- With the role of “Associate Artists”, Festspillene i Nord-Norge take a step towards strengthening the festival’s international connections. By forming a long-term relationship with major players within the perfoming arts, who will come on board as artistic advisors, critical friends and co-commissioned artists, we want to cement the future of FiNN as a leading platform for the arts in the North. I am absolutely thrilled that Sonia Hughes, Valgeir Sigurðsson and Philippe Quesné have agreed to become associate artists for the next three years. Their diverse background, artistic insight and excellence will be a great asset to Festspillene i Nord-Norge, says Ragnheiður Skúladóttir, artistic director.

Valgeir Sigurðsson 

Valgeir Sigurðsson is a rewnowned Icelandic composer and producer. His contemporary classical writing and esoteric electronic production blends to a point where one is indistingquishable from the other. Valgeir was a long-standing collaborator of Björk; their collaboration began with her Oscar-nominated score for Lars Von Trier’s Dancer In The Dark. He founded the Bedroom Community label in 2006 with renowned composers Nico Muhly and Ben Frost, and now looks forward to taking on the role as Assosciate Artist with Festspillene i Nord-Norge:

- Working with FINN over the course of the next few years, as one of the festival's Associate Artists, presents an exciting opportunity for me to develop new work across disciplines, and to help bring new sounds and new creations to this special place. I’m also very excited to help push the programming to new heights; to introduce the festival-audience to artists that I hold in the highest regard, says Valgeir Sigurðsson.

Sonia Hughes 

Sonia Hughes, lives in the Colne Valley in West Yorkshire. She is primarily a writer but has worked as a performer, director and dramaturg. Sonia is a long standing collaborator with contemporary theatre makers Quarantine in Manchester and her work with the company includes shows such as Entitled,Susan&Darren, Make-Believe, Old People, Children and Animalsand English. She has also worked with director Juliet Ellis, choreographer Jane Mason, and performance artist Mem Morrison. Sonia wasa fixture on Manchester's performance poetry scene, before branching into theatrical projects, writing plays for the Contact Theatre, the Nottingham Playhouse, the Royal Exchange in Manchester and BBC Radio 4. As a writer, Sonia played a key role in creating ‘What Is The City But The People?’ the opening event of the Manchester International Festival in 2017, by Jermey Deller; a monumental production that won won Best Event at the inaugural Manchester Culture Awards in 2018.

- I've been chipping away at this art business for 20 plus years, and becoming Associate Artist at FINN feels like a great recognition of my work so far and an exciting foothold in the international arena. FINN is a great festival to be part of, it's intimately connected to it's location and the people with wide open ambition to invite in the rest of the world. I look forward to becoming part of the FINN community, says Sonia Hughes.

In 2020, she invites the audience of Harstad to connect through letters. She has written letters to people identifying with different statements and hopes to get written replies for these. In the period June 22 – 26, interested public can come to the Festspill house (Storgata 18) in Harstad to receive letters and write back to Sonia.

Philippe Quesne

is a theatre director and artistic director of the Nanterre-Amandiers, National Dramatic Center in Paris. His shows, such as “La Démangeaison des ailes” (2003), “Des expériences” (2004), “D’après nature” (2006), “L’Effet de Serge” (2007), “La Mélancolie des dragons” (2008), “Big Bang” (2010), “Swamp Club” (2013), “Next Day” (2014), compose a repertory that tours all over the world. In addition to his work for the theater, he creates performances and interventions in public spaces or natural sites, and displays his installations in the context of exhibitions. In 2016, he created “Caspar Western Friedrich” at Münchner Kammerspiele and “Welcome to Caveland!” at Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. In 2018/2019, he created “Crash Park – La vie d’une île” at TNB in Rennes, and in Nanterre-Amandiers as well as “Farm fatale” for the Münchner Kammerspiele.

Philippe Quesne received his education in visual arts and for ten years he designed sets for theatre, opera and exhibitions. In 2003, he created Vivarium Studio Company and directed his first show which was based on the acts of taking off and falling down. Philippe hunts the marvelous, the tiny, and pushes to the extreme experiences of our daily lives as well as the relationship between mankind and nature. As he did as a child, collecting insects, he works and studies small communities under his microscope, using scenography as an ecosystem for the actors.