<< home | Former Grants

GRANTS AVAILABLE TO SCANDINAVIAN ARTISTS

THE DEADLINE FOR CULTURAL GRANT APPLICATIONS
IS MARCH 31ST 2010

The American Scandinavian Society of New York helps support the arts in general and Scandinavian artists in particular via Cultural Grants that are awarded at the annual meeting in June.

In order to be considered as a recipient of a grant from the American Scandinavian Society, applicants must:

• be an artist with ties to at least one of the Scandinavian countries
• be actively contributing to the enhancement of the Scandinavian image in the New York area
• show skills, talent, and promise in the chosen field of their art

Both performing and non-performing artists are awarded.

To apply, please fill out the Cultural Grant Application Form, and send it with your resume, portfolio, web-address, photos, and any other relevant information showing excerpts of your work, to the Vice President of your Scandinavian country or to Else Matthews at this address:

American Scandinavian Society of New York
317 East 52nd Street
New York, NY 10022

Or e-mail it to:

AmScandSociety08@aol.com

 

Cultural Grant Recipients 2009

Opening Speech by Else H. G. Matthews

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen, and a very special welcome to this year’s Cultural Grant recipients!

The six of you were chosen among many talented up-and-coming artists, because we found you to be outstanding ambassadors for your country, and because – through your art - you help build bridges between Scandinavia and the United States.

In granting you this Award, we also hope to build a bridge back to you by staying in touch and following you in your future career. It’s our sincere hope that the Cultural Grant may help you grow and “be all that you can be”.

Several of our past recipients bear witness to how an ASS Cultural Grant has helped give their career a boost. We would like to collect more testimonials like that, so we do hope that you will keep in touch with us, and in the future keep us posted on how your career is going, and how the Cultural Grant has helped you. Hopefully we’ll have some fantastic stories for our website.

Andy Roda
Field of art: Singer/Songwriter/Musician
Nationality: Danish (Born to Philippine Parents)
Web: www.andyroda.com

Educational Highlights:
Graduated from Skt. Annæ Gymnasium in Copenhagen where he passed the
pre-conservatory course.

Affiliation with Scandinavia and the US:
Andy Roda has several CD’s to his credit, and two of his songs “Slave” and “Samson’s Hair” have made it to the big screen. “Samson’s Hair” is part of a Hollywood remake of the Danish box office hit “Kærlighed ved første hik” which will be launched in the U.S later in 2009 as “Love At First Hiccup”. He also produced and arranged a song for the Danish Red Cross, called “Song For The Forgotten”.

Past and present works:
Performed on National TV and opened for the Backstreet Boys and Emma Bunton of the Spice Girls. Andy has since re-located to New York City with frequent visits to Denmark to perform and stay in touch with his roots. His performances in the US are too numerous to mention: He was runner-up on Ed McMahon’s “Next Big Star” show, he was a special guest performer at an Alicia Keys’ event, and through booking his own shows, has performed at Joe’s Pub, the Manhattan Center, Birdland, a.o. Launched his own label POGI Entertainment in 2008 with his first ep single release entitled “AIYAHH”. In the fall of 2008 he was cast to play the leading role “Randy” in the musical production called “Filipinos In America”. The production is scheduled to show in Manhattan in the Fall of 2009, with Andy in the leading role.

Honors, reviews, special mention:
Performed at the Danish Consulate, where he sang for the Danes and to the Danish Queen at her birthday celebration on April 16th 2009.

Kalle Toivio
Field of art: Organist/Pianist
Nationality: Finnish
Web: www.myspace.com/kalletoivio
www.youtube.com/kalletoivio

This year’s Finnish Grant recipient is Kalle Toivio, a pianist and organist, a native of Lahti Finland.

Kalle has studied music since he was six years old at the Lahti conservatory. Kalle studied first at the preparatory school of the Sibelius Academy and at age seventeen he started piano studies at the Academy with Professor Matti Raekallio. He has also studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest Hungary with Professor Laszlo Baranyay. He completed his piano degree in 2002 with the highest possible grades and graduated Sibelius Academy with the master of music degree in 2004.
Kalle then continued with his organ studies at the Sibelius Academy Church music department. He received his bachelor of music degree in organ music with excellent grades in spring 2008. Since then he has been studying with McNeil Robinson at the Manhattan School of Music in New York. He will finish his master of music studies in 2010 and wants to continue to the doctoral program. Kalle also continues with his piano studies with the world famous pianist Nina Svetlanova.

Kalle has performed in Europe on several occasions: for BBC in the UK, European Broadcasting Union in Valencia and Vienna, for KLARA in Belgium and also for the Finnish Broadcasting Company. Kalle has made some recordings. He performs regularly with his sister cellist Seeli Toivio with whom they made a large concert tour to Japan.

Kalle has won numerous awards and competitions just to mention Sally Westerdahl and Fazer piano competitions and the Espoo Chamber Music competition twice.

Kalle is very active in the New York Finnish community. He is the musical director and the organist at the Finnish Lutheran church.

Valdís G. Gregory
Field of art: Violinist
Nationality: Icelandic

Valdís Gregory was born and raised in Iceland and she is currently studying music education at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford in CT. After her graduation, Valdís plans on going to graduate school for opera performance, hopefully in NYC.

