I have worked with art and artists for nearly 25 years as an associate professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. My educational background is classical singing, journalism, and languages: Italian, Latin and Greek. Italian opera as a strong artistic and political influence in Italian and European society is at the core of my professional interest. My interest in and knowledge about the arts extend beyond the vocal music of opera and classical singing.

At the board of Circolo I aim to contribute to the visibility and funding of Circolo. Visibility is of vital importance for the continued funding of Circolo. A search in the Danish media database Infomedia on ‘Skandinavisk Forenings Kunstnerhus’ yields only three articles within the last 10 years. One of which I wrote myself for the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen in occasion of the 150 years celebration of Circolo. Circolo, the artists, the collections and the 160 years of continued shared Scandinavian and Roman artistic endeavor have potential for more. As member of the board, I will contribute to public awareness of the importance and the benefits of the artistic encounter between Scandinavia, Rome and Italy.

I am an experienced fundraiser for the arts. From 2017 to 2019 I raised more than 3 million euro (22.9 million DKK).  My network in Denmark includes cultural politicians, ministries, Danish Arts Foundation and norden.org, as well as key players in important Danish foundations and art organizations.

From 2021 I am head of the Music and Arts School of the Danish Island of Bornholm. I am also an associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy for Music. Recently I was elected by the Municipality of Bornholm as a member of the Music and Arts Council of Bornholm. In 2017, Bornholm, Denmark became the inaugural WCC Europe Craft City.

More information at https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictechristiansen/

I would like to be re-elected to the Board of Circolo Scandinavo April 28, 2021

I have been part of the board of Circolo Scandinavo since 2019 - an intense period that soon was marked by the pandemic. The collaboration in the board and with the former and current director has been positive, effective and fruitful to mutual joy and understanding. +

In the efforts to manage our 160 years old Nordic organization through the challenges, I have been able to contribute with my experience from the film world among other things by fundraising and raising financial resources for the association.

I will be happy to continue to help ensure the operation of Circolo Scandinavo, develop visions, create visibility and fundraise, all for the benefit of the artists and an important cultural exchange between the Nordic countries and Italy.

I graduated from the Swedish Film School, Dramatiska Institutet, Sweden, 1989 - and Nordic network and cooperation became a natural part of my life. Based in Copenhagen, I work as a documentary film director, writing scripts and am a script consultant.

In addition to the two years in Circolo Scandinavo Board, I have previous four years of board experience in the Danish branch of the International Association WIFT (Women in Film and television). I have useful experiences from staying at art residency in Denmark, at San Cataldo in Italy, the Danish Institute in Rome and Athens.

For years, Italian culture and language has been part of my life both professionally and privately. In addition, I have stayed at Circolo Scandinavo more than 10 times of one to several months duration.

It is important to me that Circolo Scandinavo also in the future will be a place where Nordic artists find inspiration, contemplation, friendship and cooperation.

Lone Falster

Copenhagen April 2021

My name is Kolbrún Halldórsdóttir, I am a director for theatre and opera, and I have been a member of the board of Circolo Scandinavo since 2013, first as a nominated member for the Nordic Artists Associations, vice chair 2015 – 2019, and for the last two years as an elected member and a chair of the board.

I have decided to stand for election now, because I find it important to use my experience to support the organisation and our new director through these strange and difficult Covid-times. I long to see Rome open up again and to experience the vibrant atmosphere of artists creating and communicating in Circolo Scandinavo’s working spaces in Via della Lungara.

I have 10 years of parliamentary experience for the Left Green Movement in Iceland, served as a Minister for the Environment in 2009. For the last twelve years, I have worked in the cultural sector, as a director and project manager for various artistic and cultural projects. I served as president of the Federation of Icelandic Artists in 2010 – 2017, and currently as chair of the board of the Directors Guild in Iceland. My experience includes projects for the Icelandic Theatre Museum, the Fund for Cultural Projects for Children and Youth, and currently I am a member of the executive council of the National Theatre in Iceland.

I have enjoyed my work for Circolo Scandinavo in many ways. I feel privileged to have experienced the atmosphere in our residency, when artists from the various Nordic countries have gathered there, exchanged thoughts and ideas, sometimes resulting in a long-term creative relationships. I find Circolo Scandinavo a perfect example of the importance of Nordic cooperation, and sincerely hope that this 160-year-old institution will still be operating in 160 years from now. 

Sirpa Kähkönen, born 1964, is the president of the Finnish Writers Union.

She has published novels, non-fiction and plays.  Her special interests and major themes are women’s and children’s history, war history and history of ideas and utopian movements. Her books have been translated into Swedish, Danish, Estonian, French and Hungarian.

