Turid Birkeland (5 November 1962 – 24 December 2015) was a Norwegian cultural executive and former politician for the Labour Party. She was Minister of Culture in 1996–97. She was an author and also worked in television, including being chief of cultural programming at

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

and a member of the board at

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwide, ...

. She also headed the

Risør is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located on the Skagerrak coast in the traditional region of Sørlandet. The administrative centre of Risør municipality is the town of Risør. There are many villages in Risør such as Akland, ...

Chamber Music Festival, and was the director of

Concerts Norway Concerts Norway ( no, Rikskonsertene) was established in 1967 on the initiative of the Arts Council Norway ( no, Norsk kulturråd), with its main purpose described as follows: "Concerts Norway is to make living music of high artistic quality acces ...

Early life and education

Birkeland was born in

Haugesund Haugesund () is a municipality on the North Sea in Rogaland county, Norway. While the population is greater in the neighboring Karmøy municipality, the main commercial and economic centre of the Haugaland region in northern Rogaland and southern ...

as a daughter of trade unionist Einar Sigurd Birkeland and consultant Tora Birkeland. Her father was secretary in the

Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers The Norwegian Union of Iron and Metalworkers ( no, Norsk Jern- og Metallarbeiderforbund, NJMF) was a trade union representing workers in the metal industry, workshops, and shipbuilding in Norway. The union was founded in 1891, and in 1905 it joine ...

in the 1970s, and later became international secretary in the

United Federation of Trade Unions The United Federation of Trade Unions ( no, Fellesforbundet) is a general union in Norway. With a membership of 150,000 it is the largest private sector union in the country. History The union is affiliated with the Norwegian Confederation of T ...

and rector of Sørmarka Folk High School. Turid Birkeland received her secondary education at Bjerke Upper Secondary School in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, graduating in 1981. She attended college in 1982–83,Birkeland, Turid (1962- ): Arbeiderpartiet

Stortinget The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...

and holds an ex.phil.

Career

She led her party's youth organization, the Workers' Youth League, in Oslo from 1985 to 1986 and nationwide from 1989 to 1992. Birkeland has said that she was unaware of inflated membership numbers in the Workers' Youth League that came to light after her tenure. She was elected as a deputy representative to the

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

in the 1985 election, but served as a regular representative through most of the term from 1986 to 1989, as a cover for

Knut Frydenlund Knut Frydenlund (31 March 1927 – 26 February 1987) was a Norwegian diplomat and politician for the Labour Party who served as foreign minister from 1973–1981 and again from 1986–1987. Frydenlund was born in Drammen and began his diplo ...

and

Sissel Rønbeck Sissel Marie Rønbeck (born 24 May 1950 in Hammerfest, Finnmark) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. Biography She was Minister of Administration and Consumer Affairs 1979–1981, Minister of Environmental Affairs 1986–1989, an ...

who were members of

Brundtland's Second Cabinet Brundtland's Second Cabinet was a minority, Labour Government of Norway. It succeeded the Conservative Willoch's Second Cabinet, and sat between 9 May 1986 and 16 October 1989. It was replaced by the Conservative/Centre/Christian Democrat cab ...

. She was a member of the Standing Committee on Education and Church Affairs. In 1993–1994 she worked for the

Norwegian People's Aid Norwegian People's Aid ( no, Norsk Folkehjelp) was founded in 1939 to provide post-conflict reconstruction assistance and humanitarian relief during conflicts. NPA is now engaged in more than 33 countries in de-mining, humanitarian relief, promot ...

as well as the

Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions The Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions ( no, Landsorganisasjonen i Norge, LO) is a national trade union center, decidedly the largest and probably the most influential umbrella organization of labour unions in Norway. The 21 national unions ...

branch in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. In 1994 she was one of the spearheads in the campaign for Norway to join the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

,Turid Birkeland"
''

Store norske leksikon The ''Great Norwegian Encyclopedia'' ( no, Store Norske Leksikon, abbreviated ''SNL''), is a Norwegian-language online encyclopedia. The online encyclopedia is among the most-read Norwegian published sites, with more than two million unique vis ...

'' which failed following a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the issue. In 1995–1996 she worked brief tenures as a television and radio presenter in

TV+ Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

, Reiseradioen and

TVNorge TVNorge (literally "TVNorway"; originally abbreviated TVN, now just abbreviated N in the logos) is a Norwegian television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA. History TVNorge went on the air on 5 December 1988 and was the first adver ...

. From October 1996 to October 1997 she served as Minister of Culture, in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland (born Thorbjørn Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the 32nd prime minister of Norway from ...

, at which time her profession was given as journalist. In April 1997, during her term, she made the first official visit to Cuba by a Norwegian government minister, setting up a cultural exchange agreement. After her spell as Minister of Culture, which ended following the 1997 election, Birkeland returned to Reiseradioen in 1998, and was a presenter in the channel NRK 2 from 1998 to 1999. She was then a producer and manager at Rubicon TV from 1999 to 2001, and director of cultural programming in the

Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

from 2001 to 2004. She was also a member of the board at

from 2007 to 2012 and the

Norwegian Academy of Music The Norwegian Academy of Music (Norwegian: ''Norges musikkhøgskole'', NMH) is a university-level music conservatory located in Oslo, Norway, in the neighbourhood of Majorstuen, Frogner. It is the largest music academy in Norway and offers the co ...

from 2009. After three years as board member of the Risør Chamber Music Festival from 1997 to 2001, she was its managing director from 2004 to 2010. From June 2006 to April 2007 she also ran ''Café Solsiden'' in the same town. She also had a brief tenure in the publishing house Piratforlaget between 2005 and 2006. On 16 April 2012 Birkeland became director of

, succeeding

Åse Kleveland Åse Maria Kleveland (born 18 March 1949) is a Norwegian singer, guitarist, politician and activist. A well-known folk singer and traditional guitarist in Norway, she was appointed Minister of Culture in Norway in 1990, and held the position u ...

, who had also been her predecessor as Minister of Culture. In the same year she became board member of

Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority ( no, Helse Sør-Øst RHF) is the largest of the four Regional health authorities in Norway. It covers the counties of Viken, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestfold og Telemark, and Agder, with 57% of the ...

. She was also a supervisory council member in

Oslo Bolig- og Sparelag Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Death

In 2011 Birkeland was diagnosed as suffering from

myelofibrosis Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is a rare bone marrow blood cancer. It is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a type of myeloproliferative neoplasm, a group of cancers in which there is growth of abnormal cells in the bone marrow. ...

. On 24 December 2015, she died from complications of the illness.

Selected publications

* (ed., with Gunvor Risa). ''Litteratur for barn: artiklar om barns bøker og lesing''. Skriftserie, Landslaget for norskundervisning, 54; Cappelen fakta. Oslo: Cappelen, 1990. * (with Sigurd Sandvin). ''Alle fakta på bordet''. Oslo: Cappelen, 1992. * ''KK: Kvinner kann''. Oslo: Det norske arbeiderparti Arbeidernes opplysningsforbund, 1996. * ''Stockholm''. Damms reisebøker; Din guide til storbyen. Oslo: Damm, 2001 * ''London''. Damms reisebøker; Din guide til storbyen. Oslo: Damm, 2005.

References

External links