About the project: An Inclusive Cultural Sector in the Nordics
Distortion_06 (2016) by artist and photographer Nayab Ikram. She is part of the project through the network Critical Friends.
For three years, seven Nordic networks have been laboratories for new ways to make the cultural sector more inclusive.
An Inclusive Cultural Sector in the Nordics was a three-year effort (2017-2019) to identify challenges and solutions for inclusiveness both in the professional and volunteer cultural sector.
Download the final project report (in Norwegian only)
The project took its point of departure in the gathering and sharing of knowledge across the Nordic countries. The project had an arts-centred approach to embracing diversity. It has explored how organisations, institutions and artists can enrich the work they do by embracing a wide range of diverse influences and practices.
The Norwegian Ministry of Culture initiated this project in connection with the Norwegian Chairmanship in the Nordic Council of Ministers. Arts Council Norway was the project leader.
Main goals for the project
- Share knowledge, tools and methods on how to work with inclusion in the cultural sector
- Support actions to maximise opportunities for everyone to be engaged and involved in the arts
- Start looking at diversity as a sign of quality rather than a challenge
- Identify the challenges facing the arts and cultural sector in the field of diversity
- Explore how local communities can lift local artists with diverse backgrounds
- Raise awareness of the structural barriers that exist in the cultural sector when it comes to the inclusion of new groups, and work to reduce these barriers
The project will build on existing networks, structures and cooperations. The vision is that the Nordic countries can use existing resources and competence to build an innovative cultural sector and creative local communities.
Focus areas
The project will have three main focus areas, namely:
Area 1: Inclusive and diverse cultural structures
Participation, recognition and representation in arts and culture
Area 2: Inclusive and diverse institutions
Tools and methods for engaging and building relations with new audiences and artistic expressions
Area 3: Inclusive and diverse local communities
Culture and voluntarism as driving forces in the process of creating inclusive local communities
Project management
Project owners: Norwegian Ministry of Culture and Nordic Council of Ministers
Project leader: Arts Council Norway
Nordic working group:
Norway: Silje Eikemo Sande, Arts Council Norway (Project leader)
Finland: Eva-Maria Hakola, Art Promotion Centre Finland
Iceland: Áslaug Dóra Eyjólfsdóttir, Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
Sweden: Simon Strömberg, Swedish Arts Council
Denmark: Inger Frydendahl, Danish Agency for Culture and Palaces
Åland: Annika Dahlblom, Åland Museum
Greenland: Mika Lyberth, Ministry for Education, Culture, Research and Church
Faroe Islands: Svend Højgaard, Runavik Public Library
Financing
The project is financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Culture and the Nordic Council of Ministers.