"We really believe in this. The artistic and academic potential of the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design is absolutely outstanding”, say the newly elected leaders, who respectively have backgrounds from the three departments at the faculty.

The new Dean, Frode Thorsen, is Professor of  early music (historically informed performance) and is currently heading the Grieg Academy - Department of Music, Vice Dean of Research, Anne-Helen Mydland, is Professor of art with specialization in ceramics and clay and Vice Dean of Education, Linda Lien, is Associate Professor in graphic design at the Department of Design. 

They will lead the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design at UiB over the next four very important years, as the faculty further develops its new identity after the merger of the Bergen Academy of Art and Design and the Grieg Academy - Department of Music, which took place on January 1, 2017.

"In the short term we will focus on making everyday life work. We have been through a major reorganizing process, which has been and still is demanding. We have a new model for the administration of the faculty, previously untested at the university, which is challenging. There are lots of issues we have to plan and address ahead, in collaboration with the administrative management. We will emphasize well-functioning councils and committees and the interaction between the disciplinary environments and administrative groups. We will develop a new budget model that enables us to plan the faculty's investments strategically. Leadership at all levels should be based on dialogue, openness, trust and accountability”, says Frode Thorsen.

Read the Election Platform here.

Creating a community
Other important tasks for the new Dean and Vice Deans will be to develop well-run PhD-programmes within all the faculty’s subject areas. The new management wish to facilitate a close relationship between artistic and academic research in KMD´s projects and focal areas.
They will, in dialogue with students and staff, develop an ambitious strategy for KMD and present it to the faculty board. The KMD strategy will build on the identity that the various artistic, academic and design-based milieus have developed at the former Bergen Academy of Art and Design and at the Grieg Academy.

"The process of developing the strategy itself is important in creating a community. We want to make sure that all the students and staff at KMD get an ownership to the work and a saying in who we are to be", says Anne-Helen Mydland.

“Three different cultures meet in our faculty. We want to take care of the distinctive character of these cultures whilst at the same time stimulating a sense of unity and creating a new community", says Linda Lien.

New building for the Grieg Academy
After the summer the art and design departments of the faculty move into a new state-of-the-art building designed by the renown architecture office Snøhetta. With the establishment of KMD a new need for co-location emerged. The new leadership intends to be a driving force for realizing a new building for the Grieg Academy adjacent to the new building in Møllendal.

”This is an important precondition for realizing the full potential of the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design. We already have close contact with UiB’s leaders, building strategic alliances and shedding light on both the international potential and the local urban-development perspective, so it looks promising”, says Thorsen. 

Until the new building is realized, the new Dean and Vice Deans are keen to make the most of a situation where there is considerable physical distance between the department of art and design in Møllendal and the Grieg Academy, which will continue to function in poor premises in Lars Hillesgate.

”Before a co-location of all the departments is a reality we must create functional and good formal and informal arenas for the staff and students to meet, says Mydland, adding that in the long term they want to investigate the possibilities for setting up an inter-artistic master’s programme and a teacher-training programme (PPU).

Considers cluster collaboration
The new leadership of KMD want the faculty to consider cluster collaboration in several relevant areas, in line with the strategy of the University of Bergen. "We have not been too specific about this yet, but we see the potential and the opportunities of creating a cluster collaboration with major art- and cultural institutions in Bergen, such as the Art Museums of Bergen KODE, the Bergen International Festival and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, to which we already have strong ties. The Bergen municipality recognize our new location in Møllendal as an important part of the cultural axis and as a contribution to urban development in Bergen”, says Frode Thorsen.

He also sees a great potential for the field of music therapy, where there is already an established cluster of research centres and health authorities through the network Polyfon. For this milieu the physical proximity of Møllendal to Årstadvollen and the health campus which is developing there, will be very important. Linda Lien adds that there have been meetings about cooperation with the newly established Media City Bergen as well, where there are a number of meeting points with disciplines at KMD, such as interaction design.

"These kind of initiatives and cluster collaboration will help make the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design a vital institution for culture and research in Bergen, one which will be noticed internationally”, the new leaders at KMD conclude.