Nuuk, Greenland
Impact Report | March 2025
Local lead contact:
Jonas Lundsgaard Nilsson, Ministry of Culture, Sermersooq
General update
Greenland is in the news a lot – people started paying attention to Greenland, which was considered generally a net positive, with positive impacts on tourism. This time (with visits from Vance, Trump) it feels different and uncomfortable.
With the election on the horizon, there are predictions that some parties who are not pro Greenlandic independence may do well.
It is a time of change with the question of Greenlandic independence, relations with the US and also anti-Danish sentiment which has been expressed by some parties.
Interesting work is taking place culturally – the culture and leisure departments have been merged at local government level. This department includes the big sports hall, museums, arts and crafts institutions, swimming pool and all the sports halls attached to the schools.
Nuuk Nordisk Kulturfestival is now the Suialaa Arts Festival after a rebrand and new strategy for the festival too.
Specific impact from MPRN
Government approval for new cultural space MULTIHOUSE with rehearsal space, ateliers, workshops, artist studios, office space for small businesses and start ups, an accountant, then meeting rooms and shared spaces, cafe and dry venue, as well as a food lab to research new recipes.
New tax reform measures for artists including an artist tax status. The stakeholder engagement, analysis and recommendations produced in the MPRN Nuuk report have provided concrete evidence that this work is necessary, presented in the language spoken by policymakers. At present, there is likely to be is that there is going to be an opt in system, that you can apply for, and you can get an artists’ tax status – it doesn’t give you any specific advantages over another company, but it just means you can send an invoice, get paid and without it being taxed – helps people to set up like a company, send in their taxes once a year and it has its own flow, instead of this kind of discriminatory system where it seems like they are not trusting the artists and instead ask for taxes up front.
Jonas has been invited to present about MPRN at the Nordic Institute in Greenland NAPA in the Culture House as part of the Creative Business Academy.
Ongoing engagement with MPRN:
Positive about staying in the network and wants to kept in the loop about masterclasses.