Behind the anthology

Reflections - art culture politics society has come into being as a result of the Nordic Culture Fund's ambition to expand the view of art and culture policy and develop an understanding of art and the importance of culture in society.

The book consists of essays and interviews with a number of thinkers, researchers, government officials and artists, all of whom have extensive experience from various disciplines in and outside the Nordic region. The content has been prepared over a four-year period in close collaboration with the Swedish journalist and playwright Gunilla Kindstrand.

The book does not provide answers or ready-made solutions. The intention has first and foremost been to inspire, challenge and open up for a renewed conversation about the future of cultural policy in the Nordic countries.

List of contributors

• Gunilla Kindstrand, journalist and dramaturge
• Eline Wernberg Sigfusson, deputy director of the Nordic Culture Fund
• Stefan Jonsson, professor at the Division of Migration, Ethnicity and Society (REMESO) at Linköping University.
• Ove Kaj Pedersen, political scientist and professor emeritus in comparative political economics
• Carsten Staur, Denmark’s ambassador to the OECD and UNESCO in Paris
• Eva Bergquist, political scientist, executive director of the cultural administration of Region Stockholm
• Frederik Tygstrup, professor of literature and the deputy head of the Department of Arts and Cultural
  Studies at Copenhagen University
• Marianne Stidsen, literature scholar at University of Copenhagen
• Maria Huhmarniemi, active at the University of Lapland, Faculty of Art and Design, in Rovaniemi
• Owe Ronström, professor of ethnology at Uppsala University, Campus Gotland
• Karen Espelund, CEO at the Museums in Sør-Trøndelag
• Julia Lohmann, designer
• Mads Øvlisen, business leader, director of Novo Nordisk 1981-2000, chairman of the Royal Danish Theatre in 2000–2007, and chairman of the Danish Arts Council in 2007–2011
• Maria Jørstad, general manager of the foundation Talent Norway
• Olafur Eliasson, artist

The Nordic Culture Fund

The Nordic Culture Fund is a catalyst for art and cultural life in the Nordic region.

The foundation was established more than 50 years ago as an independent body with a mandate to act freely and quickly. In recent years, the foundation has worked to create new contexts for the development of cultural policy at a Nordic level, often based on the knowledge and experience that the actors in the field of culture possess.

Read more about the fund's work here

Main characteristics of Danish Cultural Policy

•  Denmark does not have an overarching written national cultural policy. Instead, cultural policy is included in various documents, the financial law and action plans from the Ministry of Culture.
• The structural reform in 2007 that changed Denmark’s municipal and regional landscape, has transferred the responsibility for numerous cultural institutions, including museum and cultural heritage, from the state (or the regions, which were previously called amter) to the municipalities. The regional level no longer has any formal responsibility for cultural policy.
• The Ministry of Culture currently has 20 national institutions. In addition, the Ministry allocates operational funding to a large number of cultural institutions in fields ranging from sports to theatre.
• Funding was formerly allocated according to the “carrot principle” in Danish cultural policy. The government matched municipal cultural funding (e.g. for regional theatres). This was phased out in the 1990s. But there are still those who advocate “matching” for funding of regional theatres, performance venues, museums, and so on.

Legislation

Denmark has cultural policy legislation in the following areas: archives, libraries, library fees, visual arts, background checks on staff working with children, film, public information and folk high schools, research, sports, cultural agreements with municipalities, cultural heritage, artistic education, literature, media, music, copyright, performing arts, languages, the South Schleswig Commission and economy.

Dates and national cultural agencies

1961 The Ministry of Cultures

Today, the Ministry is responsible for creative arts, music, theatre, film, libraries, archives, museums, the protection and conservation of buildings, archaeology and ancient monuments, higher education in the arts and folk high schools. Moreover, it is responsible for general cultural objectives, copyright laws, media, sports, the South Schleswig Commission and international cultural relations, specifically Nordic and EU countries.

The Ministry’s strategic priorities are to advise the ministers of the Cultural Ministry and the board, to initiate legislation, and activities controlling national, government-recognised and government-funded cultural institutions.

