Welcome 2022 and happy new year, Ålanders, family and friends who said goodbye to a year that ended with fantastic fireworks!

May this new year get a good start and add new positive energy. The pandemic has been a huge challenge for all of us in the Nordic countries for the past two years, and therefore our common hope for a good 2022 is now in our wishes and thoughts.

At the end of 2021, we thanked NIPÅ's director after 8 years, Jacob Mangwana Haagendal - and we wish him all the best in the future. The role of the Nordic Institute is to support, stimulate and develop cultural life, with culture from all over the Nordic region to Åland, as well as support, stimulate and develop cultural life and promote Åland's participation in Nordic cultural co-operation. We are proud to do the best we can within the framework we have - and I am grateful to now be a part of this work.

The overall task for the Nordic institutes on Åland during the new year is to contribute to the co-operation vision that the Nordic countries by 2030 will be the world's most sustainable and integrated region. Culture creates meetings and understanding between people and the creative industries plays a crucial role for the Nordic region as a competitive and internationally attractive region. In a world that is constantly changing, where traditions and cultures are challenged, we must adapt and think of those who come after us, by focusing on sustainability also within the culture. NIPÅ will, in contact with the Åland culture and contacts, hold a dialogue on how we can best together achieve the common goals the Nordic countries have set, in a way that is sustainable for Åland.

In the short period of time we have now lived on Åland, I experience you as a welcoming and nice people, full of talent, with a strong community and a desire to be together about things. For my personal part, one goal is clearly to learn a decent Swedish before the summer. As a Greenlander, I know from personal experience that the foreigners who adopt one's language are best integrated among people and culture. Language is one of the most important cultural heritage we have. We look forward to getting around in this incredibly beautiful landscape which, just like in my birthplace, is anchored in a safe archipelago landscape.

I now hope for a fantastic new year - a year where culture can spread its wings and convey happiness and joy.

Sincerel,
Kim Larsen

Director at the Nordic institute on Åland from January 1st, 2022