<p>Visit the culture portal for Sweden - <a href="http://www.kultur1.se" target="_blank">Kulturnat Sverige</a></p>

<p><strong>The Mandate</strong></p>

<p>Established in 1974 as an instrument for the Swedish Parliaments resolution on the new national cultural policy and its goals, the National Council for Cultural Affairs (Statens kulturr&aring;d) is responsible for the implementation of national cultural policy in close dialogue with the Ministry of Culture, national authorities, organisations, regions and communities.</p>

<p>The Council&#39;s operational units deal with theatre, dance, and music; art, design, museums and exhibitions; literature, arts periodicals and public libraries; and cultural activities within popular movements and other organisations; and support joint efforts and information about multicultural activities.</p>

<p>The Council&#39;s major functions are to maintain awareness and inform the Government about cultural development, nationally and on the international scene, make allocations of funds voted yearly by the Parliament and authorised by the Government, and compile and publish information, including statistics on the status and development of culture.</p>

<p>The Council serves professional arts, community arts, amateur arts, music, theatre, dance, visual arts, crafts, cultural animation, heritage (except for the preservation of monuments and archives), folk or traditional culture, museums, galleries and museum-related archives, archeological work and artifact preservation and conservation within museums, language preservation via book reading campaigns, training of arists and/or cultural workers, cultural industries via support to books and records, writing via support to authors centres, book and magazine publishing through support for printing and distribution, translation, and arts education.</p>

<p>The Council also coordinates European Union grants in Sweden and awards grants for access to culture for disabled people and grants for culture in the workplace.</p>

<p>The Council</p>

<ul>
<li>provides financial support to arts/cultural organisations</li>
<li>advises the national government on matters related to the arts/culture</li>
<li>has responsibility for government legislation related to the arts/culture</li>
<li>develops national arts/cultural policies</li>
<li>implements national arts/cultural policies</li>
<li>evaluates national arts/cultural policies</li>
<li>initiates and supports research in the arts/culture</li>
<li>compiles and maintains the national cultural statistics and databases</li>
<li>promotes public understanding and appreciation of the arts/culture</li>
<li>has lead responsibility at the national level for coordinating international cultural relations and exchanges</li>
<li>publishes books and/or magazines on cultural policy matters</li>
<li>carries out other functions: surveys, investigations, proposals, the European Union desk for culture, and international representation and exchange with Nordic, Baltic and other countries</li>
<li>awards the annual &#39;Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature&#39;, which was established by the government in 2003.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>The Governing Body</strong></p>

<p>The chief executive officer, the Director General, is also a voting member of the Board. Like all general directors of Swedish authorities, his/her duties and rights are regulated by the civil servants&#39; rules for chief executive officers and the specific directions for his/her organisation.</p>

<p>The CEO decides on budgetary matters related to the management of the Council and, within the framework established by the Parliament and the Board, on financial support to cultural projects.</p>

<p>Decisions on yearly contributions to regional institutions and yearly support to other cultural institutions and organisations are made by the Board, as are the annual applications by the Council to the Government concerning the total budget.</p>

<p>The Chair and the Board of the National Council for Cultural Affairs are appointed by the Ministry of Culture to four-year terms which can be renewed once. There are 13 members including the Chair and the CEO.</p>

<p>Members of the Board are chosen to represent national, regional or local cultural life, professional leadership, and different areas or institutions in the arts. Geographical representivity and political representativity are also taken into consideration, as are gender, generation and ethnicity.</p>

<p>Members of Parliament cannot in principle&nbsp;be members of the Board, since they would have to &quot;sit on two chairs&quot; when deciding on the annual budget or other proposals presented by the Council.</p>

<p><strong>The Staff</strong></p>

<p>The&nbsp;approximately 80 staff members (inclusing 3 staff on project contracts) are government employees. The Director General is appointed by the Government via the Ministry of Culture for a six-year term. The Council appoints the other staff members. Staff who have direct program responsibilities come from the field. The organisation does not have regional offices.</p>

<p>The Ministry of Culture (and its various departments) and the Ministry of Education are the government bodies with which the Council has the closest relationship.</p>

<p>The Council&#39;s accountability is ensured by&nbsp;annual audits by the Riksrevisionen, State Audit Institution, as well as an annual report to the Ministry of Culture on the activities and grants made by the Council, accompanied by statistical reports.</p>

<p>The government</p>

<ul>
<li>appoints the members of the governing body</li>
<li>appoints the chief executive officer</li>
<li>establishes the overall policies within which the organisation works</li>
<li>establishes the various funding programs of the organisation</li>
<li>determines the amount of funding the organization receives</li>
</ul>

<p>The Council</p>

<ul>
<li>is required to file an annual report with the legislature or government</li>
<li>determines its own policies</li>
<li>determines its own current priorities</li>
<li>establishes its own strategic plan</li>
<li>selects its other staff members</li>
<li>determines who will receive its financial support (concerning projects but not regional institutions)</li>
</ul>

<p>The allocation of the organisation&#39;s budget to various programs and activities is in part determined by government and in part by the organisation. Within limits, the government can give directions to the organisation. The Council&#39;s actions reflect the goals of national cultural policy and specific missions which the government may give the Council.</p>

