Sweden

Last update: February, 2024

• Public culture expenditure, all levels of government, per capita in 2022: 35,438 SEK, 3,34 euro.
• Public culture expenditure in percentage of the GDP, in 2022: 0.60 percent.
• Public culture expenditure in percentage of the total public expenditure in 2022: 1.40 percent.

There has been a noticeable trend of regional governments increasing their part of total government spending on culture while the municipal part is decreasing. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the national budgets for arts and culture increased further in the last two years. The national budget for 2024 (prop. 2023/24:1), is noticeably more restrained and will mean a removal of many of the increases implemented during the pandemic, as well as more severe cuts in some cases, noticeably with regards to funding for study associations (studieförbund, see 6.4).

Of the 16.7 billion SEK national government expenditure on culture, media, religious denominations, and leisure (as defined in the national budget) budgeted for 2024, 4.2 billion SEK went to popular adult education (folkbildning), including study association, 1.7 billion SEK to regional cultural activities, 1.9 billion SEK to museums and exhibitions and 1.5 billion SEK to theatre, music and dance. Public spending on culture varies a great deal between different parts of the country, both because different municipalities and regional governments spend different amounts and because the national government's cultural budget is spent unevenly in relation to different parts of the country. Priorities within cultural policy may also differ between different levels of government.

Last update: February, 2024

Table 7. Public cultural expenditure by level of government, 2022

Sources: The Swedish Agency for Cultural Policy Analysis, The Swedish Tax Office (currencyconversion)

Conversion from SEK to EURO based on monthly data from the Swedish Tax Office: https://www.skatteverket.se/foretag/drivaforetag/euronochskatterna/omrakningskurser/redovisningsperioder.4.2ef18e6a125660db8b080004155.html

Last update: February, 2024

Table 8: Direct state cultural expenditure and transfers (central level)*: by sector, 2022, in 1000 of national currency

N/A: no data readily availible for Sweden.

Source: The Swedish National Financial Management Authority, https://www.esv.se/publicerat/publikationer/2021/tidsserier-statens-budget-m.m.-2020/.

Percentages calculated as percentage of total budget

Last update: February, 2024

The objectives for public support of artists in Sweden are those of the cultural policy in general (see chapter 1.1), and perhaps in particular that cultural policy should “promote quality and artistic renewal” and that it should “promote international and intercultural exchange and cooperation”. As noted above, when discussing the particular areas and art forms, parts of the arts and culture sector also have specific policy objectives directed at them. Even though Swedish cultural policy has a long tradition of focusing on improving the financial situation of artists, the income of artists and other professionals in the culture sector remain low compared to other professional with education of comparable length. The Arts Grants Committee is responsible for monitoring the social and financial situation of artists (see chapter 2.3).

Several public authorities provide funding for individual creative artists. Important government agencies in this area include the Swedish Arts Council (Kulturrådet), the Authors’ Fund, the National Public Arts Council (Statens konstråd), and the Arts Grants Committee (Konstnärsnämnden). These are discussed further below, under 7.2.2.

Last update: February, 2024

As noted above, a number of agencies and public actors in Sweden award grants, awards, and scholarships to artists and projects in the area of arts and culture. There are common measures for visual artists, musicians, composers and authors, such as working grants for 1-10 years, income guarantees, project grants, travel grants and pension grants. There are also specific schemes which vary from field to field and taking the nature and needs of the different art forms into account.

Through the Swedish Authors' Fund (Sveriges författarfond) and the Arts Grants Committee (Konstnärsnämnden), the government supports individual artists financially through various grants. The Authors' Fund is directed towards authors, translators, book illustrators, and cultural journalists. The Fund allocates government compensation for public lending at libraries. A portion of this compensation is given to the individual author, in direct proportion to the number of public loans of his / her work; another portion is transferred to the Fund itself, from which grants and scholarships are allocated to writers etc.

The Arts Grants Committee allocates travel grants, project grants, or stipends for one year or more, to artists who do not fall under the responsibility of the Authors' Fund. The Arts Grants Committee also runs a studio programme for visual artists (IASPIS), open to artists both from Sweden and from abroad. The Swedish Institute (Svenska institutet) has grants for international exchange within the arts, sciences, and media. There is also a system of state income guarantees, through which chosen artists are guaranteed a minimum annual income.

The National Public Arts Council (Statens konstråd) is responsible for buying contemporary art to display in various premises of the government and government agencies, including universities, county administrative boards and courts. The National Public Arts Council also co-finances non-governmental partners for artistic contributions to housing areas, schools and public places, and even the traffic environment.

The Swedish Arts Council (Statens kulturråd) gives grants to groups, cooperative projects, and non-profit organisations. The Swedish Arts Council gives grants to artists' centres in various artistic fields. The role of these artists' centres is to find work opportunities and to find new types of artistic commissions for their members who are professional artists in their respective fields (theatre, dance, music, visual art, applied art, photography, literature, and film). The Swedish Arts Council is responsible for

• distributing national grants to independent theatre, music and dance companies, co-operative art studios, co-operative shops of arts and crafts and artist owned galleries; and
• granting exhibition funding to non-profit organizations, in order to pay remuneration to artists who have placed their artwork at public disposal in exhibitions arranged by these organizations.

Additionally, on the regional and local levels, many regions and municipalities award grants, awards, and scholarships to artists and projects in the area of arts and culture.

Last update: February, 2024

A number of grants, awards, and scholarships exist for artists, writers, and other cultural professionals in Sweden, ranging from minor grants for travel or projects, to the Nobel Prize in Literature. Many of these are provided by the national government (see chapter 7.2.3), or by regional or local authorities. Others are provided by private funds, or by other private sector actors. In some cases, professional unions keep track of these, but there is no comprehensive overview, or database, covering all of these stipends, grants, awards, scholarships, etc.

Last update: February, 2024

Grants or subsidies are not, as a rule, given to trade unions, or other organizations that represent artists, as they are negotiating counterparts and need to strictly maintain their independence from the government. National committees of international NGOs, such as the International Artists Association (IAA), the World Crafts Council (WCC) etc., receive annual subsidies in the form of participation fees for travel to or hosting international conferences, as do many other non-governmental organizations.