West – Culture as a Policy for Development
Culture in Nordic Cities has increasingly
become a factor for cities to keep and attract qualified
people and business. It is becoming important in order to
create a good living environment and to boost the development
of cities. Contrary to general belief, culture did not suffered
from the cutting in public spending during the economic
crisis in the early nineties.
In Sweden, the local authorities spend about
nine million Euro on culture, and the proportion is about
the same in the other Nordic Countries. The two largest
fields are Libraries and "General Cultural Activities",
i. e. theatres, orchestras and museums. The municipal Music
Schools (Art Schools in Finland) are the third largest recipients.
The Music Schools (Art Schools) play a special
strategic role. Sweden, as an example, has been able to
create many internationally successful rock and popular
music artists and groups, so music is now one of the main
export commodities of Sweden, which in value is far larger
than export of Volvo cars. The municipal Music Schools are
one of the main reasons for this achievement.
The municipal cultural activities have had
a positive development during the last 5-10 years. Many
cities have created culture policy action plans of good
quality. The concept of Culture has been widened. Municipal
cultural policy has become more cross sectoral and not just
a supply of cultural services. Culture is an important ingredient
in many fields, like social policy or urban planning.
The EU accession has also had some impact
on the cultural policy of cities. The international contacts
have increased very much. The cultural program of EU, Culture
2000, has contributed with around 3 million Euro to Sweden
for cultural projects. However, the Structural funds have
contributed with more than 32 million Euro on culture related
projects.
The future looks also promising in many aspects
for municipal cultural policy in the Nordic Countries. The
importance of culture increases as city politicians become
increasingly more aware of the role of Culture as a factor
giving good quality of life for the citizens and creating
attractive perquisites for working places in the expanding
sectors of the new economy.
A general future perspective is that the
concept of Culture is more difficult to distinguish as a
separate municipal field of activity. It is mixed into other
fields of policy and can sometimes become an inseparable
part of other municipal activities.
One interesting aspect is youth issues. Young
people consume culture differently than the middle age or
older generation. The municipalities cannot support only
the traditional culture if they want to attract also the
young generation. Possibly this is the greatest challenge
for culture in the years to come.
By Juhan Janusson
UBC EU Co-ordinator
Sources:
Ms Kerstin Lundberg, Swedish Association of Local Authorities
Mr Ismo Porna, Kunttalitto, Finland
Ms Kirsten Abild, Department of Culture, Kolding, Denmark
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