Dear Dáiddadállu,

Many, many congratulations on this great award.

Dáiddadállu was once an idea on a paper napkin, and now we are here celebrating you and the MUNCH Award.

Through hard work, strong allyship and a clear vision for the future, you have raised something that is greater than each individual artist, greater than ourselves. Beneath your lávvu canvas, many artists have found a home and siida companions. You have shown that when we gather our strength, we can achieve anything. And you, together with your fellow artists, have reached out across the world, both to the world's biggest stages and to other Indigenous nations.

Among Dáiddadállu's members are some of the most celebrated Sámi artists, who have themselves received major awards and become known all over the world. Among them are winners of the Ibsen Award, the Spellemann award, a Venice Biennale artist and a winner of the Norwegian Dance Critics' Award. There are so many honours that I cannot name them all here. 

But this time it is the whole siida that receives an award, from one of Norway's largest art institutions. I am absolutely certain that this recognition will inspire your important work.

On behalf of the Sámi Parliament, I want to say that we are immensely proud of you. And I want to thank Dáiddadállu for yout outstanding work and congratulate you on the award.

I would like to close with the words of Inga Rávdná Eira, from her poem "Áicen", in which she describes how important community is in the world of art:

I started looking for others

I start

creating and forming

telling and

yoiking

I am finding others

Yes, I am creating

and forming

Yes, I am telling

and yoiking

Yes, I am managing

and coping

Yes, I can

I can make it

yes, I am managing