Swedish Arts Council

The Swedish Arts Council (Swedish: Statens kulturråd, or Kulturrådet) is a Swedish administrative authority organized under the Ministry of Culture, and is tasked with promoting culture and its availability by distributing and following up on government grants, on the basis of the national cultural policy objectives, as determined by the Riksdag. The agency works to promote particular artistic and cultural-valuable development in activities related to the performing arts, music, literature, art magazines, public libraries and the fine arts; as well as museums and exhibitions, regional cultural activities and national minorities' culture.[1][2][3][4]

History

The Swedish Arts Council (p.k.a. The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs) was established in 1974, in conjunction with the cultural policy decision of that year, as a public authority with the mission of bringing to fruition the cultural policies adopted by the Riksdag and the government. Since then, the cultural policies of Sweden have been revised by the Riksdag a number of times. In 1996, the special significance of literature was highlighted through the adoption of a separate piece of legislation, the Library Act. In 2009 a decision to amend the principles for disbursement of state subsidies were adopted. Thus, since 2011, the regions disburse a bigger proportion of the state subsidies.[5][6]

Organisation

The agency has about 80 people working at their office, located at Filmhuset in Stockholm,[2] and is led by a board of directors appointed by the government. The Board has full operational responsibility, and consists of nine members. The Director-General is the chief operating officer, answering to the board of directors. The Board decides on, inter alia, the budget and some government grants.[7]

Appointed members of the board, from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2016:[8]

  • Journalist Kerstin Brunnberg (Chairman until December 31, 2014)
  • Director-General Staffan Forssell
  • Documentary filmmaker Martin Borgs
  • CEO Benny Fredriksson
  • Composer and Cellist Tebogo Monnakgotla
  • Director Bo Netz
  • Professor Anna Sparrman
  • Professor Lars Strannegård
  • Headmaster Måns Wrange

Other commitment

The Swedish Arts Council participates in several international projects and awards grants for international cultural exchange. Examples of this are: The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, the European Union Cultural Contact Point and the Swedish–South African Culture Partnership Programme.[9]

Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award
Main article: Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award

The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, instituted by the Swedish Government in 2002, is the world's largest international award for literature for children and young people and the second largest literary award in the world. The award is administered by the council and is presented annually to authors, illustrators, storytellers and people or organisations promoting reading.[9]

See also

Notes
1.^ Förordning (1974:644) med instruktion för statens kulturråd
2.^ Kungl. Maj:ts proposition angående den statliga kulturpolitiken (Prop. 1974:28)

References
  1. "Swedish Arts Council". Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  2. "Om Kulturrådet" (in Swedish). Swedish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  3. "Förordning (2012:515) med instruktion för Statens kulturråd" (in Swedish). The Swedish Government. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  4. "Regleringsbrev" (in Swedish). Ekonomistyrningsverket. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  5. "Swedish Arts Council" (PDF). Swedish Arts Council. 2012. p. 5. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  6. "Promoting Culture" (PDF). Swedish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  7. "Kulturrådets organisation" (in Swedish). Swedish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  8. "Kulturrådets styrelse" (in Swedish). Swedish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
  9. "The Swedish Arts Council Commitments and objectives" (PDF). Swedish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2014.
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