Throughout her career, Kähkönen has had good connections to Nordic writers and she speaks fluent Swedish as well as English, French and German, and a bit of Russian, too.

Kähkönen has also been the president of PEN Finland. 

For more information see sirpakahkonen.com

Hanne Roer, Ph.D.  

Translator, critic and associate professor of rhetoric.

I want to work for the continued existence of the Circolo Scandinavo for at least another 160 years, drawing on my extensive cross-disciplinary and organizational experience. The Circolo has been an important cultural institution, as well as an artist’s residence offering a haven of peace.

This tradition must be continued but also challenged by contemporary ways of collaboration and communication. The Circolo should offer artists in residence new opportunities, such as mentoring programs leading to interaction with critical theorists as well as Italian artists.

During many stays at Accademia di Danimarca in Rome, I have collaborated with artists, resulting in the art exhibition 00197 Roma, 2015 (at Sophienholm, Denmark). I did the fundraising and edited a book in which I wrote an article on MAAM and its theoretical basis.

I have worked across disciplines (classical philology, literature and rhetoric) at two universities (Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen). My network is comprehensive, in Denmark (board member at e.g. Dansketaler.dk, and editor at Rhetorica Scandinavica and Sfinx), in Scandinavia (networks on Nordic rhetoric and Law and Literature) as well as internationally (e.g. member of the council of The International Society for the History of Rhetoric).

Italian literature is an important field of my research. My monograph, Beatrice i Paradiset. En rejse i Dantes værker (AU Press, 2010), includes sections on Danish art influenced by Dante, that have inspired Danish artists. At the moment, I am engaged in the Danish celebrations of Dante’s anniversary, translating his letters.

I have worked in Venice, Pisa and Rome. In Rome, I have studied renaissance treatises on rhetoric (Latin, Italian, Spanish) at the Vatican library and other research libraries. Conserving the library at the Circolo is of particular interest to me, being an invaluable source for the history of Nordic literature and rhetoric.

He is educated at The Royal Danish Art Academy 1982-88 and has exhibited regularly in the Nordic countries, Europe and North America since 1982.

His practice covers painting, photography, printing, sculpture, installation art, video, electronic art, multimedia, sound art, performance art and scenography. As a painter he is represented in several museums and collections, including the Modern Museum of Art in Stockholm.

He also works as an organiser, curator and producer of many events and festivals, ranging from early music to sound art - for instance Overgaden Sound Art Festival (2004), Copenhagen Renaissance Music Festival (annually since 2006) and KoncertKirken Organ Sound Art Festival (annually since 2016). 

In 2005 and 2008 he made videographic settings for the dance company Åben Dans in Roskilde and together with Nordic Network for Early Opera he has done several baroque opera productions and stage settings, such as Monteverdi’s "L'Orfeo" (2007), Monteverdi’s "Poppæas Kroning" (2011) and Cavalli’s "Apollo &i Dafne" (2014). With Deda Cristina Colonna from Milano he staged Cavalieri’s "Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo" (1600) in 2010. 

His latest stage project is a performance installation together with swedish PhD researcher and baroque vocal performer Elisabeth Belgrano. The project - "Glories to Nothingness" - was shown most recently in 2017 at the Finnish Research Pavillion in Giudecca and Palazzo Grimani in Venice, Italy.

Björn is since 2014 working full time as Artistic Director of KoncertKirken, a community based local concert venue in Nørrebro, Copenhagen which hosts over 300 concerts in all genres every year.

I have been on the board for 4 years and would like to continue and develop the work initiated, created and done by the board and director(s) the last years.

The financial situation is strained (as always) and we are working towards the politicians and granting authorities as well as private funds to strengthen the economy.

This is an important task, especially since the last year with many restrictions and limitations due to the covid19 pandemic have had and have an impact on our situation.

Strategy and development for the future, expanding the knowledge about Circolo and collaboration and projects with other institutions are among other topics I find important to continue to work on. With our new director new possibilities have opened up.

I believe it is important to have continuation in the board, especially since the sitting board have good communication and is working well together.

About me.

Born 1961 in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Living in Norway since 1984.

Graduated 1997 from The Academy of Fine Art in Oslo, Norway.

I have served in several boards and trusts. I was 2000-04 the chairman of the board at “The Association of Norwegian Fine Art Painters” (LNM) and a member of the board at the Oslo based “Artist’s Own Store” (KEM) 2003-2009. Since 2014 I am a member of the international jury of Daugavpils Mark Rothko’s Art Centre’s (Latvia) annual painting residency.

