There will be no Nobel Peace Prize Concert this year. The decision emerges from a wish to re-think the concert format and content but also reflects the challenging financial situation of the concert in recent years.
Moreover, people’s media preferences have undergone radical change since the first concert in 1994. This is something the concert organizers and producers are keenly aware of as they move forward.
– We have struggled to maintain an appropriate level of financing and want to use the year ahead to develop a new format for the concert. Our ambition is to launch a renewed and better concert in 2019. How to make the concert come to life on multiple platforms, beyond traditional linear TV, is one of the many areas we are looking into, says Olav Njølstad, director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute.
The Nobel Peace Prize Concert operates under the aegis of the Nobel Peace Prize – Research and Information organization. In recent years, the concert has drawn financial support from Norwegian private sector sponsors only.
– The reputation of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the status of the concert both in Norway and abroad, provides plenty opportunity for change and growth. We plan to use this break to further develop the format and strengthen the financing beyond the continuing and generous support of our long term Norwegian sponsors. The firmer our financial base, the stronger our independence in choice of concert format and profile, say concert producers Odd Arvid Strømstad (Warner Bros. Norway) and Kristian Kirkvaag (Gyro).
Since its inception, the Nobel Peace Prize Concert has brought more than one hundred of the greatest names in popular music and entertainment to Oslo to take part in the annual celebration of the Nobel Peace Prize. A key success factor of the concert lies in its ability to engage a global audience with the work of the Peace Prize laureates and the Nobel Peace Prize in general.