Switzerland

Last update: September, 2018

National cohesion – cultivating and fostering peaceable collective life and mutual understanding among the diverse cultural communities, both Swiss and foreign – is an ongoing cultural priority for Switzerland. The new Culture Promotion Act (2009 and enacted in 2012) and the accompanying Dispatch on Culture are both an expression of this self-image. Therein, the Federal Council defines the core objectives of federal cultural policy as the fostering of cultural diversity and the improvement of access to culture. The Federal Council endeavours to promote exchange and to establish good conditions for cultural life in Switzerland. Further, it seeks to strengthen cooperation with the cantons, cities, and communes by means of a national dialogue on culture, aimed at enhancing information exchange, strengthening cooperation, and promoting mutual understanding and trust. The Dispatch on Culture also defines two current issues that should be given particular attention in the respective period of time: living traditions and digital culture.

Also significant in this respect is the development of a language policy. The main tasks of the corresponding Languages Act (2010) are to develop guidelines on the use of the official languages in the federal administration, to support student exchanges, to establish a scientific institution for the study of multilingualism, to support multilingual cantons, and to promote the Romansh and Italian languages in Switzerland (for further information, see chapter 2.5.4).

The new Museums and Collections Act came into force on 1 January 2010. Article 2 stipulates that the Swiss Confederation shall pursue the following objectives:

• to preserve important moveable cultural assets;
• to strengthen the population's awareness of the country's diverse cultures;
• to develop a clearer profile of the federal museums and collections;
• to improve cooperation among Swiss museums;
• to lend professional support to other museums and collections in Switzerland; and
• for the federal museums and collections to contribute to making Switzerland an attractive location for science, business, and tourism.

Prior to the Act becoming effective, the Musée-Suisse-Group was replaced by the Swiss National Museum. The Swiss National Museum now consists of the National Museum Zurich, the Castle of Prangins and the Forum of Swiss History Schwyz. Seven further smaller museums such as the Sammlung Oskar Reinhart in Winterthur, as well as the Centre Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel are under the direct control of the Federal Office of Culture. This arrangement provides Switzerland with a national museum policy for the first time. It stipulates the commitment of all member museums to common goals. The 2012‑2015 Dispatch on Culture identifies focal areas for the Swiss National Museum, the renewal of how it displays its permanent collection and the development of a centre of competence for Museum Studies, including the rendering of services to third parties. Among others, the museums shall preserve the "Intangible Cultural Heritage", in formal accordance with the corresponding UNESCO Convention and the new notion of the museum defined by the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

Other issues of national importance in the last few years (most are still current) have included the discussion of new support schemes (taking into increased account relations between public support and market structures, cultural industries); support for new media; broader debates on cultural funding (law on foundations and lotteries); the elaboration of an integral concept (promotion, training, social security) for the dance sector; and measures against illiteracy.

This information will be published as soon as possible.

This information will be published as soon as possible.

Last update: September, 2018

Within its four-year plan (Dispatch on Culture for the years 2012-2015), the federal government is pursuing the transversal theme "Digital Culture".

The measures envisaged in this respect include the utilisation of new information technologies by the Federal Office of Culture for the recording and representation of Switzerland's cultural heritage and for the promotion of reading, the fostering of digital cultural work, including computer games of artistic value, by Pro Helvetia and the Film Section of the Federal Office of Culture, and the digitisation of image archives by the Swiss National Museum.

Already prior to the four-year plan, considerable endeavours existed for making Switzerland an information society.

In 1998, Switzerland's federal government presented its national information society strategy. One important driver in this respect was "sitemapping.ch", a public project of the Federal Office of Culture including the production, dissemination, archiving, and conservation of digital media art.

One example of a public-private partnership is "Plug.in" (http://www.iplugin.org) which is a space for contemporary art that applies electronic media. It is funded by the city and canton of Basel and by an important foundation. Media technology has become an important component of everyday life. Plug.in deals with the social and artistic questions resulting from the blending of life and media technology. In 2006, it initiated the Shift Electronic Arts Festival (which it has co-organised since 2007).

Last update: September, 2018

Switzerland has four official languages and consists of four distinct cultural regions. At just under 25%, the country's corporative and non-corporative foreign population is high by European standards. The principle of cultural diversity is of great importance in Switzerland in view of the coexistence of diverse languages and cultures in what is a relatively confined geographical area. Fostering cultural diversity is integral to the self-image and core remit of all the country's cultural institutions.

Article 1 of the new Culture Promotion Act, which came into force on 1 January 2012, stresses the need to foster cultural diversity: it emphasises both exchange between cultural and linguistic communities in Switzerland as well as cultural exchange abroad. The definition of aims in Article 3 of the same Act highlights the strengthening of cohesion and of cultural diversity in Switzerland, as well as providing its population with access to culture, and facilitating such access. Accordingly, Article 8 prioritises especially those projects which enable or facilitate access to culture, and that contribute to the safeguarding or development of cultural or linguistic diversity.

In 2008, Switzerland ratified the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions of 20 October 2005, and the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of 17 October 2003. Both conventions are reactions to the tendency toward the standardisation and impoverishment of cultures as a result of the influence of globalisation. They commit the signatory states to foster cultural diversity and safeguard the intangible cultural heritage even more strongly than before, and call upon them to engage in enhanced international cooperation, specifically by supporting the UNESCO funds.

The Federal Office of Culture plays an important part in integrating cultural minorities into Swiss society. For this reason, it has played an instrumental role in developing a new Languages Act (2010), which has been enacted to give precedence to the fact that Switzerland is a multilingual and multi-ethnic society. The Section for Culture and Society of the Federal Office of Culture is among other activities dedicated to promoting and safeguarding cultural diversity by supporting cultural organisations of national importance.