<p>The annual budget is accompanied by specific tasks to be fulfilled during the year. These tasks are formulated in a close dialogue between the Ministry of Culture and the Council.&nbsp; The Council also cooperates with other funding bodies independent of the organisation.</p>

<p>The Culture Foundation of the Future was established by the government in 1994, for a period of ten years.&nbsp; The purpose of the Foundation is to support long-term and innovative projects, stimulating regional culture and growth.&nbsp; The Council for Cultural Affairs, through&nbsp;its CEO, gives advice on priorities for support.</p>

<p><strong>Budget and Revenue Sources</strong></p>

<p>The organisation&#39;s budget in the current year&nbsp;is approximately 2 billion Swedish krona (approx US$270.7m), all of which comes from national government.&nbsp; The Council was initially set up with a government endowment and now receives annual funding from the government&#39;s general revenues or culture budget. Over the last five years, funding from government has increased.</p>

<p><strong>Programs of Financial Support for the Arts/Cultural Community</strong></p>

<p>The Council provides financial support to organisations and to lower levels of government. Most of the financial support programs are organised by discipline or sector.</p>

<p>The Council&#39;s funds can be used for</p>

<ul>
<li>creation</li>
<li>research and development</li>
<li>production, presentation and exhibition</li>
<li>publication</li>
<li>operations of an organisation</li>
<li>conservation and preservation</li>
<li>deficit reduction (though rarely)</li>
<li>workshops and seminars</li>
<li>international exchanges</li>
</ul>

<p>Program funds cannot be used for the annual budgets of national institutions like the Opera and the national museums, which are funded directly by the government.</p>

<p>The Council does not provide grants to individual artists, writers, composers, etc. Such grants are offered by other Swedish organisations.</p>

<p>The Council gives advice on priorities for investing in new buildings for museums and theatres, but has no money of its own for this purpose.</p>

<p>The Council&#39;s support for projects usually involves joint funding from regions, communities or other sponsors.</p>

<p>To avoid censorship and ensure that quality is the sole criterion, the Council&#39;s support to literature is limited to books already published.</p>

<p><strong>Assessment of Applications for Financial Support</strong></p>

<p>Applications for financial support are assessed by the staff members of the Council, who have wide experience in their respectitve areas. They also take advice from other persons and experts within the Council or outside.</p>

<p>The Council has more than 20 reference and working groups appointed by the Board and involving many persons in the preparation of decisions on thousands of applications in all the relevant disciplines. Currently about 140 people are involved in these groups.&nbsp; These peer assessors together with the responsible staff officer make recommendations for the approval of the Board.&nbsp; The Council has special juries appointed for the Astrid Lindgren Award and for the Sweden-South Africa Foundation.</p>

<p>The Council also prepares twice yearly a priority list for the approval of the Foundation Culture in the Future, a national foundation which gives subsidies to local, regional and artists&#39; projects.</p>

<p>There are limits on the period of time in which a person may serve as a peer assessor. The mandate periods are kept relatively short to facilitate access by as many experts as possible. But there are problems in a small country like Sweden after a few years it is difficult to find new, competent and interested people willing to participate in the groups. There are at present no formal conflict of interest rules for the assessors.</p>

<p><strong>Unique or Special Features of the Organisation</strong></p>

<p>The knowledge and opinions provided by the many experts involved in contributing to Council decisions have proved to be most valuable. Also valuable are the many contacts the staff members have in Sweden and abroad.</p>

<p>Having CultureNet Sweden within the Council since January 2000 has given the Council a new dimension as a communication centre with 7,000 links to cultural life.</p>

<p><strong>Greatest Current Challenge</strong></p>

<p>At the present time, the greatest challenges are :</p>

<ul>
<li>to deal with the impact of the new media and communications technologies on culture;</li>
<li>to enrich daily life and artistic quality by involving people from many cultural backgrounds living in Sweden;</li>
<li>to remain aware of and counteract the social and cultural gaps developing in the population as a consequence of a market society;</li>
<li>to focus on access for children and young audiences to culture and creativity;</li>
<li>to maintain a vital contact with cultural life on the local and regional levels through dialogue and financial stimulus when needed;</li>
<li>to develop Swedish cultural life and identity in a European and world context;</li>
<li>to create awareness of culture as an important factor in human health, wellbeing and democracy.</li>
</ul>

<p><strong>Greatest Current Strength</strong></p>

<p>There are a number of current strengths. Firstly, important functions have been included in the National Council for Cultural Affairs, such as the European Union desk for culture and a co-ordinating role with other desks in Sweden and in Brussels. Communication with Sweden&rsquo;s administrative regions (l&auml;n) has been strengthened regarding the strategy and development of cultural life and policy, and the kind of support that can be given from the central bodies like the financial contribution to regional museums, theatres and centres of creativity.&nbsp; Extra resources were given to the Council to facilitate access to culture for disabled persons. Likewise, resources were given to start a network with consultants and promoters of the diversity of culture.&nbsp; Finally, the editorial group of Culture Net Sweden has been included in the Council following the government&rsquo;s decision to give this information technology project permanent status.</p>

<p>Monitoring the new Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award created a network of experts and nominators of authors, illustrators and promoters of children&rsquo;s literature and reading worldwide.</p>

<p>The responsibility, together with the National Arts Council of South Africa, for the new foundation for bilateral co-operation and exchange of experience also opens the gate to the world and to new knowledge and creativity.</p>