Cultural calls, crisis meetings and dramatic emergency calls in social media. The situation is hard pressed for much of Swedish cultural life during the ongoing pandemic. The government has promised crisis support of SEK 500 million to the most affected sectors.

During the night until Thursday, the application period was closed for the 370 million that will be distributed by the Cultural Council, which constitutes the lion's share of the support.

2100 applications totaling SEK 760 million have been submitted, and now waiting days are awaiting the Cultural Council - which will make decisions on who is granted crisis support even before midsummer.

Music life, with its set tours and concerts, accounts for half of the applications, while all theater and dance performances in the performing arts account for just over 25 percent.

Ready before midsummer

The Director General of the Cultural Council, Kajsa Ravin, is optimistic that decisions can now be made quickly.

- The goal is to be ready with preparation before midsummer, and hopefully be able to pay out the support before then, Ravin tells Culture News.

The figure of 2100 is preliminary, duplicates and incorrect applications will be thinned out, and during Friday, the board will decide which guidelines will apply to those who will receive support - and which will be without.

"Great responsibility"

That all the requested 760 million will not be distributed is clear already, but since the applicants are only entitled to between 75 and 50 percent of the requested sum, it is difficult to say how many applications will be rejected, according to Kajsa Ravin .

- We do not yet know if we will have to say no to those who have applied or not.

We have heard dramatic stories from hard-pressed cultural actors in recent weeks. How do you view the Cultural Council's responsibility to decide who gets support and not?

- It feels like an important and huge responsibility, and we will do our best to be as transparent and communicative as possible, says Kajsa Ravin.

- We have listened to both industry organizations and individual cultural practitioners' stories, and it is extremely painful - the whole community is in crisis.