We are happy to introduce you to Nord2Nord, a one year collaborative project in the field of Hip Hop culture financed by the Swedish Institute (under programme Creative Force Russia). Two main participants of the project are NGO Nordkonst (Sweden) and NGO Da Exit (Russia).
The idea for the project was born in 2013 with Sergey Ivanov, the leader of Da Exit regional organization, coming to Stockholm and meeting two Nordkonst activists Ekaterina Kalinina and Liudmila Voronova. As a result of this fortunate encounter, Nordkonst received Creative Force Seed Funding to finance the first project Hip Hop for Tolerance (place: Moscow and Voronezh, 2015). After the end of the project the collaboration continued and resulted in a pilot Nord2Nord Hip Hop Festival (St. Petersburg, Russian 26-27 November 2016).
The upcoming Nord2Nord 2017-2018 explores further the Hip Hop’s potential to ensure long-term cooperation between Sweden and Russia in the field of youth culture. The core of the project is a series of local and international activities and festivals organized in different cities in Russia.
Why did we choose Hip Hop as the platform for international cooperation? We believe that the nature of Hip Hop mediates the best social values, helps young people to express themselves and create bonds with likeminded people. Meanwhile, Scandinavian and especially Swedish Hip Hop culture is known for its advanced strategies of empowerment, women representation and inclusion of people of disabilities.