Next year 2025, you will find Almedalsveckan, back in Visby between the 23rd of June and 27th of June 2024. Welcome!
Unique place for social issues
Almedalsveckan (Almedalen Week) is a democratic meeting place that everyone can join and co-create. The atmosphere is informal and relaxed, creating the feeling that everyone who matters is there. Chance meetings can lead to unexpected effects. Admission is free.
Purpose and vision
Almedalsveckan - the democratic meeting place for everyone. A magical place for dialogue, exchange and unexpected meetings that help to develop our society. The unique Almedalen spirit is created by openness, accessibility and mutual respect.
Almedalen est 1968
It started in 1968 when Olof Palme, minister of education at the time, spoke from the back of a lorry at Kruttornet in Visby. Gradually it became a tradition for Olof Palme and the Social Democratic Party to make speeches at the central park “Almedalen” and he was the only speaker until 1974. In 1991 Almedalsveckan became completely disassociated from the Social Democratic Party and all parliamentary parties have participated in the festival ever since.
We create the week together
Almedalsveckan is a result of cooperation between the main organizers, the host and other co-organizers. The main organizers are the parliamentary political parties, via their local representatives in Gotland. The Municipality of Gotland is the formal host running a project office within the Municipality.
The unique place
The festival is located in Visby, on the island Gotland, and takes place in the end of June. 2019 was the last year with a 8 day-long festival, because from 2022, each parliamentary party will not have one day at their disposal during the week. Visby is located 180 km and a boat-trip from Stockholm and has approximately 25.000 inhabitants.
The world largest meeting place
The festival’s own estimate of participants is approximately 30.000 unique visitors and 1 200 unique organizers. The estimated numbers of visitors are based on ferry and airport tickets to the island during the festival. In 2019, there were 3.700 official events and approximately 3.000 unofficial events. It is only the official events, which are open to everyone, that are presented in the festival program.
People attending the festival
The festival’s target group is people interested in social issues. The festival defines the visitors as politicians, organizers, professional visitors and ordinary participants. Many of the visitors attend the week as a part of their holiday.
Involvement of the political parties
All eight parliamentary political parties have Almedalen, the central Park in Visby, at their disposal for a whole day during the week. In many years, the parliamentary parties have been - and still are - the main focus. Since 1996, organisations and businesses have been allowed into the political arena. Almedalsveckan is highly prioritized by the parliamentary parties and they use the platform to promote new policy proposals. During the week, politicians attended 1.125 events, which is 53,4% of the 2.103 events.
The program
Anyone can apply to organize an event at the festival as long as they adhere to criteria set by the main organizers of Almedalsveckan. The project group reviews all the applications and, if an application meets the criteria, it will be approved and published on Almedalsveckan’s webpage, in the printed program and in the app Almedalen Just Nu.
Almedalen spirit
During this week, something that many call the Almedalen spirit prevails. The week quite simply has a special atmosphere, to which the time and place have definitely contributed. Almedalen Week is an unusual combination of political summit and openness. However, it is also associated with an informal atmosphere, intimacy, discussion, democracy, manoeuvring, seminars and further education and training.