Pan-ArcticVision is an international social and cultural event that describes itself as "a Eurovision for the Arctic". Pan-ArcticVision has live musical contributions from the circumpolar North (the Arctic), and arranges televotes among the public. The event is broadcast internationally, and is loosely modeled on the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

. Different from Eurovision, the Pan-ArcticVision questions the concept of a musical competition, and asks the public to decide whether or not there should be a more than one winner. Furthermore, this is not a competition between creators (unlike Eurovision); it is a competition between communities and artists who both create and perform their own works. The Pan-ArcticVision has participants not from nation states, but from different northern and Arctic territories, displaying local Arctic flags. The two first editions have included participants from

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, The Yukon,

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

Kalaallit Nunaat Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenland are full ci ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ) (alt. the Faroes) are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a populat ...

Sápmi is the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia, stretching over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Most of Sápmi lies north of the Arctic Circle, boun ...

, Nord-Norge (

Northern Norway Northern Norway (, , ; ) is a geographical region of Norway, consisting of the three northernmost counties Nordland, Troms and Finnmark, in total about 35% of the Norwegian mainland. Some of the largest towns in Northern Norway (from south to no ...

Norrbotten Norrbotten (), sometimes called North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland. Administration The traditional provinces of Swede ...

in Norra Sverige (Northern Sweden) and Pohjois-Suomi (Northern Finland) — in addition to a Russian Arctic Exile participant. Through this, the event aims to strengthen circumpolar, Pan-Arctic contact, and invites the public to consider questions of sovereignty, borders and nation states. In April 2024, it was announced that the second edition of Pan-ArcticVision would go live from

Nuuk Nuuk (; , formerly ) is the capital and most populous city of Greenland, an autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. Nuuk is the seat of government and the territory's largest cultural and economic center. It is also the seat of gove ...

, in October 2024, in cooperation with the culture centre

Katuaq Katuaq () is a cultural centre in Nuuk, Greenland. It is used for concerts, exhibitions, conferences, and as a cinema. Designed by Schmidt Hammer Lassen, it was constructed as a joint project of the Greenland Home Rule Government, the Nuuk Mun ...

and Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation, KNR. There was an open call in several territories to find participants for the event.

Pan-ArcticVision 2023

The first edition of the Pan-ArcticVision was arranged in

Vadsø Vadsø or Vadso may refer to: Places * Vadsø Municipality, a municipality in Finnmark county, Norway *Vadsø (town) (Norwegian language, Norwegian; ), (Northern Sami language, Northern Sami; , or is a List of towns and cities in Norway, tow ...

, Northern Norway, a town of ca 6000 people located on the brink of the European mainland. The event was hosted by the local festiva
Varangerfestivalen
The public voted to that the competition should have multiple winners, not just one. In addition, there was a prize for "the place in the Arctic that really needs a prize and deserves to host the next edition of the Pan-ArcticVision". This prize was won by

(Greenland). This implied that the next event would be arranged in

. Prize winners 2023: * ''The most Arctic Song 2023'': Nuija from

(Greenland). * ''The most Revolutionary Song 2023'': Sköll from Båtsfjord, Nord-Norge (Northern Norway). * ''The song that gives the most feeling of Community and Togetherness 2023'':

Guðrið Hansdóttir Guðrið Hansdóttir (born 6 October 1980) is a Faroese singer, songwriter, composer, and musician. She has released six full studio albums and has released an EP called "Taking Ship" on 24 January 2014 in the United States, in February in Europe ...

from

Velbastaður Velbastaður () is a village on the island of Streymoy in the Faroe Islands. It is a part of Tórshavn Municipality and is considered among the oldest settlements in the islands. There are two schools and one kindergarten in the village, with chi ...

, Føroyar (The Faroe Islands). Other notable participants of Pan-ArcticVision 2023 included Byron Nicholai from Alaska.

Pan-ArcticVision 2024

The second edition of Pan-ArcticVision 2024 was broadcast live from

culture centre in Nuuk, Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) Oct 12, by

Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa Kalaallit Nunaata Radioa (; officially rendered into English as the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation), also known by its abbreviation KNR, is Greenland's national public broadcasting organization. Based in the territories capital city, Nuuk ...

, the Greenlandic Broadcasting Corporation. The public vote to select a host community for the next edition was won by

, the self-governing territory of the Canadian Inuit. Other notable participants of Pan-ArcticVision 2024 included Qacung Stephen Blanchett from Alaska, know from the band

Pamyua Pamyua ( ); literally: "its tail" in Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik from ''pamyuq'' "tail of animal or kayak; chorus of song; upper stern-piece of kayak") is a Yup'ik-Inuit musical group from Anchorage, Alaska, Anchorage in Alaska. Ove ...

, and Mirja Palo from Northern Sweden.

Circumpolar event

The Pan-ArcticVision, unlike many other international cultural events of the north, does not only include the Euro-Arctic region, or the

Barents Region The Barents Region is a name given, by advocates of establishing international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland county in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and bey ...

, or the Nordics, or the American Arctic or the international Inuit community, but the whole circumpolar north to establish Pan-Arcticism as a concept in the same way as, for example,

Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a nationalist movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all Indigenous peoples of Africa, indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atla ...

. Pan-ArcticVision is initiated, financed and run by Nordting - the Northern Assembly, and led by artistic director and entrepreneur Amund Sjølie Sveen, who claims the event is challenging a worldview where the centre (the capitals of nation states) is the starting point.

References

{{Reflist Music competitions Recurring events established in 2023 Culture of the Arctic