40 percent of the country's cultural schools are threatened by cuts. 15 cultural schools risk being completely closed down. This shows a new report from the Culture School Council.

"We have not seen such worrying figures since the crisis in the 1990s," Torgny Sandgren of the Culture School Council tells Culture News.

According to the organization, the situation is due to the fact that more and more municipalities have been struggling financially, and want to save by reducing the cultural area. The Cultural Schools Council now wants the government to intervene and support the municipal cultural schools financially.

The Minister of Culture: The municipality's responsibility

But culture and democracy minister Amanda Lind (MP) believes that the responsibility lies with the municipalities.

- The cultural schools are a municipal activity. From the government's point of view, we have been clear in emphasizing how important the cultural schools are: we have a national policy for the cultural school and have also invested in them in our budget. Now the municipalities must respond and continue to prioritize the cultural schools, says Amanda Lind (MP), to the Culture News.

Our Nordic neighboring countries have national legislation that states that each municipality must have a cultural school to ensure that children have equal access to practice culture. But such legislation is not relevant in Sweden, says Amanda Lind.

- Legislation is not on the table now, but I will of course follow the developments closely in the future. I hope that all municipalities around the country see the value of the cultural school and continue to invest in it, says Amanda Lind (MP).