UKA i Ås in the 1950s: 

Tradition and innovation

The 1950s signified a new chapter for UKA i Ås. Traditions were carried on, while the festival was at the same time being developed using innovative measures. After the war’s difficulties, there was still a focus on rebuilding society, but also a growing engagement among the students. This decade would come to be filled with both success and struggles, and UKA i Ås consolidated its role as a central cultural arena even further. 

In 1950 the revue «Ku vadis» was staged, but despite its high ambitions, it wasn’t the success they had hoped for. The premiere of the revue received consistently bad critique, and the students therefore ended up changing parts of the revue. Something which had received particularly positive attention was once again the musical part, which had been orchestrated by Hansten, and Amdahl who had made the musical framework. The folk song “Sen natt i Bodegan» was stuck on the brain after this UKE. 

UKA i Ås in 1952 became a template for many of the future UKEs that came after. This UKE drew several thousand people to the Student Society! Tickets were sold out in a few hours, and the turnover was really good. Some things were slightly off, which isn’t strange when you organise something this big, but it was all in all a successful execution. That year’s UKErevue “Dromedar” once again tackled engaging societal and political themes. “Gamlekaras dag” was also introduced that same year. This event quickly became a highlight during the festival, where current and graduated students could get together to celebrate the community – the celebration now known as G-weekend. 

The festival was full of events in 1954! The students also wrote reports within each committee to continue passing on information to the next UKEyears. Skoleungdommens dag, later known as S-weekend, was introduced and worked as a platform for the students from colleges and The University of Oslo, as well as vocational colleges and the upper class of high school. The revue title that year was «Kurr-i-Ås», and despite problems arising during the development, they were well prepared with melodies for the performance, as they had been able to use a tape recorder. 

The success of the revue at the festival flourished in 1956. The revue “Rustica”, this time one hundred percent self-written, received a lot of praise in the newspaper, and the general opinion was that the performance deserved “20 full houses”. That year’s festival was, to a big extent, based on the experiences and templates from previous festivals, and a structure had begun to take shape. This UKEyear brought with it a bigger understanding of the workload, and a desire to take better care of the funkises was raised.  

In 1958, UKA i Ås introduced a new tradition of handing out UKEmedals as a recognition of the efforts from the funkises and committee leaders. This was an important step towards creating a culture with a focus on generosity and community spirit, and it emphasised the value of voluntary work for the festival’s success. The medals still symbolise this today, the gratitude from UKA i Ås for all of those who have participated, and are still participating, in making the festival happen. This was also the year where the Student Society got an alcohol license to serve both beer and wine!