Pride Art, earlier Skeive Kunstnere, is an independent, national membership organization that promotes queer art and culture in the broadest sense. Pride Art represents one of the world's longest, continuous traditions for the dissemination of queer art with annual collective exhibitions mainly during the festival Oslo Pride with roots going back to the Natt&Dag exhibition in 1985. Pride Art was registered as its own, national organization 11/7-2020 after being organized as a subgroup of the association Fri Oslo Viken since 2007. Prior to 2007, the group was organized as a community of queer artists with roots dating back to 1985. Pride art collaborates with a wide range of rights organisations, cultural groups and various businesses that show an interest in understanding diversity and queer perspectives in art.
The organization's ultimate purpose is to contribute to an increased understanding of the lives and reality of queer people and stimulate a change of attitude through openness and the strong tool art constitutes in the fight against discrimination and prejudice. Through its work, Pride Art expands the space of expression by highlighting underrepresented voices and bringing together a wide network of queer artists from across the country who embrace across generations, group affiliations and artistic disciplines. Pride Art recognizes and includes amateurs, beginners and professionals on an equal basis. In this way, Pride Art positions itself as a counterweight to traditional weighting of the value and reputation of works of art and artists based on academic background and social status.
The organization is non-commercial, based on volunteering and works in the layer between the field of cultural dissemination and the rights movement. Pride Art is led by an employed management consisting of a general manager, artistic director and events and communications manager. Pride Art organizes Europe's largest queer art festival WUNDERKAMMER and a wide range of exhibitions and dissemination events across the country. Pride Art's arena and community promotes free art on queer terms that builds bridges between generations and group affiliation, between the majority society and queer minorities, and between the marginalized artists and the established art field.
Pride Art brings together a community of over 800 queer artists, artists and curators and is led by an interdisciplinary competent board of up to 11 people. Each year, Pride Art puts in 5000 volunteer hours to create one of Norway's most visited art exhibitions. The exhibition activities include a wide-ranging program for performing arts, literature, art and cultural debate, workshops that engage gender-creative children, children from queer families and queer youth as well as an important meeting place. Pride Art believes that visibility is the antidote to shame and silence, and knowledge is the antidote to prejudice and hatred.
Pride Art's work is important both for the queer population and for the majority society considering that queer art is largely ignored in Norway.
BY-LAWS-FOR-PRIDE-ART-1