On October 10th, during CreaTeME Friday’s event “Backstage,” Gramart announced the recipients of this year’s grants from the Talent Development Fund. The fund aims to support emerging artists by reducing financial barriers and enabling professionally oriented music projects.
As a talent development initiative, Gramart together with CreaTeME (University of Agder), has awarded grants to two promising musicians based on their artistic quality, originality, and potential for professional growth.The Talent Development Fund is intended to reduce financial barriers for emerging artists. By supporting initiatives and projects such as release concerts and/or tours, the fund helps to bridge the gap between academic studies and a sustainable career in the music industry.
Below are the reasons why EIRA and Lina were selected for the Talent Development Fund. Each project stands out with its unique artistic qualities and strong potential for growth, and both contribute meaningfully to the diversity and development of the Norwegian music scene.
The reasonings below are sourced from the Gramart website.
Reasoning for Awarding Talent Development grants to EIRA
As an artist, EIRA creates Nordic, alternative pop with a distinct conceptual expression. Her debut EP explores themes of transformation and stands out as a cohesive artistic work with both emotional and visual strength. The project will be realized in collaboration with her band, consisting of students from UiA Rytmisk, who have already gained experience performing on stages across Norway.
A release tour will be essential to bring this project to the public and to further develop EIRA and her band as performers at a professional level. The initiative represents an important bridge between academic studies and a sustainable career in the music industry, offering valuable experience, visibility, and learning opportunities.
Since financial risk is a major barrier for young artists, the funds from CreaTeME and Gramart will help reduce this risk and enable a tour of higher quality and broader geographical reach than would otherwise be possible.
Based on this, EIRA is considered a promising artist with both artistic distinction and professional focus, and is therefore awarded support to realize the release tour for Finally I Can Breathe.
EIRA is awarded Talent Development Funds of NOK 10,000 from CreaTeME and Gramart to carry out a release tour in spring 2026 in connection with her debut EP Finally I Can Breathe.
reasoning for Awarding talent development grants to Lina
Lina, led by songwriter and vocalist Lina Haug Randen and her five-member band, stands out as an original and expressive project that combines powerful lyrics in the Vågå dialect with an open and experimental approach to genre. The band highlights dialect use as an artistic resource, while their collective approach to arrangements creates a diverse and distinctive musical expression.
It is particularly the combination of personal lyrical themes, clear local grounding, and genre-defying musical solutions that makes the project relevant and innovative. Lina represents a strong new voice in Norwegian music with her dialect-based lyrics and has great potential to reach a wider audience while contributing to the diversity of the musical landscape.
Based on this, Lina is considered a project with high artistic quality, originality, and development potential. The project meets the criteria for Talent Development Funds and is therefore awarded support of NOK 10,000 from CreaTeME and Gramart.
Photo credits: Private // Askil Holm