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Gothenburg Culture Festival, a city festival for all

Gothenburg Culture Festival, a city festival for all

For 30 years, the month of August has offered a week-long city festival in Gothenburg. Initially as ‘Göteborgskalaset’ and since 2007 as ‘Göteborgs Kulturkalas’ or Gothenburg Culture festival, with a focus on diversity and culture. In the fall of 2019, the festival received new directives that meant the overarching theme would shift from culture to transformative power, and the organizational model would change from a collective celebration conducted by Göteborg & Co to an umbrella festival for many parallel events with multiple owners and producers.

Bältespännarparken during Gothenburg Culture Festival 2023. On stage “Twisted Feet Academy”. Photo: Johan Hafström

A festival with international appeal that creates positive change and is relevant to everyone
Göteborgs Kulturkalas vision

A sustainable festival

Gothenburg’s Culture Festival aims to be more than just a festival, with the goal of contributing to and inspiring positive development both in the city and globally. The festival’s sustainability objectives encompass the three dimensions of sustainability: ecological, social, and economic.

The main stage at Kungstorget as seen from the wheelchair platform. Photo: Malin Fallgren

Some of the examples in which Gothenburg Culture Festival works sustainable:

Litter-Free Festival Site: The research project Retake with Chalmers Industrial Technology and the Culture Festival jointly transformed Bältespännarparken into a disposable-free festival site.
The project ‘Verbalisera mera’, encouraging artists to become their own audio describers and include verbalisation in their stage language.
Offering free rental bikes during the festival. In 2023, this was done in collaboration with Styr & Ställ.
The Circular Event Clothing project, which was carried out together with Science Park Borås.
An intensified focus on accessibility in close dialogue with the Accessibility Consultant at the Administration for Cultural Development VGR, National Organizations, Gothenburg City’s Administration for Functional Support, and Passalen.
In collaboration with Gothenburg Opera, a Touch Tour was conducted where visually impaired individuals had the opportunity to explore the sets, instruments, and stage environment at the Opera.