This article examines how Sámi art and cultural expressions are managed within The Cultural Schoolbag’s (TCS) digital portal, and how bureaucrats and Sámi artists negotiate these expressions. More specifically, the article investigates how bureaucrats exercise informal professional discretion by using certain kinds of flexibility in the digital system to better fit their needs. The TCS is a nationwide cultural-policy programme, an extra-curricular scheme within the formal education system, offering art and culture to all pupils in schools at all levels. This article explores how digital and bureaucratic structures function as powerful places for the development and practice of parts of cultural policies in Norway. The TCS portal, a national administrative, democratising and professionalising tool, is an obligatory passage point (Callon 1986) for anyone engaging with the TCS. The portal defines the actors that enter and form a relational network. Representing a change in working methods, the portal opens for transparency and streamlining in bureaucratic TCS everyday operations. Drawing on interviews with TCS bureaucrats across three levels of administration, covering well over 50% of the Norwegian territory, the article analyses how the portal shapes their selection processes and bureaucratic work related to Sámi content. The findings reveal that bureaucrats, depending on their position in the public administration, adapt and tinker with the portal’s appearance, in performing what in this article is called relational movements. These movements include 1) changing the portal’s appearance and features and 2) everyday small adaptations and working partly around the portal. The system’s flexibility appears to be a critical factor in the TCS meeting central authorities’ demands to include Sámi arts and culture in the programme.
Denne artikkelen undersøker hvordan det tverrsektorielle samarbeidet mellom museum og skole er blitt konseptualisert og utviklet i norsk kulturpolitikk gjennom stortingsmeldinger fra 2003 og 2021. Ved hjelp av en praksisorientert dokumentanalyse og teori om tverrsektorielle partnerskap, analyseres hvordan politiske dokumenter former samarbeidet mellom museer og skoler og betydningen av den nasjonale kulturformidlingsordningen Den kulturelle skolesekken (DKS) i denne sammenhengen. Studien viser at samarbeidet mellom museer og skoler først har vært preget av et DKS-dominert rammeverk i dokumentene. Nærmere 20 år senere har kulturpolitiske ambisjoner om en styrking av museenes posisjon som kunnskaps- og formidlingsaktører blitt sentralt. Artikkelen bidrar med ny kunnskap om hvordan tverrsektorielle partnerskap mellom kultur- og utdanningsfeltet kan forstås, gjennom en utforskning av hvordan «saken samarbeid mellom museum og skole» aktivt formes i utvalgte politiske dokumenter.
Implementering av kulturpolitikken krever kompetente ledere innen kunst- og kulturfeltet. Denne studien undersøker hvilke kompetanser studenter i kulturledelse anser som sentrale for å være en dyktig leder innen feltet. En spørreundersøkelse ble gjennomført i starten av studiet for seks kull i årene 2019–2024 (n = 158). Respondentene hadde kunst- og kulturfaglig bakgrunn på minst bachelornivå før de begynte på et årsstudium i kulturledelse. Aller viktigst ansees generell kompetanse som samarbeidsevner, evne til konfliktløsning samt å håndtere kritikk. Studentene har en balansert oppfatning av den relative betydningen av kunstfaglig versus økonomisk-administrativ kompetanse. Kunstfaglig kompetanse oppfattes som meget viktig. Økonomisk-administrativ kompetanse vurderes også som verdifull. Eksempelvis vurderes personalledelse som noe viktigere enn kunstfaglig kompetanse, samtidig som økonomistyring og markedsføring oppfattes som noe mindre viktig enn kunstfaglig kompetanse. Kontekstuell kompetanse i form av erfaring og utdanning fra bransjen en utøver ledelse, ansees som middels viktig der erfaring vurderes som viktigere enn utdanning. Funnene er konsistente på tvers av ulike årskull. Kulturpolitiske implikasjoner diskuteres i form av kompetansekrav i rekrutteringen av ledere, personalpolitikk for kunstnere og kulturarbeidere samt mulige tiltak for å utvikle gode ledere innen kunst- og kulturfeltet.
Projects have become the naturalized form for organizing teamwork within several sectors in society, including the arts. However, the unintended consequences of the inherent logic of projects, specifically their reliance on small, goal-oriented teams working together for short periods to reach unique, specific results, are often overlooked. This study explores the impact of Nordic cultural funding’s reliance on the project form, focusing on its effects on collaboration, creativity, and the sustainability of the resulting work. Projects supported by the Nordic Culture Point and the Nordic Culture Fund must meet specific criteria, including cross-border collaboration and the expression of a “Nordic dimension.” Drawing on 18 interviews with grant recipients across the Nordic countries and autonomous regions, the research addresses key challenges: the necessity of “becoming” a project manager; the “greediness” of projects, which take over other parts of life; “project sickness,” where socially engaged initiatives abandon participants once funding ends; and the “rifting” of creative work where material cannot be reused due to the pressure to create unique content for the next project cycle. The study raises critical questions about the sustainability of project-based funding models, both within the Nordic context and as a broader framework for cultural funding.
