Information Stockholm, August, 2005
Oslo/Tampere/Stockholm -- This year's Nordic Homo Council sessions in Oslo (June 21st -- on the sidelines of Europride,) and Tampere (July 8th -- part of Finland's rotating Pride) approved a number of new Nordic projects and called for increased Nordic rainbow co-operation – with special emphasis on events on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea.
"We're happy to put the focus on Nordic art and photography at this year's Tupilak art exhibit in Stockholm the week before Pride, host the 3rd Nordic Queer Short Film Festival in the Swedish capital on July 28 -- again with the assistance of the Nordic Council's information office in Stockholm, Norden i Fokus, include a seminar on Nordic co-operation at the Pride House events, and make the Tupilak Cabaret a Nordic event with Swedish, Norwegian, Estonian, Finnish and Icelandic performers, music and art work," says Bill Schiller, NHC information secretary.
The sessions also pledged support to the Moonbow cultural festival in Tallinn August 8-14, 2005 -- including the 2nd stage of the ILGCN world homo cultural conference which was moved to Estonia after Jerusalem postponed its World Pride event until 2006.
Special Attention for Poland, Belarus
The gatherings pledged to make another attempt to win support from Nordic embassies in Poland for future Nordic-Polish rainbow solidarity events, and re-open the doors of the Nordic House in Krakow to Nordic events (the House closed the doors to Nordic cultural events this year during the Krakow rainbow cultural event and described Nordic homo culture as "too controversial."
The sessions pledged support for a major Nordic rainbow cultural festival in Finland next year -- together with the Tribade Night & Day Festival and the Vinokino film festival -- and another Riga Moonbow Festival in 2006.
Special support was pledged for the NHC's "Belarus Moonbow in Exile" festival and conference in Stockholm September 23-24, 2005 -- with participation of colleagues from this Eastern European dictatorship as well as activists from Estonia and Latvia.
