About the Karlsøy Festival

The Karlsøy Festival has always been a festival for people who want to contribute and participate. Now we are refining the collective elements and focusing on the organization of groups and activities for participants. 

In recent years, the Karlsøy Festival has gradually developed from being a large cultural festival with over a thousand guests to a gathering where a few hundred committed people come together and have a unique and educational experience over a week.

This development has created a positive atmosphere that encourages sharing and hard work. Unlike many commercial festivals where you are mostly a passive paying spectator, the Karlsøy Festival wants to encourage active participation in a cultural and social splice team so we can create something fantastic together.

Participants at Vetten

The theme for this year's festival is peace and utopia. In these days of war in Europe, we see many voices taking the floor that increased militarization is the answer to how we can create a safer future.

As of Tuesday, August 1 is the general meeting at the festival house. There we address current issues and share relevant information with everyone who is in place. After the meeting, people can participate groups, activities or other things you feel like. During the day and evening there will be concerts, seminars, yoga, workshops and lots of others experiences which everyone can participate in.

The price is the same for ANY (600 NOK). This also applies to artists, performers and those who work with the festival throughout the year. All participants receive a common breakfast at 12.00 and a simple dinner at 16.00 every day.

Welcome to Karlsøya! This will be a magical experience!



Brief principles for organization and program design

1. Do-it-together

In order for us to do this together, we work in working groups. With solidarity, connection and community, the tasks are solved together. We work together with open processes, try to include everyone and use all the resources we have. All working groups give short reports to all the others at digital coordinator meetings open to everyone once a month. 

Do-it-yourself!

If anyone has projects and ideas that are outside the working groups, it is open to do pretty much anything - as long as it is within the manifesto and it does not require resources from the Karlsøy Festival. If it requires resources, it is discussed in the working group to which it belongs and decided by consensus.

3. Responsibility

A working group and each individual participant in the working group is expected to take responsibility for carrying out the tasks the group has taken responsibility for. If they are not allowed to do what is listed, the working group / group manager must communicate with the coordinator group.

4. Consensus

We strive for consensus. This means that we first try to agree. If anyone is strongly against something, we try to take into account the objections, and actively look for solutions that satisfy everyone.

5. Democratic

We facilitate that we through planning, organization, booking of programs and in communication are as democratic as possible. This means the most possible participation from as many people as possible.

6. Process

The festival is the result of what each group arrives at. We think of ourselves as in continuous process and development, where everything can change depending on who is involved in the festival and develops it. If there are few in a group and little happens, there will be less of this at the festival. The handbook, the tasks in it, the working groups and everything else are constantly changing. 


Karlsøyfestivalen skal…

  • invite people to make something for themselves and other
  • developed in line with our ideals of participation, participation and "Do-it-yourself" culture »
  • created on a voluntary basis by all participants contributing to cooperation
  • be a gathering place for positive counterforces
  • give everyone the opportunity and an open arena to live out the artist himself, whether it is culinary art, music, visual arts, theater, political activism or perhaps arts the world has never seen before
  • Act sustainability and do not leave litter in nature
  • encourage social responsibility og radical inclusion
  • be an arena for collective realization and self-employed participants
  • be exploratory, out-testing, in development and in constant process, and that we change as who is involved and what we see works
  • be a place for immediate presence as opposed to an everyday life filled with smartphones, advertising and media impressions