Festivals and events

Culture & Festival Days are a four-day celebration of culture, community and enterprise throughout Gentofte each June. The festival brings us together on the streets, in parks and in cultural centres. Museums, churches, libraries, organisations, shopping streets, associations, entrepreneurs, enthusiasts, musicians, artists, culture vultures, volunteers, lecturers – all are welcome to create activities for the programme that focus on cultural experiences for all.

Read about Culture & Festival Days (in Danish)

GentofteNatten is an afternoon and evening where the whole of Gentofte is buzzing with cultural experiences. You can look forward to seeing Gentofte plunge headlong into culture, new experiments and experiences for everyone – it’s always the last Friday of September.

Read about GentofteNatten (in Danish)

Kultur der Dur is a festival for people with disabilities and all others who want to join in with a day of celebrations. It takes place in August – with live music, entertainment and stalls selling utility art and crafts, among other things, produced by users of social care services. It’s about equality of life chances for people with disabilities. The right to a life of joy, sorrow, experiences great and small – a life like anyone else’s.

A festive day for all readers and book lovers. Gentofte’s largest annual literary event brings together thousands of readers and a dozen or so of today’s writers at Gentofte’s main library (Hovedbiblioteket) one Saturday in March.

Read about Gentofte’s book fair at Gentofte main library (Hovedbiblioteket)

Each year, a prominent artist is awarded Gentofte Kommune’s prize for cultural achievement. The prize is awarded to an artist who is resident in Gentofte, in recognition of a significant contribution to the Danish or international cultural scene. Like the other Gentofte Kommune prizes, the prize for cultural achievement is DKK 25,000 tax-free.

The prize has previously been awarded to the following winners:

• Fritz Helmuth
• Alexander Kølpin
• Poul Bundgaard
• Preben Kristensen
• Sanne Salomonsen
• Anne Linnet
• Jes Kølpin
• Thomas Eje
• Kim Roland Sjøgren
• Erik Balling
• Bent Fabricius-Bjerre
• Ulf Pilgaard
• Birthe Kjær
• Nikoline Werdelin
• Lone Scherfig
• Mads Mikkelsen
• Lars H.U.G.
• Palle Mikkelborg, 2007
• Lisbet Dahl, 2008
• Tonny Landy, 2009
• Paprika Steen, 2010
• Henning Jensen, 2011
• Peter Øvig Knudsen, 2012
• Peter Mygind, 2013
• Bobo Moreno, 2014
• Ellen Hillingsø, 2015
• Guido Paevatalu, 2016
• Thomas Vinterberg, 2017
• Rasmus Bjerg, 2018
• Olafur Eliasson, 2019

Each January, Gentofte Kommune designates a local professional artist or artisan as Gentofte Artist of the Year. We are keen to focus on culture and art in Gentofte. The designation comes with DKK 25,000 tax-free. Works by Gentofte Artist of the Year are used as Gentofte Kommune’s civic gifts the next year.

Previous Gentofte Artists of the Year:

• Bodil Eje (1930–2006), 1994
• Falke Bang (1912–1998), 1995
• Peter Martensen (1953–), 1996
• Anders Moseholm (1959–) 1997
• Annette Wier (1962–), 1998
• Kehnet Nielsen (1947–), 1999
• Karin Birgitte Lund (1946–), 2000
• Jane Balsgaard (1939–), 2001
• Hans Voigt Steffensen (1941–), 2002
• Gay Christensen (1950–), 2003
• Lonni Hall (1956–), 2004
• Mogens Pøhlsgaard (1947–), 2005
• Mogens Hoff (1934–2008), 2006
• Tine Jacobsen (1961–), 2007
• Lars Nørgaard (1956–), 2008
• Bernhard Lipsøe (1950–), 2009
• Merete Zacho (1938–), 2010
• Ulrik Hoff (1938–), 2011
• Karin Lorentzen (1968–), 2012
• Vivian Rose (1945–), 2013
• Bente Linnemann (1922–), 2014
• Viera Collaro (1946–), 2015
• Charlotte Schrøder (1946–), 2016
• Anna Blincoe (1972–), 2017
• Morten Steen Hebsgaard (1977–), 2018
• Ellen Hyllemose (1968–), 2019
• Hans Bølling (1931–), 2020

Commitment to volunteering, enterprise and initiative. Gentofte has a long tradition of its people’s commitment to the benefit of the community. This helps make Gentofte a great place to live. Gentofte Kommune is keen to recognise efforts that make a difference in the everyday life of other people, and we do this by awarding the prize for initiative annually. Like the other Gentofte Kommune prizes, the prize for initiative is DKK 25,000 tax-free.

The prize for initiative has previously been awarded to the following winners:

• Arne Madsen, for his work with Netværkshuset, 2008
• Ordrup Student Council, for their Street Festival initiative, 2009
• Teit Andersen, for his work with Helligdommen Skatebane, 2010
• Natteravnene (the Nighthawks), for their work keeping young people safe in Gentofte Kommune, 2011
• Pia Boysen, for her commitment to children’s choirs in Gentofte and Jægersborg churches, 2012
• Foreningen Vangedes Venner club, for their commitment to the cultural and leisure scene in Vangede, 2013
• Foreningen Genklange, for their initiatives with concerts to introduce classical music to children, 2014
• Sofie Thorhauge, for her commitment to creative workshops for young people in Det Grå Pakhus, 2015
• The eight young people who organised a welcome party for refugee new arrivals, 2016
• Foreningen Brandts Haves Venner, for looking after and tending G.N. Brandts Have gardens, 2017
• Local historian Niels Ulrik Kampmann Hansen, for his work in raising awareness of Gentofte’s local history, 2018
• Lions Club Hellerup, for their commitment to creating experiences and opportunities for others through their charity work, 2019