Integrating international and intercultural cooperation
In the 2009 Government bill on cultural policy, Time for Culture, the following priorities for promoting international and intercultural exchange and cooperation are stated:
• Development of strategies for internationalisation in different cultural areas
• Continued development of international and intercultural cooperation of the agencies
• Promotion of national arenas for international and intercultural exchange
• Collaboration across policy area boundaries
• An active role in cultural policy issues in the EU, UNESCO and the Nordic cooperation.
The government agency the Swedish Arts Council has the task to promote internationalisation in the entire area of culture. The overall task of the Swedish Arts Council is to promote development in the area of culture. The Swedish Arts Council distributes state funding, promotes freedom of expression, the right of children and young people to culture, and provides information about culture and cultural policy. Through its activities, the Swedish Arts Council is to contribute to the fulfilment of the national cultural policy objectives adopted by the Riksdag and the Government
In 2010, the Swedish Arts Council distributed a total of SEK 29.5 million directly to international activities. In addition, a significant share of the total funding distributed by the Swedish Arts Council (approx. SEK 1.9 billion) goes to activities in which the international perspective is integrated. Since the Government and the Swedish Arts Council work integrate the international perspective in providing funding, the implementation of funding increases, with regard to independent groups and regional cultural activities among other things, has great significance for the internationalisation of cultural life.
The National Museums of World Culture government agency is comprised of four museums: the National Museum of Ethnography, the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities and the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm and the World Culture Museum in Gothenburg. The National Museums of World Culture has the task of displaying and bringing to life the cultures of the world, particularly cultures originating outside Sweden. The agency is to document and highlight the expressions and conditions of different cultures as well as cultural meetings and cultural variation, historically and in present-day society, nationally and internationally. The objective of the National Museums of World Culture is to contribute to social development that is characterised by gender equality, respect and tolerance and where diversity is safeguarded as a positive force.
The Swedish National Touring Theatre is an example of a non-profit organisation that works actively on international and intercultural cooperation. It is a popular movement comprised, among other things, of 236 national theatre associations in Sweden. The Swedish National Touring Theatre arranges, mediates, produces and develops dramatic art. The international and intercultural exchange of the Swedish National Touring Theatre is based on a strategy that springs from Sweden’s large immigrant populations.