Date: 10 April
Time: 19.00-21.00 CET
Location: Havnerommet, Skoltegrunnskaien Pier
Organiser: the Muicipality of Bergen, Vestland County and Museum Vest
2025 marks the bicentennial of the first organised emigration from Norway to the USA. In the decades that followed, Norway became proportionally the second largest supplier of immigrants to the USA, with Ireland in first place. The U.S. census in 1910 recorded 980,000 inhabitants with one or two Norwegian-born parents. At the same time, there were only 2,4 million people living in Norway. Just about every Norwegian had family ties in the USA, and many still do.
As part of One Ocean Week 2025 and Crossings 200, the City of Bergen and Vestland County Council, in cooperation with Museum Vest, invites you to a cultural evening celebrating this important heritage for both countries.
Programme
- Welcome from the City of Bergen by commissioner Reidar Digranes, and from Vestland County Council by County Mayor Jon Askeland.
- Speech by U.S. representative (TBA)
- “Emigration from Bergen to the United States in the early 1900s”, talk by Per Kristian Sebak, historian and director of the Bergen Maritime Museum.
- "Migrasong: The Tunes They Carried Across the Sea", a musical programme that delves into the songs and narratives Norwegian immigrants brought to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By County Musician Reidun Horvei.
Practical Information
- Registration is required
- Language: English
- Free aadmission
- Light refreshments
- Queries about the event: Gisle Nondal, Bergen commune, tlf. 957 71 846, Per Christian Underhaug, Vestland fylkeskommune, per.christian.underhaug@vlfk.no
- More information
- You'll find Skoltegrunnskaien here