It’s not always visible, but you can feel it. In the conversations after a theatre performance. When someone dares to sing out loud, writes their first poem, or attends a concert and feels at home. Culture is about more than experiences – it builds community.
When I first arrived here, as a filmmaker and entrepreneur with a partner and two small children, we were searching for a safe place for the kids. With small class sizes and closeness to nature. I met the then‑CEO of Filmpool Nord, and she made me feel that there was a place here for me as a cultural creator. The possibility to apply for funding for film ideas and cultural events turned dreams into reality – right here.
The warm welcome we received meant that I, my company, my partner’s company, my children, and my parents – both active in associations and, in the beginning, in working life – all settled here. The beautiful natural surroundings outside our doorstep have become backdrops for film, theater, and a folk music festival. All of it born out of a kind welcome, safety for the children, and opportunities for cultural growth. Over time, the reasons to stay have shifted. Now, much revolves around the children’s leisure activities, renovation, commuting, and the everyday logistics of life – and the balance that rural living requires. Often resembling a small taxi business.
But most of all, it’s about the place itself. Here we found our dream home: the silence, nature, and the calm of everyday life. Here I can stroll around, tinker with small things, or start the day outside brushing my teeth while the river reflects the changing seasons. A morning swim and a cup of coffee while the world slowly awakens – that is happiness. Just like when the swallows return in spring or when the moon reflects on the snow on a cold winter’s night.
Sometimes my family, our cultural friends, and I open our doors to this quiet life and let our farm become a cultural meeting place for more people. For me, culture is both everyday life and vision. It binds us together, opens windows, and keeps our curiosity alive. And above all – it makes us more human.
We need to nourish our senses, let color break through the gray, and satisfy our need for imagination and wonder. All throughout life. And just as a house carries a soul you feel when stepping over the threshold, so too does a place carry a soul that we shape. But what, then, is the soul of Boden? Surely it is different for everyone who lives here. For me, it holds everything we can be proud of – the art, the music, the theatre, dance, the film, and the literature that have grown here and continue to take shape.
We at Boden Event work to create events for all the residents of Boden, everything from the city festival Boden Alive, the dog fair Hundliv, and concerts, to the children’s culture festival and the celebrations of New Year’s Eve, National Day, and Walpurgis Night.
One of the things I am most passionate about is that we, together, continue to develop our meeting places – so that they are vibrant, inclusive, and full of opportunities. Places for personal creation and for sharing culture: studios, stages, workshops, and open creative spaces. A cultural ecosystem where ideas can take root, where people can grow in their expression, and where tradition meets renewal.
Just like the business world has meeting places, arenas for networking, and coworking spaces, culture also needs that kind of nourishment and space. We need to let ourselves be moved, dare to create, challenge ourselves – and meet in conversation. Something special happens when people come together across generations and languages. For culture lives in us – at all ages and in all stages of life. To invest in our associations and local cultural creators is not just an investment in events – but in community, belief in the future, and democracy.
Welcome to help build culture and belonging here – together with us!
CHARLOTTA LENNARTSDOTTER
CEO / Boden Event
Charlotta Lennartsdotter is the filmmaker who moved to a small village in Boden municipality and quickly became a
part of the growing cultural industry here. Among many other things, she has created:
- The children’s series Astrid Becomes a Big Sister, Astrid is a Big Sister, and Astrid and
Adrian Move - Tripp Trapp Träd, 4 films about sustainability
- Children’s programs in Lule Sami and Romani
- The exhibition “Hide and Seek” at the Defense Museum in Boden