Pro Helvetia's statutory mission is to support those activities which promote mutual understanding among the different cultural communities. Its Literature and Society Section supports not only literary creation but also cultural projects with social and political contents, and projects that further understanding between different regional, linguistic, and ethnic communities in Switzerland, such as the translation of Swiss literature from one into another national language of Switzerland. In the areas of cultural mediation, every day and folk culture, and intercultural dialogue, Pro Helvetia provides financial support to pilot projects by application, but also initiates projects in close cooperation with other cultural institutions.

By pursuing the transversal theme of "Living Traditions", the 4 main federal actors are seeking to contribute to the appreciation of cultural traditions in Switzerland, and thus to cultural diversity. The envisaged measures include committing lay organisations supported by the federal government to the aims of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, making visible living traditions through the efforts of the Federal Office of Culture, promoting encounters between contemporary and traditional culture, fostering regional cultural initiatives through the efforts of Pro Helvetia, hosting an exhibition on "Dialects" at the National Library, and cooperation between the Swiss National Museum and young craftspeople to help convey traditional craftsmanship to a wider audience.

Both active and passive access to art and culture are an important element of social integration and a prerequisite for social participation. Switzerland has a highly developed cultural infrastructure.

Cultural diversity, access to culture, cultural exchange, and the promotion of culture in general are increasingly understood as joint, partnership-based tasks of the federal govern­ment, cantons, communes, and private bodies. The federal government focu­ses on close partnership given that the cantons and communes meet the lion's share of public funding for culture, and given that the federal government only has partial and subsidiary constitutional powers. This explains why the federal government has initiated the National Dialogue on Culture (see chapter 1.1).

In most of the larger cities, special departments and public-private initiatives attend to cultural minorities in a variety of ways. They consider the most diverse forms of integration instrumental to sustainable, urban social policy. Socio-cultural services in the various city districts play a key role in this respect.

Last update: September, 2018

The vitality of a multilingual, four-language country and the great cultural diversity it gives rise to make social cohesion a key issue in Switzerland. At the federal level, the Languages Act has been enacted to make a considerable contribution to attaining social cohesion (see chapter 2.5.4). Intermediary organisations, such as the working consortium "Parlez-vous Suisse?", also create awareness by promoting cultural policy in schools, the media, among political authorities, and within business and industry. Social cohesion is considered to be an irreplaceable instigator as well as the backbone of cultural diversity. It is therefore also an essential element of any economic and societal coexistence. This basic stance is reflected in both the federal constitution and the relevant laws, such as the new Culture Promotion Act and the Languages Act. Repeatedly referred to in this context is the key role of the media. In the larger centres, public bodies maintain their own departments of socio-culture.

On the level of the cantons and cities, numerous public and private initiatives address integration issues within cultural and socio-cultural approaches.

This information will be published as soon as possible.

Last update: September, 2018

Article 106 of the Federal Constitution distinguishes between two sectors in the gambling market, i.e. the casino sector, and lotteries, betting and skill games. The lotteries and betting sector in Switzerland is subject to the Swiss Federal Lotteries and Commercial Betting Act; it is primarily enforced by Swiss cantonal authorities, Comlot in particular. Casinos located in Switzerland, on the other hand, are subject to the Swiss Federal Games of Chance and Casinos Act (the "Casino Act"), which is enforced by the Federal Casino Board ESBK. For some time now, a comprehensive revision of Swiss gambling legislation has been planned to implement the new Federal Constitution Article 106. It is highly likely that the entire sector will eventually be regulated by a single Swiss Federal Gambling Act.

A national centre of competency for photography has already been established (Swiss Foundation of Photography and Centre for Photography in Winterthur), and this will be funded by public money and by a private foundation.

Private and public institutions are working on an integrated promotion concept for dance. Among others, this will comprise basic training and further training, the recognition of diplomas, documentation, and social security. "Tanz", a project headed by the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, was completed in 2006. The first results of its efforts can be seen in the development of the "Réseau Danse" Centre of Excellence, the introduction of postgraduate courses in dance culture and dance education as well as a Master's degree course in dance theory.

Within the new federal Culture Promotion Act (2009), Switzerland needs to develop statistics on public culture. The Federal Statistical Office has begun to establish guidelines that have relevance for strategic cultural policy planning. A group of experts is currently devising a corresponding concept.

Film promotion, under the control of the Federal Office of Culture, represents a considerable share of the federal government's promotion of culture.

Due to the structural problems of the Swiss film industry, new film promotion and funding concepts are being sought. For instance, the interest group of independent Swiss film producers points out that currently a total of 90% of the funding available for new film projects is allocated by committees and comparable decision-making bodies based on application dossiers and pledges, and that merely around 10% is allocated based on cultural and commercial success (selective and success-dependent film promotion).

The Swiss Film Archive (Cinémathèque Suisse), based in Lausanne, will be considerably expanded to do proper justice to its public remit as the "National Film Archive". Expansion also raises questions concerning funding and the appropriate legal form that the archive should take in future.

Further education in Switzerland is distinctly heterogeneous and hardly regulated by law. There is a lack of comprehensive regulation, which would otherwise allow for purposefully developing and promoting the further education sector as part of the national education system. The Federal Council has been tasked with devising a new Federal Act on Further Education.

In Switzerland, the significance of the country's intangible cultural heritage for social cohesion, for the country's cultural self-image, and for its image and appearance abroad, as well as that of its various regions, is firmly acknowledged. By ratifying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of 16 July 2008, Switzerland has formally accepted and become part of the according international legal framework.