1964 The Danish Arts Foundation

The Danish Arts Foundation annually allocates more than DKK 500 million to artists, art projects and communication in architecture, visual arts, film, crafts and design, literature, music and performing arts.

The Foundation consists of 16 committees, a board of directors and a management. The committees comprise 54 experts, and the chairperson of each committee is a member of the board.

The Danish Arts Foundation management appoints 33 members to the committees, while 21 are appointed by the Minister of Culture. Members are appointed for a period of four years. The 16 committees are each assisted by secretaries and expert personnel at the Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties.

2016 Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties

The Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties is a merger of several agencies, including the former Agency for Culture, which, in turn, consisted of two agencies, one of which was the Arts Agency. The latter was established to centralise art councils and centres.

The Agency for Palaces and Cultural Properties advises the Minister of Culture and helps implement the government’s objectives in the field of culture. Its board grants funding to private individuals, organisations and institutions, and collects, processes and communicates information and results that promote the development of the arts sector. The board also manages and preserves the national palaces, gardens and cultural properties.

Private funds in Denmark

Denmark’s fund structure is unique in Nordic countries. In relation to its size, Denmark has many funds, which grant large sums to charitable causes. There are some 10,000 funds in Denmark.

Culture is the second-largest recipient of private funding and grants from fund-like organisations, and received some DKK 3 billion in 2019.

In Denmark, it is important to know how the Danish fund sector works, since grants depend on a number of crucial parameters, including changes in the fund strategies and in the applicant field and project applications. Private fund management is growing more similar to public administration, which is more or less systematically aiming to consolidate the arm’s length principle with strategic system thinking.

Main characteristics of Finland's Cultural Policy

• Finland has had a general cultural policy strategy since 2009. It is laid down by the Ministry of Education and Culture and was last updated in 2017. The current strategy is valid until 2025. It focuses on contemporary social and economic challenges and how the government can participate in developing and promoting the arts and culture.
• A general vision for Finland’s cultural policy is to support the development of a creative, democratic and successful society. The cultural policy target areas and associated strategic targets up to 2025 are as follows:
  - Creative work and production
  - Participation in cultural life
  - The foundations and continuity of culture
• In the central government administration, the Ministry of Education and Culture is the primary funder of the arts and culture. Its budget is divided between the following categories:
  1. The State Subsidy System for museums, theatres and orchestras nationally
  2. The Artist Grant System, which awards grants through the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and copyright royalties that are paid through the copyright system.
  3. Government funding to cover the cost of operations and premises for national art institutions.
• In Finland, the municipalities are responsible for supporting local cultural activities and those involved. The government supports the municipalities through the State Subsidy System, which is operated jointly by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Ministry of Finance. Municipalities can also apply to the Ministry of Education and Culture for funding.
• Half of the government’s budget for culture is financed with revenues from the gambling company Veikkaus. Recently, proceeds from lotteries and gambling have declined, and this has prompted discussions about how public funding of the arts and culture should be developed.

Legislation

Laws and regulations cover the following areas: funding of educational and cultural activities, lottery laws, municipal cultural activities, independent educational activities, grants and subsidies for artists, writers and translators, the theatre and orchestra law, cinematic art, deposits and storage of cultural material, the museum act, government indemnities for art exhibitions and church law.

Dates and national cultural agencies

1947-1970 The Academy of Finland

Managed funding for the arts and culture and science. After the Act on Arranging the Promotion of Arts was passed in 1968, the Academy of Finland has focused exclusively on developing the sciences.

1968-2013 The Arts Council of Finland

Formulated proposals for guidelines for cultural funding in Finland. The Council’s budget was determined by parliament and was managed by the Ministry of Education. Together with national and regional arts committees, the Council awarded grants and subsidies to artists and groups in the field of arts.

2010 (1809) The Ministry of Education and Culture

Public arts administration has evolved since the late-19th century, when the government started giving grants and subsidies to nationally important work in the arts. The government also contributed to founding national arts institutions and the emergence of Finnish art and literature. The Ministry of Education and Culture has had many names since 1809. In 1922–2009, it was called the Ecclesiastical Department.

