In Norway, public authorities have taken considerable responsibility for culture, not least by financing cultural and artistic activities. Nonetheless, attention has been directed in recent years to the potential role of private actors. In 2005, the Ministry of Culture presented a white paper on the relation between culture and business. It emphasises that private actors may play a more prominent role in financing culture in the years ahead. However, the Ministry maintains that the main responsibility for financing culture still lies in the hands of the public authorities.
There are no statistics available that give a full overview of private financing, but several indicators show that there has been an increase in private financing in the past few years. According to Gran and Hofplass (2007), the total amount of cultural sponsorship in 2006 was estimated at NOK 519 million (EUR 65.78 million). There are few data on the recent development on private funding. However, numbers from the large theatres in Norway (NTO) shows that the amount of private funding has decreased since 2008. The amount of total income from sponsorship have dropped from 2,5 % in 2008 to 1,1 % in 2014 (NTO 2014). There are also some private foundations that fund culture. The DnB NOR Savings Bank Foundation and The Freedom of Expression Foundation (Fritt ord) are two of the largest foundations. The amounts donated each year are determined by financial results, so it changes every year. In 2014 The Freedom of Expression Foundation donated 112 million NOK to culture and media purposes.
All major lotteries and gaming activity and the allocation of their profits are organised through the Ministry of Culture (see more in chapter 3.2).
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