Industry Talk: Mina Evenrud

Mina started as an intern at by:Larm in 2011, and one year after graduating from Culture Project Management she started working full time at Bureau Storm. Besides being CEO of by:Larm she also works as the project manager for Musikkfest Oslo, artist coordinator for Trænafestivalen, and is also involved in festivals Slottsfjell and Rakettnatt. She is also a board member of Vervenfestivalen and Sgt. Elephant.

What has been your focus lately?Lately it’s been all about by:Larm festival 2018. The 21st edition of by:Larm will take place March 1.-3., and is my first edition as CEO. It’s been fun, but hectic. The outlines of the festival is starting to look really good. We started out the planning thinking we should have fewer artists and fewer conference sessions, but it now looks like we are not going to manage that goal, because it’s too much good stuff going on!

The most important piece of advice you have ever received?Just do it. No one ever told me that, since it’s Nike’s trademark. But it really works. My alarm clock tells me JUST DO IT (doesn’t always work), and if there’s something I’ve been procrastinating for too long to have any motivation to finish it, I tell myself JUST DO IT. If you just do it, you’ll feel so good afterwards.

Your best industry-tip?Always remember to have fun. When the fun is gone you’re never going to be your best self to keep motivated. I’ve been really lucky, from my first year of by:Larm I’ve been surrounded by professional, thoughtful and funny people. From my first festival I felt like I had an extra family, now I have 5-6 festival families besides my genetic family (who I love very much, but they will never understand what I’m actually doing for a living). If I felt the fun was gone, I would have been exhausted many years ago.

What’s your golden moment to share with the rest of us?My golden moment was when I decided to send an application for an internship at by:Larm. Seven years later and I’m the CEO of the same festival!

Why Norway, why now?Nordic technology, TV-shows, aspiring artists, everything happened at once. All eyes are on the Nordics. We got the confidence to show the rest of the world that Norway is not the capital of Sweden, it’s the hottest Nordic music scene!

Who in the Norwegian music industry deserves a high five?A lot of people in the Norwegian music industry deserves a high five. All the people working day and night, and in the end of the day are still all about putting a smile on peoples faces.

But I have to say, I had not been where I am today if it hadn’t been for Erlend Mogård-Larsen and Øystein Ronander. They saw something in me that I didn’t even see myself. And it’s not only me, they have been building music industry professionals for almost 20 years.