"Creative North"

Powerpoint presentation held by State Secretary Mina Gerhardsen (.pdf)

 

Speech by State Secretary Mina Gerhardsen, Norwegian Ministry of Culture

 

Ambassadors,
Ladies and gentlemen,

A Norwegian approach to creative industries. A new action plan.

Culture has a profound value that’s undeniable – and carries no price tag.

 

• Like the dramatic sight of Munch's famous painting, The Scream. 
• Like the debate provoked by Ibsen's “A Doll's House” 
• Like the pictures that come to mind when you hear the first notes of “Dovregubbens hall” by Grieg. You know it?  In English, it’s called: “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” 

Culture also adds value . . . As a creative stimulus.  As a community builder.  As a democracy booster.

That’s why we believe culture is important.  In Norway, we think culture is so important that we have set a target – that 1 per cent of the national budget shall go to culture.

A strong public funding system guarantees the economic frameworks that make it possible to experiment with culture, and carry it forward.

Culture has an artistic value that’s beyond debate.  It does not decline over time, or wear out with use.

Yet this perspective is not threatened by the fact that we also recognize that culture can have commercial value.

Introduction: From cultural start-up to cultural enterprise

Every year we consume culture to the tune of billions of kroner.

Many companies – big and small – exist for the purpose of creating cultural experiences for others. For many of them, culture is big business.

We know it's not always easy to establish a creative business. There can be many obstacles in the way.

That’s why the our government – involving three departments: The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Regional Development - all cooperate to smooth the way for cultural start-ups to become profitable businesses.

We’ve worked together to develop a new action plan for creative industries, called “From cultural start-up to cultural enterprise”.  

It was supposed to be announced before this seminar.  The new plan is to announce it in two days.  But if you promise to keep it between us, I will tell you the most important bits of the plan!

Creative industries have become a bigger part of Norway’s economy

It is natural to meet here in Berlin – a city that in so many ways is the cultural capital of Europe – to discuss the potential in the creative industries.

Here in Berlin, cultural activity is the city's fastest-growing business sector.  Figures from 2011 show that it accounts for about 6 per cent of employment and 23 per cent of new job creation.

The latest survey of creative industries in Norway shows that creative industries have grown as a share of the Norwegian economy.  The number of employees is up by 50 per cent in 10 years.

Creative industries employed 4 per cent of the Norwegian workforce in 2009 – a total of 75 000 people in 27 000 companies.

56 000 of them work in big companies, while 19 000 work in small companies or on their own.

Most of these people work in metropolitan areas.  That’s where most of the cultural enterprises are.  But if we ask instead about job growth, we find it’s the thinly populated areas where employment has grown the fastest.

In those 10 years, value creation increased by 77 per cent. It went from 3,2 billion euro to 5,6 billion per year.

Norway’s “Cultural Initiative” and cultural industry development

Norway’s three governing parties have agreed on what we call “Kulturløftet” – or the Cultural Initiative.  

The main objective of this push is that, by 2014, one per cent of the state budget will go to cultural activities.  

The Government's vision is for Norway to be a leading nation of culture – a nation that emphasises culture in all aspects of social life.  No less will do!

It has already lifted culture as a force in society and public policy.

The Cultural Initiative has helped create a much better framework for Norwegian cultural life.  Since 2005, the culture budget has doubled, from about 650 million euro to about 1,3 billion euro.

We have seen an upswing across the whole sector – from music to video game software – and that means the cultural sector is now ready for a business boost.

It is the combination of public support and market mentality that makes this shift possible.

Norway’s Cultural Initiative can pave the way for commercial products and services to be sold in the market. For example:

• Higher public investment in filmmaking has boosted attendance at the cinema while stimulating a rise in exports and private investment in Norwegian film.

 

• Upgrading museums helps the tourism industry.

 

• Support for concerts, concert venues and festivals helps to spur ticket sales and revenues for the music business.

 

Norway’s cultural scene has been bursting with activity – but that’s not all. A number of cultural entrepreneurs have succeeded in creating profitable companies.

Cultural expressions with a commercial potential often arise because people have the chance to experiment, without necessarily aiming for an economic return.  With public support, they can take artistic risks that might have been impossible otherwise.

So – the state can help lay an economic foundation for culture and the arts.  But it’s up to the individual artist or enterprise to decide whether to reach out to a broader public, and make a business out of their work.  Many artists are keen to have a solid financial basis.  They want to make a living from their art.

Making a business out of cultural expression does not mean that the expression itself has to be commercial by nature.

The most streamlined art is not always what penetrates the furthest or changes things the most.  Sometimes, the greatest impact comes from being innovative and distinctive.

Challenges for the creative industries

We know it's not always easy to establish a cultural enterprise.  

The Norwegian clothing brand ChillNorway knows all about such challenges.

When the two sisters Nanna and Line, and Line`s husband Thomas they started nine years ago, they needed help to create a long-term strategy. They needed a business plan. They also had to protect their designs from being copied. 

And they needed start-up-funding.

Through the Norwegian government, they have taken a course on business operations and have now received funding to start two new companies, a youth collection and a distributorship. 

Its products are sold in 90 stores across Norway, and the brand is almost as big in Sweden.  Other major markets are Germany and Finland.  Overall, ChillNorway is represented in 250 stores in 10 countries.

Business expertise and funding:

When creative people try to make business out of culture, they need to learn how to run a company – how to make a business plan, how to get capital, how to develop a market, and how to market their specific product.