I’m represented by several international galleries and have showed widely throughout Europe and USA including 50 solo and over 170 group-exhibitions and art fairs. I have curated several group-exhibitions, most of them with artists from the Nordic countries. I have a good network - and knowledge of a large number of fine art artists and people working in the art society around the globe.

For more information see www.larsstrandh.no

I have been encouraged to stand for election to the board at Circolo Scandinavo, which I am very motivated for. I greatly appreciate Circolo's existence and am therefore happy to make myself available to the association. I have extensive experience from board work and believe this will benefit the association.

Circolo Scandinavo is a unique institution with a rich history that has benefited Nordic artists for 160 years. I have on two occasions had the pleasure of being granted residency at Circolo. These are periods that have meant a lot to me and that have enriched my art.

Offering artists residency in the ‘eternal city’ has great cultural value, not only for the individual artist, but also for Nordic art as such. The framework around the stay, the fact that you share your stay with artists in different art genres, from the various Nordic countries, is also very valuable.

I would like to contribute to strengthening the institution, to managing its history and cultural capital, and to developing the institution for the future. It is important that Circolo Scandinavo perfects itself so that the institution continues to offer good, relevant residency programs for contemporary artists and future generations.

In the first instance, I want to run as a candidate for the substitute membership of the board. A substitute position will give me a good opportunity to learn about the board's work and current issues for Circolo Scandinavo. At a later date, I am happy to stand for election to be member of the board.

I have worked with art and artists for nearly 25 years as an associate professor at The Royal Danish Academy of Music. My educational background is classical singing, journalism, and languages: Italian, Latin and Greek. Italian opera as a strong artistic and political influence in Italian and European society is at the core of my professional interest. My interest in and knowledge about the arts extend beyond the vocal music of opera and classical singing.

At the board of Circolo I aim to contribute to the visibility and funding of Circolo. Visibility is of vital importance for the continued funding of Circolo. A search in the Danish media database Infomedia on ‘Skandinavisk Forenings Kunstnerhus’ yields only three articles within the last 10 years. One of which I wrote myself for the Danish newspaper Weekendavisen in occasion of the 150 years celebration of Circolo. Circolo, the artists, the collections and the 160 years of continued shared Scandinavian and Roman artistic endeavor have potential for more. As member of the board, I will contribute to public awareness of the importance and the benefits of the artistic encounter between Scandinavia, Rome and Italy.

I am an experienced fundraiser for the arts. From 2017 to 2019 I raised more than 3 million euro (22.9 million DKK).  My network in Denmark includes cultural politicians, ministries, Danish Arts Foundation and norden.org, as well as key players in important Danish foundations and art organizations.

From 2021 I am head of the Music and Arts School of the Danish Island of Bornholm. I am also an associate professor at the Royal Danish Academy for Music. Recently I was elected by the Municipality of Bornholm as a member of the Music and Arts Council of Bornholm. In 2017, Bornholm, Denmark became the inaugural WCC Europe Craft City.

More information at https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictechristiansen/

Hanne Roer, Ph.D.  

Translator, critic and associate professor of rhetoric.

I want to work for the continued existence of the Circolo Scandinavo for at least another 160 years, drawing on my extensive cross-disciplinary and organizational experience. The Circolo has been an important cultural institution, as well as an artist’s residence offering a haven of peace.

This tradition must be continued but also challenged by contemporary ways of collaboration and communication. The Circolo should offer artists in residence new opportunities, such as mentoring programs leading to interaction with critical theorists as well as Italian artists.

During many stays at Accademia di Danimarca in Rome, I have collaborated with artists, resulting in the art exhibition 00197 Roma, 2015 (at Sophienholm, Denmark). I did the fundraising and edited a book in which I wrote an article on MAAM and its theoretical basis.

I have worked across disciplines (classical philology, literature and rhetoric) at two universities (Aarhus University and University of Copenhagen). My network is comprehensive, in Denmark (board member at e.g. Dansketaler.dk, and editor at Rhetorica Scandinavica and Sfinx), in Scandinavia (networks on Nordic rhetoric and Law and Literature) as well as internationally (e.g. member of the council of The International Society for the History of Rhetoric).

Italian literature is an important field of my research. My monograph, Beatrice i Paradiset. En rejse i Dantes værker (AU Press, 2010), includes sections on Danish art influenced by Dante, that have inspired Danish artists. At the moment, I am engaged in the Danish celebrations of Dante’s anniversary, translating his letters.

I have worked in Venice, Pisa and Rome. In Rome, I have studied renaissance treatises on rhetoric (Latin, Italian, Spanish) at the Vatican library and other research libraries. Conserving the library at the Circolo is of particular interest to me, being an invaluable source for the history of Nordic literature and rhetoric.