A cultural budget for activity and economic restructuring: NOK 13.5 billion for the cultural sector
Historical archive
Published under: Solberg's Government
Publisher: Ministry of Culture
Press release | No: 85/16 | Date: 06/10/2016 | Last updated: 14/10/2016
The government’s proposed cultural budget for 2017 totals NOK 13.5 billion and has three primary focus areas: cultural and creative industries, cultural heritage and broadening the funding base for arts and culture.
The proposed cultural budget is NOK 465 million larger than the 2016 budget, representing an increase of 3.6 per cent. It supports the government’s employment, activity and economic restructuring policy. The Norwegian economy is undergoing structural changes, and the government intends both to enable the cultural sector to be an industry in its own right and to help more people to support themselves through artistic and cultural activity. The cultural and creative industries are growing, and offer potential for the creation of new, profitable jobs in Norway.
NOK 70 million for creative industries
“Culture, sports and voluntary activities enrich our lives and build strong communities across the country. The government is prioritising robust public financing for initiatives of public importance. In the 2017 budget, we are concentrating on measures that will boost the the creative industries. The government is proposing to allocate more than NOK 70 million to measures to promote growth and development in cultural and creative sector and give artists opportunities to increase their incomes. All the artistic expressions will benefit from the initiative,” says Minister of Culture Linda Hofstad Helleland.
A broader funding base for the cultural sector
“Norway is home to many fantastic artists and a strong voluntary sector, but even the cultural field needs to restructure. We want to increase the private funding of the cultural sector by expanding the gift reinforcement programme through which central government supplements gifts from private donors. We will be boosting the programme with some NOK 6 million. We will also provide increased funding of NOK 5 million for the development of artistic talents through Talent Norway. This in turn will trigger more private-sector funding,” says Hofstad Helleland.
NOK 50 million for cultural heritage
“The government wishes to preserve Norway’s cultural heritage and cultural monuments. As part of the government’s package of measures to combat unemployment, we have proposed the allocation of NOK 50 million to the restoration and upgrading of church and museum buildings. This will create new jobs and simultaneously ensure the conservation of important cultural monuments,” says Minister of Culture Linda Hofstad Helleland.