Swedish 2024 is a crisis year for culture, the country's public broadcasting company SVT evaluates several things in its series.
One reason is inflation, which is not followed by full index increases with the Swedish government's decisions. This was also the case during the last government term, when the funding deficit brought by inflation was however slightly smaller and the issue was fixed with separate subsidies for regional governments.
For this year, the Swedish regional administrations asked the government for additional support of around eight million euros, so that inflation does not force them to cut back on operations. However, the government has decided to increase cultural support by only 1.8 million euros, and the small additional money is to be distributed among 20 regions and about a hundred operators.
According to SVT, for example, Umeå's Ögonblicksteatern had to lay off its entire staff in its 50th anniversary year. There are similar examples all over Sweden.
Regional museums are also under pressure as local rents and heating costs rise. It leads to reduced exhibition offerings and shorter opening hours.
In the longer term, the safe storage of museum collections could also be at risk, SVT reports assess.
Swedish Minister of Culture Parisa Liljestrand says to SVTthat cultural life must become more independent from state, regional and municipal funding.
At the same time, he admits that there is a valuable culture that would never survive without government funding.
in Finland the indexation of government subsidies protects culture from inflation to some extent. Based on SVT's calculations, the cuts are still clearly harder than in Sweden.
In Finland, the appropriations for art and culture in 2024 will be approx 12 million euros less than in the actual budget of 2023.
From here Petteri Orpon (kok) four million euros were cut by the board's decision. A cut of 4.2 million euros was inherited Sanna Marini (sd) on the decision of the parliamentary group of the government period, according to which the decrease in Veikkaus' income will no longer be fully compensated for culture.
The decrease in cultural funds is also partly caused by the end of temporary funding, when, for example, the EU's temporary sustainable growth program 2021–2023 ended. The background of this money was the EU's corona subsidies.
Finland with the cuts, for example, the Arts Promotion Center (Taike) under the Ministry of Education and Culture has announced cuts of 1.3 million euros. It is the biggest surgery in Taike's history.
“The basic political tone and government basis are similar in Finland and Sweden”, Taike's director Kaisa Rönkkö comment to HS.
“In both countries, the position of culture in society and as a basic service is discussed and partly questioned.”
A direct comparison cannot be made, because in Sweden the state gives money to the regions to be distributed through the so-called cooperative model. Even in 2022, significant additional funding was given to it.
“There are no similar regional funding structures in Finland. State funding is channeled to the municipal level, the situation of which has been much discussed. In Jyväskylä, for example, there have been considerable cultural cuts at the municipal level,” Rönkkö reminds.
In both countries, the capital's cultural institutions are not necessarily in the doldrums, but regionally significant players are suffering: For example, Tampere's Työväen Teatteri is in the financial crisis.
Do they complain Swedes too easily, when problems smaller than Finnish surgery make big headlines?
Not necessarily, says Rönkkö.
“Perhaps the violent reaction in Sweden also stems from the fact that the pandemic restrictions were less there, so private consumption of culture did not collapse in the same way in 2020 and 2021,” he explains.
“Now we realize that last year's and this year's energy and financial crisis as well as inflation will also hit cultural life as a particularly hard shock in Sweden.”
The fuss is also made because in Sweden the value of intangible capital is better recognized and the market is more functional than in Finland, he estimates.
But again, there are also common legalities.
“If the public sector cuts, often private money also decreases. If more private money is wanted, public investment is also needed. Money comes to money both in Sweden and in Finland.”
Worse is on the way when the Finnish government prepares the 2025 budget. The intention is to cut 25 million euros from the Ministry of Education and Culture. If we continue with the old model, the cuts for culture would increase from four million to ten million euros for the ministry. At the same time, municipalities have their own savings pressures.
And not nearly all art institutions in Finland are safe from inflation either.
“For example, in theaters, the financial contribution of the municipalities is significant, a
nd the index only applies to state contributions”, reminds the general secretary of the Central Association of Culture and Arts (Kulta) Rosa Meriläinen.
Finnish cultural life is now excited about how the government's cut plans are targeted.
“The scale is such that everything is on the table,” Meriläinen fears.
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