The Ministry of Education and Culture is a government ministry. It advises the government on planning and implementing political guidelines. The Ministry prepares legislation, acts and decisions and matters relating to budget spending. It is responsible for cultural policy in the arts and culture, museums and cultural heritage, libraries, cultural exports and creative work.

In Finland, the Ministry of Education and Culture is also in charge of international cooperation with organisations in the arts sector, including Unesco, the European Council, the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Culture Fund, the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Arctic Council, The Barents Euro-Arctic Council, and the cultural bodies for these organisations and neighbouring areas.

2013 The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)

Taike replaced the Arts Council of Finland. Taike is a central administrative board for arts promotion providing expertise and services within the Ministry of Education and Culture. Taike and the Ministry of Education and Culture have a shared responsibility for government funding of Finnish arts and cultural life. The arm’s length principle is implemented by national and regional arts councils that operate in partnership with Taike and award grants to artists and working committees. It also awards funding to associations and collaborates with regional artists in various arts promotion programmes and projects throughout Finland. This makes Taike a key player and voice in the Finnish discourse on arts and cultural policy.

Private funds in Finland

Roughly 2,700 funds and foundations are registered in Finland, and some 800 of these award grants. Their total market value exceeds EUR 20 billion. The largest funds make up for more than 80 per cent of this. Funds and foundations focus on supporting culture, recreation, research and education. Several large private funds and foundations primarily target art and culture.

Main characteristics of Iceland's Cultural Policy

• In 2013, the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture announced a political strategy for the arts and cultural heritage for the first time in Iceland’s history. A new strategy for 2021–2030 is currently under way.
• The national cultural policy addresses the following areas:
  - Creative work and participation in the arts
  - Easy access to the arts and cultural heritage
  - Cooperation between the government, citizens and institutions active within the arts
  - Opportunities for children and youth to participate in the arts
• The government supports funds and other public institutions that award grants for the arts and culture. Adopting the arm’s length principle, the government ensures that funded activities are independent and that applications are handled in a professional manner.
• The government also supports arts institutions in the arts and cultural heritage that are independent from higher authorities according to law.
• Various agreements with municipalities regarding the arts ensure that government funding is fairly distributed between regions. The purpose of regional collaboration is to ensure that government funding is spread over projects throughout the country to promote job opportunities, regional issues and the arts and culture.

Legislation

Iceland’s arts and culture are regulated by several laws: the Library Act, the Literature Act, the Greenland Fund Act, the Business Iceland Act, and the Cultural Heritage and Museum Act.

Dates and national cultural agencies

1942 The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (Mennta- og menningarmálaráðuneytið)

The government is committed to promoting opportunities for artistic width and creativity. The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture is responsible for the arts and general cultural issues in Iceland. It deals with issues relating to education, research and science, the arts and cultural heritage, museums, media, sports and youth activities, and the Icelandic language and sign language.

The Ministry supports the preservation of historic sites and cultural objects, to communicate the nation’s cultural heritage. It is also responsible for museums and national arts institutions. By operating essential heritage institutions, the government supports independent research in history and culture and offers the public opportunities to learn about the nation’s past.

Government funding is intended to give everyone living in Iceland the possibility to enjoy the arts and culture regardless of social status, and to ensure a good working environment for artists. The government’s commitment to the arts focuses primarily on the operation of national arts institutions and grants for professional artists.

2003 Rannís – The Icelandic Centre for Research

Rannís administrates public funds and international cooperation programmes in research, innovation, education and the arts. Rannís is responsible for national artist salaries and awards, funds for music and performing arts and funding through Creative Europe.

2005 Icelandic Art Center

Promotes and supports Icelandic contemporary art internationally through grants, collaborations and projects. The Center facilitates professional partnerships, visitor programmes and international collaborations between artists, and serves as an information point for curators, media, artists and art institutions.

