New nomination for the Hurtigruten Museum

09 April 2025

The Hurtigruten Museum once again receives honour – this time in the form of a new nomination: “Audience Developer of the Year”. The award is presented by NPU – Norwegian Audience Development.

Every year, NPU nominates actors who make an extraordinary effort for audience development. In 2025, 3 awards will be awarded in different categories: “Audience Developer of the Year” – “Innovator of the Year” – “Bridge Builder of the Year”.

The Audience Developer of the Year is the major institutional award. This is not about a simple project or an exciting venture. All nominees have a positive development over time on at least three of the four audience dimensions we are looking for: increase, strengthen, expand and/or renew. The nominees are (in alphabetical order)

Aust-Agder Museum and Archives

Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

The National Stage

Gallery Würth

The Hurtigruten Museum

Kilden theatre and concert hall

Kistefos Museum

National museum

The Perspective Museum

Rogaland Theatre

Vega Scene

The winner will be announced and the prize will be awarded on 3 June 2025 during the NPU conference in the Grieg Hall in Bergen.

Glimpses from the Hurtigruten Museum. Photo top left: Bjørn Eide. Middle: Museum Nord. Others: Eirik Linder Aspelund.

Innovator of the Year

The Innovator of the Year has taken new and innovative steps to increase engagement in underrepresented groups. It can be a single person or an institution. It can be innovation based on new technologies, new formats, new artistic practices, organizational renewals based on strategic partnerships. The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

DansiT

The Norwegian Theatre

Kilden theatre and concert hall

Code art museums and composers’ homes

MUNCH

Vetle Gjevestad Agledahl

Bridge Builder of the Year

This year’s bridge builders are often, but not always, independent people or groups who work in the space between the institutions and different groups in society. Sometimes they work from inside the institutions. The nominees are (in alphabetical order):

The Citizens’ Stage – Vibeke Flesland Havre

Camara Lundestad Joof

Cici Henriksen

People meet People

Panta Rei Dance Theatre

This year’s jury

The jury consists of:

Niels Righolt, Chairman of the Jury, CEO Center for Art and Interculture and Vice-President of Culture Action Europe)

Emma Lind, Deputy Head of Department at the University of South-Eastern Norway (formerly Virke, the Norwegian Directorate of Culture and State Secretary to Minister of Culture Abid Raja)

Roger Johansen, jazz musician, artistic director of Bodø Jazz Open, and senior adviser in the section for cultural heritage and museums, Norwegian Directorate of Culture

Anika Mackenroth, Marketing and Communications Manager Unge Viken Theatre (Former Head of Communications Hålogaland Theatre)

Audience Developers of the Year – basis and criteria

All nominations are based on thorough research in the form of obtaining reports and conducting in-depth interviews. In the Audience Developer of the Year category, it is not enough that you have completed an interesting project. A completed nomination assesses developments over time, and a completed nomination contains the following chapters:

Fact box (who/category/employees/revenues/visitor development over a certain period of time)

NPU’s recommendation

Strategic foundation (attaching strategy document)

Insight (how to work with insight as a starting point for measures)

Increment dimension (sales development over time)

Amplifier dimension (frequency, loyalty, willingness to recommend, etc.)

Expander dimension (creator diversity, content diversity, and user diversity)

Renewer dimension (takes innovative steps to achieve one or more of the three goals above)

Testimonials based on Leading Person Interview

Attachments (reports etc).

Source: Norwegian Audience Development

Minister of Culture and Equality Abid Raja (Liberal Party) opened the Hurtigruten Museum in 2021. The museum facilitates many good experiences, including for children and families, throughout the year. Photo: Museum Nord. Right: Bjørn Eide.

About NPU (Norwegian Audience Development)

NPU – Norwegian Audience Development – is a national member organization. The purpose is to strengthen the position of culture and art in society through increased knowledge about the audience. The NPU Prize is awarded annually, in 4 different categories. You can read more about NPU here: www.norskpublikumsutvikling.no

“We are enormously proud!”

This is what department director Brynjar Pettersen of Museum Nord says. “There is a lot of good work behind this, and it is inspiring that the Hurtigruten Museum is noticed and recognized from so many different quarters. The audience growth and feedback are fantastically positive. Our employees are very skilled!”.

Geir Are Johansen, director of Museum Nord, is no less proud. “There are many people working together to create a good museum. It is incredibly fun that we are also so successful in the work of making the museum known and attractive to the various target groups. With us, both locals, the region’s population and visiting tourists will find engaging content.”

The museum is appreciated

The Hurtigruten Museum has previously been nominated for “Museum of the Year 2024” (Norwegian Museum Association) and is on the list of the 20 best maritime museums in Europe. The Hurtigruten Museum has also been nominated for the “European Museum of the Year Award 2025”