In other words:  They must know everything that the director of any other company knows.  Cultural workers must be business-minded if they intend to make a living from culture.

Networking and cooperation:

Few young companies depend exclusively on their own resources to grow.  

Cooperation may be important to developing new products and services, mitigating risk, or gaining new customers and suppliers.

Export and internationalisation:

There have always been international currents in Norwegian culture, and it’s hardly news that some artists seek inspiration abroad, or find themselves in demand internationally.  

By the way Berlin is boosted in Norway, there often seem to be more Norwegian artists, musicians, producers and writers here than in Oslo!

With globalisation, more and more types of artistic expression contain clear international references – and the audience is more international, too.

Many creative enterprises aim their work at the international market from the start.

Several creative industries in Norway are seeing higher demand and interest from abroad.  Let me give two examples:

The sale of Norwegian literature abroad has grown sharply since the 1990s.  A number of authors have had breakthroughs, winning international prizes and huge book sales.  Norwegian crime literature has become its own genre. (Competing with the swedes!) Every year, Norwegian books come out in 45 to 50 languages, compared with about 30 ten years ago.

The impact of Norwegian film is growing too.  In 2012, four films were shown at the prestigious film festival in Toronto. Foreign sales have surged.  Kon-Tiki and Journey to the Christmas Star have been sold to more than 70 countries – and Kon-Tiki was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe for best non-English-language film.  The total export value of Norwegian films has increased from 1 million euro to over 7 million euro in only eight years.

Technology development makes it easier to reach foreign markets, and is another factor in exporting and internationalising Norwegian creative industries.

New technologies change the premise for developing creative industries:

This makes it easier to reach domestic and foreign markets alike, while expanding the range of cultural options for users.

Measures taken in Norway’s action plan

Cultural businesses run into a number of common challenges when they try to make a business out of their cultural activity.  In our action plan, we try to respond to these challenges.  Most of the measures are genre-neutral and industry-neutral:  They are designed to assist all different creative businesses.

The action plan seeks to address challenges within:

• Technological development
• Knowledge
• Business expertise
• Networks and cooperation
• Export

 

The plan’s main focus

Our business development policy for culture starts with the assumption that creative industries face many of the same challenges as other industries trying to develop profitable businesses.

It’s essential to stimulate entrepreneurship, investment, innovation, expertise, research and export. Meanwhile, the companies themselves must take responsibility to make the most of opportunities in the market.

Our plan is to build bridges between the arts and the marketplace – to serve as an interpreter between the cultural and business worlds, so that opportunities and resources find each other more easily.

There are many freelancers in art and culture, and many of them come up with their own concepts to develop.  To shorten the way from entrepreneurship to profitability, a set of business development policy tools is available.

Norway’s new action plan contains a number of policy instruments designed to help creative industries become more business-oriented.

We would like people and organisations in the cultural world to make more use of Norway’s industrial policy apparatus, rather than creating their own. No need to reinvent the wheel! 

We’ve found that both business and cultural policy frameworks are important for economic development in the creative industries.

We would like to see this policy connection become clearer, and will therefore be launching a broad new national commitment to stimulate business development in the creative industries.

The goal is increased professionalism, innovation and commercialisation among creative enterprises, and a clearer set of public policy instruments at their disposal.

The effort is being jointly developed by Innovation Norway, which is one of the Government's main industrial policy instruments, and Arts Council Norway, one of the Government’s most important cultural policy instruments.

Under the plan, fresh funds totalling 2 million euro will go directly to creative industry actors around the country.

The effort will encompass:

Competence development:  A course offering, aimed at cultural businesses with long-term ambitions and a desire to approach business development more professionally.

• Mentor service for cultural entrepreneurs:  A service that provides a strategic mentor to companies with growth ambitions.  The goal is to give cultural founders and entrepreneurs a sounder basis for strategic decision-making.

 

• Commercial business networks:  A service to cultural businesses that seek binding cooperative relationships.  This can help clarify the potential of each company while shoring up skills related to network agreements, work processes, tools and consultants that can be used in network development.

 

• Measures to strengthen co-location and networks:  Designed to strengthen the foundations of economic development and innovation in the creative industries by facilitating co-location and networks.

 

Conclusion

I am happy to be in the only truly Nordic building in Berlin.  It is unique that the Nordic countries have joined forces to operate a common embassy complex, whose existence symbolises the closeness of our countries.

Obviously, it also encourages German-Nordic exchanges and events, like today’s.  And Nordic cooperation is nothing new.  The institutional framework of the Nordic Council was founded in the 1950’s.  The exchange of views between the Nordic countries is vibrant at all political levels.

I am glad to see that KreaNord – the Nordic initiative for creative economy under the Nordic Council of Ministries – is present to give us an overview of shared Nordic policies in this field.

Of course, cooperation is already under way between Norway and the other Nordic countries and Germany in the area of creative businesses.  German-Norwegian co-productions in film, theatre and music are common.  Berlin art galleries have opened in Oslo, and vice-versa.  German architects contribute to important buildings in Norway.

It’s important to learn from each other, and to inspire each other, like we do in this conference today. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Norwegian cultural life has received a substantial economic boost in recent years.

Not only has it flourished in terms of quality and scope, but several cultural entrepreneurs have succeeded in creating profitable creative enterprises.

But we know it can be hard to get creative businesses off the ground.  There may be many obstacles along the way.

We want to ease the way for cultural entrepreneurs to achieve profitability.

This will help to create more culture – which is the business of tomorrow.

Thank you for your attention.