The Swedish Arts Council ( sv, Statens kulturråd, or ''Kulturrådet'') is a

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

administrative authority organized under the

Ministry of Culture Ministry of Culture may refer to: *Ministry of Tourism, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Sports (Albania) *Ministry of Culture (Algeria) *Ministry of Culture (Argentina) * Minister for the Arts (Australia) *Ministry of Culture (Azerbaijan) * Ministry of ...

, and is tasked with promoting culture and its availability by distributing and following up on government

grants Grant or Grants may refer to: Places *Grant County (disambiguation) Australia * Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia United Kingdom *Castle Grant United States * Grant, Alabama *Grant, Inyo County, C ...

, on the basis of the national cultural policy objectives, as determined by the

Riksdag The Riksdag (, ; also sv, riksdagen or ''Sveriges riksdag'' ) is the legislature and the supreme decision-making body of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral legislature with 349 members (), elected proportionally and se ...

. The agency works to promote particular artistic and cultural-valuable development in activities related to the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

, music, literature, art magazines,

public libraries A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamenta ...

and the

fine arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...

; as well as museums and exhibitions, regional cultural activities and national minorities' culture.

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.

Organisation

The agency has about 120 people working at their

office An office is a space where an Organization, organization's employees perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize objects and Goals, plans, action theory, goals of the organizati ...

, located at Filmhuset in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, and is led by a

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

appointed by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

. The Board has full operational responsibility, and consists of nine members. The

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

is the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the "C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if t ...

, answering to the board of directors. The Board decides on, inter alia, the budget and some government grants. Appointed members of the board : * Ulrika Årehed Kågström, Secretary-General of the Swedish Cancer Society (Chairman) * Ann-Sofie Köping Olsson, university lecturer and academic (Vice Chairman) *Kajsa Ravin, Director General of the Swedish Arts Council * Kjell Englund, Director of Wermland Opera * Malena Ernman, artist * Aris Fioretos, author and professor * Po Tidholm, journalist and author * Ellen Nyman, actress, director and artist *Thomas Pålsson, former Director General of Statens servicecenter

Other commitments

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 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award ( sv, Litteraturpriset till Astrid Lindgrens minne) is an international children's literary award established by the Swedish government in 2002 to honour the Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren (1907–200 ...

and the European Union Creative Europe Desk.

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.

Notes

References

External links

The Swedish Arts Council – Official website
{{authority control Government agencies of Sweden Arts councils Swedish culture 1974 establishments in Sweden Arts organizations established in 1974