Four Years On

As many of our regular users and friends are aware, these are not only busy times for Wrap, but also overshadowed by an uncertain future.

We were able to establish this wonderful and versatile art centre with very little capital, on the basis of a unique deal with “Bergen Bygg & Eiendom KF” (the company that manages property for Bergen Council). This deal meant that we could use the premises free of rent in exchange for making repairs necessary to meet health and safety regulations. The property had been empty for many years, and was intended for demolition so that the land could be sold with a large surrounding area as a site for new building projects. After a long period of renovations and repairs, and four exiting years of serving the creative community, the time for sale and demolition is almost upon us. We are very grateful to our landlords for showing faith in us, and giving us the opportunity to get this project going. It is now time for Bergen’s politicians and cultural department to help Wrap into its next faze of existence – our preference would be to stay here but apparently that is pretty unlikely.

This comes at a time when Bergen Council cultural policy has never seemed more in line with what we are doing, our services are in high demand, and several regular users have based their production strategies around the centre. Henning Warloe, City Council Head of Finance and Culture, assures us that we have his active support in trying to find a future solution for the project, and the cultural department continue to be of much help. We would like some idealistic investor to buy the site and let our centre stand. In the mean time we are looking for another suitable premises, although that is difficult and will require more substantial subsidies from the council than we have had so far. This article is published on our fourth anniversary – the first anniversary we are unable to celebrate with a special event. We have had to follow strict priorities lately – anyone who used to follow our weekly articles on the old web site will have noticed the difference there! In the mean time, however, a lot of exiting creative work has been going on here, and it is set to continue that way until this site is sold. There are currently four performance projects in progress at Wrap, and we are adding the finishing touches to this year’s second music recording. In recognition of our work and the contribution Wrap has made in stimulating cultural activity in and around Bergen, we have been nominated for this years Bergen Tidende’s “Ildsjelpris”. This is a welcome sign of recognition, and we hope this might help us to find a solution to our current situation. If you would like to vote for Wrap as this years cultural “Ildsjel” (“soul of fire” or something like that) you can do so here. For those who would like to read a Norwegian account of the current situation concerning our premises, check out this article written in Bergens Tidende.