attracted students from all over the municipality, and Hjørring is also the regional centre for development of musical talent. The three-year basic programme in music (MGK), which is financed by the state and which functions as a preparatory programme for entrance to the music conservatories, is also located in Hjørring.

Cultivating creative talent
A broad talent base is absolutely essential, and the Music School in Hjørring is good at recruiting students. For example, the school’s ‘market share’ of schoolchildren is 12 times higher than in Copenhagen. Also, the Music School offers courses for adults and functions as an umbrella organisation for a number of choruses and orchestras in the municipality. This solid foundation now serves as the basis for expanding the definition of the concept ‘musical’. Thus, in future the Music School in Hjørring plans to offer courses in painting, drama, dance, animation, film etc.

Venues
There are many venues for professional as well as amateur musicians, for children and grown-ups. Some of these venues are characterised by their special intimacy and authenticity, e.g. the legendary Sysseltinget, which is Denmark’s oldest music house, permanently housing music and theatre societies such as ‘I morgen er det jul mor’ (Tomorrow is Christmas Mum) and ‘No Container’ and presenting both music and theatre events.

Tversted Jazzydays, North Jutland’s largest and most exciting jazz festival, attracts great musicians and many visitors every autumn.

One of its objectives is to provide a setting for the artists of the Danish jazz scene while also serving as a platform where young musicians from the region and the whole country get the opportunity of performing – regardless of musical style. This is one of the reasons why Tversted Jazzydays has now entered into an agreement to co-operate with MGK. The agreement will provide young musicians with the opportunity of meeting professional Danish and international musicians in a relaxed and informal atmosphere where they are ensured both a professional venue and a large audience.

However, there are also other musical styles which flourish and have long traditions in the Municipality of Hjørring. The best known of these are perhaps the Vendsyssel Festival of classical and church music, which features a large number of concerts in the municipality’s churches and Bindslev Harmonikatræf (accordion jamboree) which attracts thousands of musicians and visitors with a passion for ‘squeeze-boxes’ every summer.

Theatre
Hjørring is one of the municipalities in Denmark which have the highest number of theatres and theatre societies per resident. It is therefore not surprising that theatre and drama are an important part of the local region’s cultural scene. Hjørring is home to one of Denmark’s most active regional theatres, Vendsyssel Theatre (www.vendsyssel-teater.dk) with its own actors and productions – supplemented by visiting performances. Amateur actors take the stage at Sysseltinget, and there are several active children’s theatre societies in the municipality. Vendelbohus: Hjørring Theatre (www.hjorring-teater.dk), which primarily uses the municipal theatre stage at Vendelbohus, is a well-functioning theatre society with a large and varied programme of tour performances ranging from musicals, opera, ballet and dance performances to stand-up and other comedy etc.

Every year the local Lundergård Revue attracts an audience of around 5,000 people, and Hjørring Sommerspil is acclaimed for its performances at Hjørring’s wonderful summer venue at Sct. Knuds Kilde (as well as its winter performances at Vendelbohus). Also the Hjørring Revue has attracted casts of exciting Danish actors and comedians to Hjørring for more than 30 years, and its performances at Vendelbohus has placed Hjørring firmly on the revue map of Denmark.

As regards libraries, the Municipality of Hjørring will soon boast a new large main library in connection with the coming megacentre in Hjørring, Metropolen. An increase in library space from 1,800 to 4,000 sq.m. provides Hjørring with more than twice as much space for serving its many library users. There are also libraries in Hirtshals, Løkken, Vrå and Sindal, while the citizens of Astrup, Bindslev, Bjergby, Horne, Hundelev, Høgsted, Lendum, Lønstrup, Mosbjerg, Mygdal, Poulstrup, Rakkerby, Tuen, Tversted and Tårs are served by the two municipal library buses.

Finally, if you feel like going to the cinema, there are three possibilities in Hjørring: Lønstrup Café Bio – a small cinema focusing on quality and therefore often showing films that appeal to small target groups – Hjørring Biocenter, a new four-screen cinema centre showing new releases – and Vrå Biffen, a small cinema attached to Vraa Hojskole.