The Swedish Council for Cultural and Creative Industries

Yesterday the newly formed Swedish Council for Cultural and Creative Industries gathered and the nine members headed by the Chair, Sven-Olof Bodenfors, met for the first meeting.

In 2009 the Swedish government presented an Action Plan for Cultural and Creative Industries (Handlingsplan för kulturella och kreativa näringar), where the objective is to create long-term sustainable conditions for entrepreneurship and enterprise within these industries.

The action plan was the first of its kind with a cooperation between Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communication, two ministries with completely different roles, objectives and missions, but with the mutual interest on one hand (Ministry of Enterprise) to create good conditions for small-scale enterprises to grow in all areas of business, and on the other (Ministry of Culture) find ways of sustainability for artists running their own business, organization, or working as freelances. The possible collision in these two interests are obvious and worries are evident in cultural life that the state hereby take away all responsibility from the artistic core, research, the non-commercial side of culture which is so important for any society.

A worry that increased when the Minister of Culture, Lena Adelsohn Liljeroth, decided to abolish the guarantees of income to artists. It has since it was established in 1966 been a guarantee awarded to artists with high artistic quality and who has been of great importance to the Swedish artistic scene. A small (and for the state cheap) way of showing appreciation to artists that usually have had lousy economic conditions during their productive time. Today 157 artists have the guarantee and on May 26 2010, the government voted for abolishing this.

The newly formed council is formed by nine members with different backgrounds; from fashion creator, to media, from advertising, to performing and sculpting art and to small-scale cultural organizations. The first meeting was promising for future intense discussions of the conditions of running small-scale businesses, being an entrepreneur, the potential in the field of cultural and creative industries, as well as the paradoxes that always are present in a complex field as art and culture.

In the end, the government bid should lead to incentives adjusted to the specific conditions of running something within the artistic and cultural field. And, in the best of worlds, of course, these must reach and be appreciated by artists in their studios, rehearsing room, and by their desks. For those within art and culture that want to find ways to explore and develop the enterprise side, the system should be inclusive rather than hostile to cultural entrepreneurs.

Download (in Swedish) Handlingsplan för kulturella och kreativa näringar: b0159c17.pdf.