Art, crafts and music are all integrated as subjects in school, and obligatory in the first nine years of school (ages approximately 6-16 years old). In secondary school (ages 16-19), these subjects are no longer obligatory in all schools. Downsizing in these subjects, and their removal as obligatory subjects in secondary school, has been a returning issue in public discussion concerning the school system, and the status of arts and culture in Swedish society. Extensive municipal programmes for music and art education as leisure activities also exist in most municipalities in the form of municipal music and culture schools.
The Creative School programme (Skapande skola) is a government programme allowing municipalities and other school principals to apply for grants from the Swedish Arts Council for cultural projects involving children in preschools, and in the obligatory first ten years of school (ages 6-16 years old). The programme has existed since 2008, and aims to strengthen the integration of artistic and cultural expressions in school, as well as to increase the participation of the pupils in professional art and culture. Creative School was granted SEK 196 million for 2021.
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