Main characteristics of Norway's Cultural Policy

• Although this is not literally specified in the cultural reports and the annual government budget, Norway’s cultural policy can be summed up in four general objectives:
  1. To promote artistic quality and innovation.
  2. To preserve and protect the cultural heritage, including the Norwegian language.
  3. To communicate a rich and diverse range of culture to the entire population.
  4. To promote civil society and volunteer activities in Norway.
• Norway’s cultural policy has had a very stable structure over the past 20 years, characterised by an increase in grants and funding for the cultural sector. National and local government account for some 47% each, while the regions contribute some 6%. In addition, the surplus from Norsk Tipping is a crucial contribution to the arts and culture (especially sports, amateur sports and volunteer activities).
• In 2020, Norway implemented a major municipal and regional reform, reducing the number of municipalities and regions through mergers. One expected – but still unrealised – effect of the reform was that the municipalities and regions would take over more cultural responsibilities from central government.
• One characteristic of Norwegian cultural policy is kulturmelding, reports on culture made by the Norwegian government to the parliament on matters that they wish to discuss in parliament without necessitating a final draft legislation or plenary assembly. The reports to parliament can be seen as a strategy plan with proposals for future policies. In 2018, the report “The Power of Culture” was presented. It had three central and general points. It legitimises cultural policy with freedom of expression and democratisation; it expresses a distinct technological optimism; and it presents the idea that culture will contribute to a sustainable society by ensuring increased economic activity in the arts and culture.

Legislation

Legislation and the overarching visions for national cultural policy are passed by parliament, but the three administrative levels – central government, municipalities and county municipalities – are independently responsible for the arts and culture and also contribute funding. There are 182 laws specifically for the cultural policy field under the Ministry of Culture at www.lov.no.

Dates and national cultural agencies

1964 Norsk Kulturfond

The council of Norsk Kulturfond has ten members who are appointed by the Ministry of Culture for four years at a time, on rotation, so that half of the members are appointed every two years. Their most important duty is to operate Norsk kulturfond. The council awards grants and funding on the basis of professional and artistic assessments according to the purposes of Norsk kulturfond. Applications are assessed by Norsk kulturfond’ s specialist committees. Norsk kulturfond awards roughly NOK 1 billion per year in funding. It is administered by Arts Council Norway.

1965 Arts Council Norway

Arts Council Norway aims to stimulate an innovative and diverse arts and cultural life, to be a visible and transparent presence in public debate and contribute to collaborations. The Council’s activities involve several administrative duties, which are handled by the secretariat for the three controlling bodies – the council for Norsk kulturfond, the committee of the national artist grants, and the board of the audio-visual fund. The Arts Council is also responsible for development and management assignments in and for the museum sector and is the contact point for the EU’s arts programme Creative Europe and a partner in the EEA cultural exchange programme,

A new arts council act was adopted in 2013. This framework act leaves the Ministry of Culture to complement the rules for the Arts Council’s activities and also establishes the Arts Council’s sovereignty as a decision-making agency (i.e. the arm’s length principle).

1982 The Ministry of Culture

Norway’s first Ministry of Culture was founded in 1982. It was originally called the Ministry of Culture and Science. Prior to this, the arts and culture were under the Ecclesiastical Ministry, established in 1818.
The Ministry handles the arts and culture, equality and discrimination, media, sports and gambling and lotteries; it also coordinates national policies relating to volunteer sector.

The Ministry’s activities are divided into three main areas:

- The minister of culture’s secretariat: The Ministry is advisor to the politicians on formulating policies and overarching plans for implementing policies in its field of activities; it also supports communication with parliament.
- Administrative duties: The Ministry performs its assigned administrative duties. In addition, the Ministry handles complaints and reviews relating to matters from eternal organisations.
- Control and follow-up of subsidiary activities: The Ministry sets targets and frameworks and follows up results within subsidiary activities, in accordance with applicable laws and regulations and policy guidelines.

Private funds and foundations in Norway

There are some 7,600 funds and foundations in Norway. Based on an aggregate capital of nearly NOK 100 billion, they own and control assets estimated to NOK 200–300 billion. They make a small but financially significant contribution to Norway’s social and cultural life, and to sports, education and science. Traditionally, Norway’s foundations focus less on the arts and culture and more on humanitarian efforts, sports, research and voluntary activities. Bank foundations (e.g. Sparebankstiftelsen DNB and Spareskillingsfondet) have a strong position among Norwegian funds and foundations.

