New report warns of political control of culture

In 2019, the authority for cultural analysis was commissioned by the government to look more closely at the application of the so-called principle of arm's length distance - that is, the idea that politicians should not interfere in the content of culture.

In the report "Art is so free", the authority now states that there is cultural policy control at municipal, regional, and government level that affects, or risks affecting, artistic freedom in a negative way.

Government donors

Among other things, it is mentioned how the state grant system for the cultural sector is designed, and then the Swedish Arts Council's application form is highlighted as a specific example.

The Swedish Council for Culture, and other state donors, shall, on behalf of the government, for example, report on how they contribute to sustainable development and integrate the rights of different groups in their activities.

The Swedish Arts Council must also to some extent work to promote certain perspectives in the artistic content.

However, according to the report, it is not clear from the Government's governance how the Swedish Arts Council should relate, or not relate, to these perspectives in the granting of grants.

Risk of impact

In the application form, those who apply for a grant are asked how they integrate different forms of rights perspective into their project, their business or their music publishing.

- Then a majority of the applicants interpret it as meaning that they should describe how these different perspectives come into the artistic content, says Pelle Amberntsson, researcher and analyst at the Swedish Agency for Cultural Analysis.

- No matter how legitimate these different perspectives are, it is simply not fully compatible with artistic freedom, as there is a clear risk that the applicants will be affected in a certain direction.

Then it is difficult for us to say exactly how much one influences the applicants.

According to the inquiry, it is also not possible to apply the principle of arm's length distance fully at regional and municipal level.

On the one hand, there is a lack of protection against political influence over artistic content that the arm's length principle presupposes, and on the other hand, several regions 'and municipalities' approach to the arm's length principle is ambiguous.