From institutions to events – structural change in Norwegian local cultural policy

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the ongoing restructuring of local cultural policy in Norway. Since the 1990s, we argue, the local cultural sector has been undergoing a structural change, in the form of a movement from institutions to events. As public resources granted to traditional local cultural institutions such as libraries and culture schools decrease, there is a rise in resources granted to new arenas of local cultural life, such as cultural festivals and culture houses. We explain this shift of balance from institutions to events in local cultural policy with reference to three types of mechanism. First, we point to the ‘flexibilisation’ of the cultural sector, which ensues from its sensitivity to changes in the funding of the local governments. Second, new forms of earmarked state funding schemes pull local resources in the direction of cultural festivals and cultural events. A third mechanism that explains the shift from institutions to events is local policymakers’ adoption of theories of culture as a source of urban and regional regeneration.

Keywords:

• local cultural policy
• structural change
• Norway

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to Leila Jancovich, Per Mangset, participants at the 8th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research, Hildesheim, and two anonymous referees for their very helpful comments on and suggestions for improvements to an earlier version of this paper. Any remaining errors are our own.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

We are indebted to Leila Jancovich, Per Mangset and participants at the 8th International Conference on Cultural Policy Research, Hildesheim, for comments on and suggestions for improvements to an earlier version of this paper. Any remaining errors are our own.

1. Net operating expenditure is the local governments’ own expenditure, since net expenditure = gross expenditures − user fees and user charges − grants and payments from central government, counties or other municipalities.

2. According to Statistics Norway (2011, p. 15), the subcategory ‘Cultural infrastructure and other culture’, excluding operating cost on cultural infrastructure, consists mainly of funding for voluntary organisations and funding for cultural festivals and cultural events.