|
||
| News FrontPage | Latest article | Conferece Home |
| Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
| Voice your opinion in our online conference > Hässelby Online | ||
|
||
| News FrontPage | Latest article | Conferece Home |
| Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday |
| Voice your opinion in our online conference > Hässelby Online | ||
Learning about the Swedish way to cultural policies
|
|||
| The World Conference on Culture
continued after the lunch break, with a short but
interesting speech from Sweden's Minister of Culture,
Marita Ulvskog, who focused on the economic status of the
artist. As an Italian freelance reporter, currently in
Stockholm to take an international course on the
globalisation of journalism, my own perspective as a
foreign observer was somewhat different. An initial
overview of the "Swedish way" to cultural
policies sounded quite interesting to me as Italian.
Apart from the informal atmosphere which dominated the
Minister's presence at the Conference (something
completely new to me, considering the ceremonious style
of politicians which I am accustomed to), I could
appreciate true differences between this country and my
own. Especially when Mrs. Ulvskog, smartly dressed in a
black tailleur, modestly underlined how unusual it is for
Stockholm, currently Cultural Capital of Europe, to be
the focus of so much international attention. What a difference from Italy, with its enormous amount of ancient cultural resources and the lavish attention it has always received! However, culture needs nurturing as well, and that revealed another striking peculiarity of Sweden. As Mrs. Ulvskog expressed it, "Culture is not just a 'sugar coating', something optional for a society. It is a vital requirement for manhood, fundamental for development, democracy, and social justice." Social justice: this last expression which the Minister used may sound strange to a Mediterranean listener: What does social justice have to do with culture? Well, in concrete terms it means, in keeping with a well-established Swedish tradition, a long term policy of state funding of the artists, as well as the funding of production, publication, distribution, of all sorts of cultural products, from audiovisual discs to books or film. "Cultural issues," as Mrs. Ulvskog pointed out, "cannot be completely dependent on the market law of supply and demand." In response to a question from the audience, the minister explained that contrary to the general political trend in the welfare state, subsidies to artists will not be reduced in Sweden, though more attention will be given to promoting an increase in the participation of audiences. This will hopefully enable the artists to gain a larger independence vis-a-vi state funding. Along the same lines Mrs. Ulvskog, sounding at times a bit too defensive of the government policy, claimed that she favours an open approach to IT, without forgetting the importance of traditional, written culture. Lastly, the multi-cultural issue. Apart from the rhetorical emphasis with which the Minister underlined this point, it is impressive how Sweden has turned into a rather ethically heterogeneous society in only twenty-five years. A personal and final consideration for me, embracing the huge range of happenings hosted by our 1998 Cultural Capital, could be this. Even though the ancient Viking monuments are hardly comparable with our Coliseum, we can learn a great deal by looking to the far north — towards Scandinavia. Domenico Conti |
|||