In this paper, we argue that cultural policy is not in crisis due to lack of empirical evidence demonstrating the effects of democratization ambitions on user statistics. Instead of evaluating the legitimacy of democratizing cultural policies on its abilities to transform non-users of culture into users of culture, we argue that we instead need to study how state funded arts organizations actively work towards being perceived by the public as open and inclusive spaces, in order to understand the role of democratizing cultural policies for cultural policy legitimacy. Further, we argue that actual democratization of culture is not that important for the legitimacy of cultural politicians in office, as the legitimacy of their role as a cultural politician mainly depends on how well cultural sector actors perceive that the politician in charge sees them and grants them the respect they feel they deserve. Democratization of culture is then mostly referred to as an ambition signaling inclusive democratic values when legitimizing cultural policy to actors not involved in the politics of the cultural sector. Even though cultural policy tools may not be suited to change user statistics, we conclude that democratization of culture will most likely remain an important part of the legitimation work of cultural politicians and cultural managers, as it is important for them to communicate to society an authentic ambition to work towards broadening access to arenas of high/elite culture, in order to maintain legitimacy among citizens.
Looking at how cultural policy has analysed, responded to or aimed to influence an upcoming future, this article describes a notable difference between what is called past and current futures. The article discusses how technological development, digitalization, and more recently, AI, is integrated in different policy visions of the future. This analysis is based on a selection of documents from (primarily) the 1970s and the 1980s on the one hand, and policy documents from the last five years on the other hand. While the prospects of the future in the Norwegian cultural policy documents of the 1970s and 1980s were characterized by a will to envision a future development and the role of policies as part of this development, there are much more resigned, directionless and less confident policy narratives in the cultural policy of the last five years.
This article investigates the impact of consumer protection on digital cultural policy in relation to the Danish influencer industry. Through document analysis of various governmental and non-governmental policy papers and two expert interviews the study explores how the hybridity of influencers as cultural producers has complicated the existing regulatory frameworks whilst putting consumer protection at risk. These analytical insights are followed by a discussion of the cross contextual policy approaches currently being explored that could help to better ensure the protection of consumers in a popular digital culture dominated by influencers and influencer marketing.
I årene 2017–2019 gjennomførte Norsk kulturråd et pilotprosjekt kalt Litteraturskaping med barn og unge. Prosjektet hadde to mål: kunstnerisk samskaping mellom profesjonelle kunstnere og barn og unge; og utprøving av å benytte barn og unge som vurderingsinstans for søknader. Da piloten ble avsluttet het det at få prosjekter hadde lagt opp til reell samskaping med målgruppen. Heller ikke utprøvingen av barn og unge som vurderingsinstans ble ansett som fruktbart. Denne studiens agenda er å foreta et dypdykk i Kulturrådets presentasjon av sin egen pilot ved utlysningen i 2017 og sluttevalueringen i 2019. Forskningsspørsmålet er hva Kulturrådet direkte og/eller indirekte kan ha ment at de to målene skulle bidra til å løse. Hvilke ideer og forestillinger om problemkomplekser er det som befinner seg i bakgrunnen for pilotens utforming? Analysen blir gjennomført etter den såkalte WPR-metodikken, som er utviklet for å avdekke bakenforliggende forestillinger (Bacchi & Goodwin 2016). Funnene vil bli diskutert ved hjelp av teori fra henholdsvis kunst- og barnelitteraturforskning. Artikkelen argumenterer for at litteraturpilot-dokumentene speiler et strukturelt betinget paradigmeskifte innen barnelitteraturfeltet fra 2017 til 2019. Anført av Kulturtankens fokus på medvirkning blir litteraturformidling en konkurrent til ambisjonen om å inkludere barn og unge i skrivekunstnerisk aktivitet.
The European Capitals of Culture (ECoC) initiative is one of the European Union’s longest-running cultural programmes, operating as a multi-level policy bridging EU-level objectives with local contexts. This article examines how the initiative addresses the needs of citizens and local stakeholders, using Oulu2026 in Northern Finland—comprising the city of Oulu and 39 diverse municipalities—as a case study. The analysis draws on both qualitative and quantitative data from surveys, interviews and documents. The findings indicate broad alignment between the expectations of local stakeholders and residents and the EU objectives, particularly in promoting cultural provision and participation. However, divergences emerge around the objectives related to belonging, collaboration, and international profile. Local needs vary especially between municipal organisations and communities. Ensuring meaningful participation and aligning organisational and citizen goals are crucial for avoiding a legitimacy failure.
Art is often valued in terms of its financial balances and impact, and its effect on audiences: The education of, reception by, and attention from its users, that is, what it provides for its users and their communities. Informed by artist-driven initiatives for better working conditions and against structural discrimination in contemporary Denmark (Fair Practice Code, #undskyldvierher), we suggest rethinking the notion of artistic value from an infrastructural perspective where representation and accessibility in house and behind the scenes become crucial. Our study draws upon European-based critical diversity studies applied to the field of cultural policy studies. Artist-driven initiatives intervene infrastructurally in the premises for making cultural policy, asking “on which terms” and “for whom”? The analysis offers a twofold perspective on diversity work both in larger cultural institutions and in artist-driven initiatives: Firstly, a reality check is made through an analysis of circulating values in annual reports on two Danish major cultural institutions: which values are currently circulated in documents based on public cultural policy? How do they respond to values like diversity and sustainability? Secondly, the artists’ initiatives show how diversity cannot be conceived as something “only” happening on the representational level of appearance but must be handled on all institutional layers and persistently. We critically discuss the suggestions of the artists’ initiatives and the modus operandi in documents in cultural institutions, and, eventually, also how they lose endurance over time when not supported by cultural policy from the Danish ministry of culture.
