Nordic Outcraft Festival

This is a project to organize and host a recurring Nordic outdoor festival in southern Sweden that focuses on activities, education and inspiration. For year two, the Wilderness Village will be built in Immeln, a meeting place in nature that inspires, challenges and is a gathering point for outdoor life and outdoor events.

Northern Skåne is popular on the Danish, German and Swedish markets and known for its relatively wild nature. Interest in the outdoor phenomenon is increasing and the area around Immeln has a unique appeal. The project owner wants to build on this and arrange an outdoor festival in southern Sweden that tries to tie together the threads of Nordic outdoor life. Inspiration for the concept comes from the Utefest festival on the High Coast.

The project will run for just over two years. The first step is to implement the Nordic Outcraft Festival 2017, the second step is to build the Wilderness Village during the fall/winter of 2017/2018 and the final step is to implement the Nordic Outcraft Festival 2018. The festival will have a sustainability perspective and attract nature-interested visitors from the Nordic region and northern Europe.

One of the goals of the project is to attract people to take the first step into nature. There is a great interest in outdoor life, but the step from being inactive to being an active outdoor person can feel big and scary. With relatively little knowledge, anyone can start spending more time outdoors. The project has identified three different primary focus areas; survival, bushcraft and ”traditional” outdoor life. Within survival and bushcraft, male dominance is almost total. Therefore, one focus group of the project will be women. The other focus group will be foreign-born people, as this is a group that is less active outdoor enthusiasts at the moment. The project owner sees an exciting opportunity for integration in a neutral environment where people can unite in a common interest and around learning.

The Wilderness Village will be built in nature, in a simple and sustainable way. It will be able to be used by schools, associations and other groups looking for a unique place to carry out their activities. The Outcraft Festival will be the first event to use the Wilderness Village as a base.

Through an internationally recognized festival and a unique meeting place, the project owner wants to contribute to making northeastern Skåne an even more attractive tourist destination and a recognized destination for adventure and nature tourism. The Wilderness Village will create the conditions for many other activities all year round.

The project involves collaboration with the public sector, associations and companies. The festival is carried out in collaboration with Friluftsfrämjandet and local actors.

We have held three outdoor festivals and investigated the possibilities of building the wilderness village. Unfortunately, the promised area was not available anyway, so I have decided to shelve the wilderness village.

An exciting project with a strong emphasis on innovative thinking and broad collaboration to provide knowledge and opportunities for many people. The design of the project strengthens both gender equality, social integration and accessibility. Competence development in nature conservation, public right and the environment in connection with use is a strength and this, as well as the content of the project, contributes greatly to creating/strengthening the area's profile. The project contributes greatly to achieving the strategy's goals.