After studying violin and cello for several years, Valdís started voice lessons at the age of 15, both in classical voice training and musical theatre. Her accomplishments include various solo performances as well as performances in several operas and theater productions.

In 2006, she was invited to perform as a soloist with the Icelandic Symphony where she gave a beautiful and assured performance that belied her young age. As per the principal conductor of the Icelandic Symphony, Rumon Gamba, Valdís not only enchanted the entire audience with her vocal and communication skills, but listened and reacted with great care to what was happening around her musically in order to achieve a perfect collaboration with the orchestra.

On behalf of the ASS, I am pleased to present the award to Valdis Gregory and wish her much success in the future…..

Lisa Pettersson
Field of art: Actress / Singer
Nationality: Swedish/American
Web: www.lisapettersson.net

Educational Highlights:
B.A. Columbia University.
As an actress, Lisa has trained in acting, movement, improvisation as well as voice and speech with teachers from Yale, Julliard and NYU and studied singing with teachers both in Sweden and in New York. 

Affiliation with Scandinavia and the US:
Lisa is a Swedish-American actress and singer who grew up in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. She is a founding member of Scandinavian American Theater Company.

Past and present works:
Lisa is a founding member of SATC and will play Miss Julie in their opening performance in spring 2010. She also a member of the BAT theater company at the Flea Theater.  On stage, Lisa has worked at the Midtown International Theater Festival as well as at many off and off-off Broadway theaters including the Daryl Roth Theater, the Flea Theater, the Sage Theater and Theater Row. Regionally, she recently pioneered the role of Terri in “Touching a Goddess” in Princeton, NJ, which opened to rave reviews in August 2009 and she acted in “Voices from Zimbabwe” at the Bricolage Theater in Pittsburgh, PA.  Internationally, she has worked with Amakhosi Theater in Zimbabwe and Panthéatre at the the Roy Hart center in France.  Lisa has also acted in several independent features, shorts and national commercials. As a singer, she performs at official and private events. Her audiences include Queen Sonja of Norway, the Norwegian parliament, the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, Mayor Rudolph Guiliani, and representatives at the UN.

Honors, reviews, special mention:
“Lisa is extremely professional, always well-prepared, and has an enthusiastic and upbeat attitude which made it easy to work with her. The role wasn’t an easy one: Lisa played a young woman whose lightning changes of mood took her from almost manic elation to suicidal depression, but she made the character believable and sympathetic. I particularly appreciated her willingness to sublimate her looks and natural elegance for the part. She did what the role required, without trying to “mold” it to herself, and the result was that her performance was powerful and moving.”
–Dan Berkowitz, Director, Touching a Goddess

Christianne Ebel
Field of art: Photography
Nationality: American
Web: www.hippiechickphoto.com

Educational Highlights:
Graduated from Raritan Valley College, NJ majoring in Fine Arts with an emphasis on Studio Arts Photography. She also graduated from the School of Visual Arts, NY majoring in Photojournalism.

Affiliation with Scandinavia and the US:
Currently Christianne Ebel is affiliated with Sweden through her work entitled: Sverige: A photographic monologue”. The work will be exhibited at the Rydal Museum outside of Gothenburg in October 2009. During the past 9 years she also exhibited her work in the New York area with publications in various newspapers.

Past and Present Works:
“A photographic monologue” is already published and being exhibited in Sweden (ref. description above and attached DVD). Christianne is currently pursuing another project in Sweden dealing with the cycle of the Swedish sun and the influence on moods, rhythms and habits of the Swedish people (Detailed description of the project is attached).

Honors, Reviews, Special Mention:
2007 International Photography Awards:
Honorable Mention in Deeper Perspective category “Opa’s Funeral”
2008 International Photography Awards:
Honorable Mention – Nature/Landscapes, Fine Art/Landscapes,
People/Self Portrait, People/Portrait, Fine Art/Nudes

Morgan Davidsen
Field of art: Short Film (Actor, Writer, Director)
Nationality: Norway
Web: www.finfilm.no

Educational Highlights:
Augsburg College (Bachelor) 2000
Norwegian – American College Østfold 1996
Ski High School 1994

Affiliation with Scandinavia and the US:
From Norway, lives in Oslo.
College Degree from Augsburg College, Minneapolis
Lived in LA from 2000 – 2002
Presently working on a short film based on Hamsuns “Sult” in NYC

Past and present works:
“Hunger” Short film, Director-writer-producer
“Bringebær” Short film, Director-writer-actor-producer
“Den som tar Griper til Sverd” Feature, Writer Director
“Hotel Cæsar” Soap, Actor cast the part of Sveinung Stang
“Børre” Feature, Actor as the part of Børre
“Lilletrollet”, Theatre, Director
“Narnia”, Theatre, Director
“Bringsværds Fabelaktige Verden, Theatre-Film, Director

Honors, reviews, special mention:
Winner NRK Filmpolitiets Kortfilmpris during Norway’s International Shortfilm Festival, Special Prize -Honorary Mention for “Bringebær” during the Bahamas International Film Festival, Award for Best Young Filmmaker during Miami International Film Festival 2008.

former cultural grants recipients

Click for information on former Cultural Grant Recipients