Cultural infrastructure
State level
Since 1 January 1990, responsibility for national cultural policy lies with the
Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs. Until 1991, the Norwegian Ministry for Culture and Church Affairs was called the Ministry for Church and Cultural Affairs, and from then to 2001 it went under the name the Ministry of Cultural Affairs. Out of the five departments within the Ministry, the
Department of Culture is responsible for the development and implementation of national cultural policy, and for administering and governing national cultural institutions such as the
National Theatre, Oslo.
The Department of Culture has at its disposal several public councils working as advisory bodies, covering different cultural sectors. The most important is the
Arts Council Norway which retains and distributes the Norwegian Culture Fund allocated by the Norwegian parliament on an annual basis. The Council has three main functions:
(i) to appropriate funds for special projects;
(ii) to carry on experimental work for short periods;
(iii) to undertake studies and give advice.
The Council also administers various permanent support schemes such as the State Purchasing Scheme for Norwegian Literature (please see section on
Literature for more details).
The importance of cross-ministry co-operation on cultural issues has been stated by the Norwegian Parliament. In a broad context, other ministries like the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of the Environment also fund cultural and heritage projects within their fields. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has its own cultural department, and is responsible for cultural agreements with other countries, the promotion of Norwegian culture abroad, and cultural programmes in developing countries (see the section on
International cultural exchange for more information). Matters of cultural heritage were transferred to the Ministry of the Environment in 1972. The
Ministry of Trade and Industry is in charge of Norway's developing
Cultural industries policy, collaborating with other relevant ministries as well as with
Innovation Norway. The Ministry also co-funds the organisation
Arts and Business Norway 'to help private corporations support the arts and the arts to inspire these'. The
Ministry of Education and Research is involved with the National Programme for Arts and Culture in Education.
The culturally-oriented projects within each ministry are viewed as an important part of recent cultural policy, as indicated by the statement that 'culture must be placed in a wider, more holistic context and viewed in conjunction with other sectors of society and the responsibilities of other ministries.'
Local level
As a result of the decentralisation implemented during the 1970s, the rural areas of Norway are closely involved with cultural policy. Each municipality has politically-selected departments responsible for the local cultural policy, and within the administration of each municipality there are a number of permanent cultural posts. Each municipality is responsible for the regional museums, art centres, and culture houses. See the
Cultural policy and infrastructure - regional government departments section of this profile.
Non-governmental organisations
The main non-governmental cultural institutions are the voluntary organisations, although they receive a certain level of public support. Norwegian artists have formed professional unions to safeguard their interests. Almost 30 nationwide artists' organisations are registered to negotiate with the Ministry of Cultural and Church Affairs on matters related to their members' economic interests. This means a comparably high level of arts constituency involvement in cultural policy formation - this framework for negotiation is unique to the Norwegian/Nordic cultural policy infrastructure.