Main characteristics of Sweden's Cultural Policy

• Cultural policy was established as an independent and defined policy field through a parliamentary decision in 1974. The same decision defined the primary forms of control for cultural policy: overarching goals, organisation, funding, distribution of responsibilities and methods for follow-up and evaluation.
• The current national cultural policy goals were approved by parliament in 2009. In addition to controlling national cultural policy, these goals guide municipal and regional/county administrative boards. The goals are based on the vision of culture as a challenging force built on freedom of expression.
• The regions’ roles and responsibilities for cultural policy have formed cultural policy debate in Sweden since the early 1970s. Since 2011, the regional role in cultural policy has been enhanced through a major regionalisation reform, the Cultural Collaboration Model, where national funding for regional cultural activities is allocated to the regions rather than to individual institutions respectively. The objective of this model is to bring the arts and culture closer to the grassroots, and to give the regions more responsibility and autonomy in the cultural field. Alongside this regionalisation, national control of cultural policy has nevertheless been reinforced, and regional use of government funding remains strictly regulated.
• Unlike the other Nordic countries, Sweden has a special government agency, the Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis, whose remit is to perform a comprehensive follow-up and evaluation of national cultural policy objectives and various continuous examinations of the government’s planned or implemented cultural policy initiatives.
• The business sector’s funding for the arts and culture in Sweden is relatively low. The possibility of developing new financial solutions and promoting non-public funding of the arts is being discussed in Sweden.

Legislation

Specific legislation in the field of Swedish cultural policy is limited to libraries, cultural environments and museums.

Dates and national cultural agencies

1974 The Swedish Arts Council

The Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet) is commissioned to implement national cultural policy objectives, focusing mainly on institution-based and other organised arts activities. The Council promotes the development of and access to the arts and culture, by awarding national funding for cultural activities and following up the results of funded activities, but also by spreading information and knowledge about the arts and cultural policy.
In 2021, the Arts Council consists of a board, a director-general, nine units and reference groups with specialists in various fields of art. The board has a maximum of nine government-appointed members who are responsible for operations. The director-general is head of the government agency and answers to the board for current operations.

1976 The Swedish Arts Grants Committee

The Swedish Arts Grants Committee is a government agency under the Ministry of Culture. Its general remit is to support artistic activities in Sweden and through international exchanges. The purpose of the Committee’s funding is to give professionally active, freelance artists the economic means to extend and develop their artistic practice.

The Swedish Arts Grants Committee’s board members are appointed by the government. The board has a maximum of twelve members. Five of these can be appointed on the recommendations of artist organisations. The director is appointed by the government and is the head of the Committee and a member of the board. Its office has 32 employees.

1991 The Ministry of Culture

The Ministry of Culture is the government’s body for preparing and implementing decisions on cultural policy. An independent ministry of culture was first established in 1991, when cultural policy issues were transferred from the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Culture is responsible for matters relating to arts and culture, democracy, media, national minorities and the Sami language and culture. It is also responsible for sports and youth policy and issues pertaining to civil society, religious communities and funeral activities.

Parliamentary and governmental decisions are implemented independently through the more than 300 government agencies. The Ministry of Culture oversees nearly 50 government agencies, of which more than 30 are government-funded museums.

2011 The Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis

The Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis is commissioned to evaluate the effects of cultural policy in relation to the national cultural policy objectives, to carry out national and international monitoring, and to evaluate political measures in the cultural field and systematically follow up the cultural funding. Since 1 January 2012, the Agency is responsible for the official statistics on culture, a remit that was transferred mainly from the Swedish Arts Council.

The establishing of the Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis can be regarded as a decisive reform, since this is the first time in Swedish cultural policy history that the governmental responsibility for general follow-up of cultural policy effects is separated from the allocation of funding.

The Agency is now also responsible for following up the Cultural Collaboration Model, meaning that it oversees cultural policy measures at all political levels.