Konstnären och kulturnäringarna Artists and the Arts Industries

Ingrid Elam
Preface
In the autumn of 2009, the Swedish Government presented an
Action Plan for the Cultural and Creative Industries, in the form
of a memorandum drawn up by the Ministry of Industry, Energy
and Communications and the Ministry of Culture. It was to cost
SEK 73 million over the three-year period 2009–2012. 7
The purpose of the plan is partly ‘to create conditions that
enable both entrepreneurs and existing and potential operators
in cultural and creative industries to develop their business ideas
and operations’, and partly to foster ‘cooperation between culture
and enterprise’. Also, and not least, it is intended ‘to promote greater
awareness of the cultural and creative industries’. Measures
taken are to be based both on the needs and development opportunities
of these entrepreneurs, and the plan is to proceed from an
understanding that culture and cultural environments ‘can have
a considerable impact on a region’s innovative development and
power of attraction’. Ultimately, the action plan foresees growth,
increased competitiveness, and ‘increased trade and investment’.
7 The Actionplan for Cultural and Creative Industries (2009)
Ingrid Elam | Preface
The two ministries responsible for the plan commissioned a
number of government agencies, including the Swedish Arts
Grants Committee, to develop, disseminate and exchange knowledge
and information about the cultural and creative industries,
to produce statistics, to describe the status of research in this
field, to propose action and to consider educational needs. The
action plan lays special emphasis on innovation, professional guidance
and entrepreneurial training in the arts.
The Arts Grants Committee has two main functions. Firstly,
it awards grants and allowances to individual artists in the fields
of visual art, design, music, dance, theatre and film. Secondly,
it monitors and compiles information on the financial and social
situation of artists, including those working in the literary
sphere. In other words, the committee always adopts the perspective
of the artist – as it does in this anthology, which constitutes
a response to the task assigned to it under the national
action plan. The contributions presented here afford an insight
into the artist’s participation in Sweden’s cultural and creative
industries – and show how much these industries need artists.
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