Bangladesh has a rich cultural heritage, with a large number of professional artists. Painting, classical music, literature, folk music, dance and theatre are popular among Bangladeshis as well as foreigners.
Themes such as peace, development, human rights and women's rights will as far as possible be an integrated part of the cultural co-operation between Bangladesh and Norway. The Embassy supports some organisations that among other things contribute to awareness on democracy and human rights issues through the medium of theatre, such as Centre for Asian Theatre (CAT) in Dhaka and Bangladesh Institute of Theatre Arts (BITA) in Chittagong.
The Ibsen Year 2006 was observed with a number of activities in Dhaka. See details of participants and activities in Ibsen Commemoration 2006 Bangladesh.doc. The Embassy will continue to support promotion of Ibsen in Bangladesh.
Chobi Mela is a large international photo exhibition event organized by South Asian Institute of Photography in Dhaka every second year. Workshops with Norwegian photographer Morten Krogvold during Chobi Mela in 2002, 2004 and 2006 have been sponsored by the Embassy.
Kachi Kanchar Mela is a renowned children's culture organisation in Bangladesh. Over the past decade, the Embassy has co-operated with Central Kachi Kanchar Mela on several projects. The last project was the financing of a DVD library for the children.
The Embassy has agreed to provide financial support to a project for preservation of cultural heritage in Bangladesh, a co-operation between UNESCO and The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU). The main objective of the project will be establishing a database and a general geographical Information System (GIS) for Panam Nagar (Old Sonargoan area). The support totals NOK 2.2 million over a period of two years.
Cultural exchange between Norway and Bangladesh is also on the agenda. For the last three years, the Embassy in co-operation with Rikskonsertene has facilitated three visits to Dhaka by Norwegian musicians: The Core came in 2005, and Kirsti Huke Quartet in 2006. In 2007, folk music artist Unni Løvlid and pianist Joachim Kjelsaas Kwetzinsky visited Dhaka to perform music by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg and play folk music in fusion with Bangladeshi musicians.
In co-operation with Grameen Bank in Dhaka and The Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, the Embassy intends to support a permanent exhibition featuring important aspects of the Nobel Peace Prize award to Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank in 2006.
The embassy supported a group of Bangladeshi musicians from Center for Education, Creative and Performing Arts (CECPA) that participated in Førde International Music Festival in July 2007.