This perspective article offers a critical interpretation of the recent Swedish cultural policy initiative to establish a cultural canon as well as reading lists for Swedish schools. Using Zygmunt Bauman’s (2017) concept of retrotopia and David Labaree’s (2012) concept of school syndrome, the article interprets these initiatives as part of a broader, politically conservative policy trend in Swedish education and cultural politics. The article argues that the emphasis on a cultural canon, following Bauman, can be seen as a retrotopian response to contemporary challenges, one that is based on a caricatured depiction of so-called postmodernism. This retrotopian desire, in turn, is connected to a certain kind of post-political powerlessness. By invoking Labaree, the article also argues that directing attention toward the school and its task of transmitting canonized culture and literature serves to obscure this lack of political action, instead steering the discussion toward symbolic issues.
Artikeln analyserar den offentliga debatten kring frågan om den svenska kulturkanon, ett av de förslag som presenterats i Tidöavtalet den 14 oktober 2022 (ett avtal mellan partierna i den nya borgerliga regeringskoalitionen och Sverigedemokraterna). Artikeln fokuserar på diskussioner i pressen om detta under perioden 14 oktober 2022 till 30 maj 2024. Begreppet kulturellt minne, sådant som det har utvecklats av Aleida Assmann och Jan Assmann, används som lins för att placera den svenska debatten i ett minnespolitiskt perspektiv, med särskilt fokus på relationen mellan kanon och historien, det kollektiv för vilken kanon tänks utgöra ett kulturellt minne, samt kanons relation till läsare och till dem som skapar eller explicitgör den, så som detta förstås i materialet. Både kritiker och förespråkare ser den föreslagna kanon som skild från den ”levande kanon” av verk som existerar i den levande kulturen. Kritiker ser ofta förslaget som ett försök att kontrollera kultur och kulturellt minne och kontrasterar det mot mer spontana och organiska sätt att närma sig kultur. Förespråkare betonar den officiella kanons betydelse som åtgärd för att säkerställa det kulturella minnets fortlevnad, som en koppling till det förflutna och till den nationella föreställda gemenskapen. De framhåller dess roll i att placera denna gemenskap i en historisk kontinuitet och i att öppna en väg in i den för invandrare, samtidigt som den hålls samman genom en gemensam kulturell referensram. I många fall aktualiserar deras argument ett kulturellt minne av ett Sverige under mitten av 1900-talet, där kanon ofta refererades i offentlig diskussion och lästes i skolan som en del av en mer traditionell bildningssyn, ibland ställt i kontrast till de senaste dryga femtio årens kulturpolitik.
This article examines how problems and solutions associated with reading and readers are formulated in Swedish policy documents related to reading promotion in the period 2012–2023. In 2012 Sweden showed unusually low results in the PISA survey, and since then reading has been emphasized as a key competence for both individuals and society. Many government inquiries, propositions and directives have come into existence to politically govern and support a change. Drawing from Carol Bacchi’s policy analysis, this study explores what values and notions about reading that are expressed in central government documents from the period, and to what extent these affect the problem formulations underlying various reading promotion investments and activities for children. The analysis shows that Swedish reading promotion policies over the past decade align with a long tradition of beliefs and values regarding the benefits and importance of reading. Problems with reading are continuously related to the development of new technology, and maintaining traditional book reading becomes the focus around which solutions and proposed measures are gathered. The analysis further shows that expressed inherent values of reading, such as entertainment, enjoyment or personal intellectual development are always subordinate to societal benefit in terms of language development, successful school results, and the maintenance of a democratic society.
I denne artikel undersøger vi, hvordan de store nationale kulturinstitutioner i Danmark bidrager til den nationale børnekulturpolitik. Vores tilgang er baseret på et bredt politikbegreb (Røyseng 2014) – her forstås udviklingen af kulturpolitik som en dynamisk proces, hvori en række forskellige aktører har indflydelse (Woddis 2022). På grundlag af dokumentanalyse og interviews med ledere i de tre institutioner argumenterer vi for, at institutionernes rolle som ressourcestærke insidere i den nationale kulturpolitik gør deres indflydelse på dansk børnekulturpolitik betydelig. De tre institutioner: Statens Museum for Kunst (SMK), Nationalmuseet og Det Kongelige Teater har alle aktiviteter for børn i undervisningssammenhæng og i fritiden. Den sammenlignende analyse viser, at prioriteringen af og det værdimæssige grundlag for børneaktiviteterne varierer både som et resultat af de nationale kulturpolitiske prioriteringer og af institutionernes og direktørernes egne, interne prioriteringer og værdier.
