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In the state budget, the Ministry of Culture proposed abolishing the scheme with fixed distribution codes between the state and the county municipality for cultural institutions. It has caused both the culture industry and the opposition to rage.
The scheme has functioned as a splice layer with the state accounting for 70 percent of funding, while county municipalities will account for 30 percent. The Ministry of Culture would prefer to facilitate dialogue meetings where the parties will agree on financing, it appears in the culture budget.
This means that financial support for various cultural institutions such as the National Stage in Bergen would not have been determined in advance.
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The Labor Party’s cultural policy spokesperson, Anette Trettebergstuen, reacts strongly to this. She believes that what until now has been fixed and predictable is now becoming uncertain and unpredictable for cultural institutions across the country.
– This has such important consequences for culture in the country that I think it is the most expensive thing the conservative government has done in these eight years in the field of culture, he says.
Now, however, the Minister of Culture, Abid Raja, says that the proposal has been put on hold.
Zeros out
In a joint interview with Dagbladet, Culture Minister Abid Raja (V) and Storting Culture and Family Committee Chair Kristin Ørmen Johnsen (H) say the proposal has been “zeroed” and frozen, for the good of the cultural industry due to the crisis of the crown.
– Close the Ministry of Culture
– I informed the ministry that we could not start this now in the midst of the crown crisis. It had gone completely wrong. The ministry has listened to me and they will go through this again. But nothing will happen in 2021, Kristin Ørmen Johnsen tells Dagbladet.
Work must read newspapers
Both Johnsen and Raja refer to a statement given to Bergens Tidende when the state budget was presented. There, Johnsen was informed that the settlement had been suspended.
– This was reported (Johnsen, journal.anm.) To Bergens Tidende when the state budget was presented on October 7. So I think it’s a bit strange that this is still a topic, says Raja.
– This is in print, and Anette Trettebergstuen and the Labor Party should start reading the newspapers, says Johnsen.
Raja says that he and Johnsen talk together, so there is no doubt that the settlement will not happen now.
– My goal has always been to help cultural life overcome the crisis of the crown in the best possible way. We can only achieve this through dialogue and good input from the cultural sector, which is also the case in this case. So I want to create as much predictability as possible for culture across the country and therefore it is wiser now to postpone this and make a new assessment of this, taking into account the crisis of the crown, says the minister .
Will save Christmas concerts
– Raja is not to be trusted
Anette Trettebergstuen thinks it disconcerting that the Minister of Culture refers to a statement in Bergens Tidende.
– The Storting has not received information about it, and we relate to what is in the state budget. This is totally vacillating policy, and I wonder if Abid Raja is in control. This is incredibly expensive! she says.
Trettebergstuen refers to the fact that Raja this spring scrapped planned regional culture reform, in which the regions themselves had to fund their own institutions.
– The fact that you say that you do not want to eliminate this scheme at the moment does not say anything about whether they will do so in the future or not. It shows that Raja is not to be trusted. He promised to put aside the reform, but now he is not ruling it out. Me and the Labor Party are going to war against this, he says.
– still alive
The director of the Norwegian Association of Theater and Orchestra (NTO), Morten Gjelten, says that he certainly did not read Bergens Tidende’s article as if the case was the target.
– The clarification that Dagbladet now comes with is absolutely necessary. If I understand it correctly, this only means an icing for one year and not an evaluation of the actual deal. This means that this case is still alive, Gjelten tells Dagbladet.
In an SMS to Dagbladet, Abid Raja says that the Ministry of Culture has not sent official information about the change because the Storting is considering the budget.
– The ruling parties, and the majority consisting of four parties, will write comments on this and promote the decisions of the applications, but it will be some time before it arrives. So we opted to clarify this at Dagbladet now, so that it can create predictability for the culture sector, Raja writes.
– a slap in the face
Strong reactions in the districts
The opposition and cultural institutions have argued that closing the “splice layer” will lead to a weakened economy, unpredictability for future finances, greater differences between institutions from one region to another and in supply to the people who live there. .
The director of Tromsø’s Hålogaland Theater informs Dagbladet that they were not under the impression that Bergens Tidende’s article was government policy, but rather a proposal from a conservative politician.
The director of the theater at Trøndelag Theater, Elisabeth Egseth Hansen, fears that the cultural sector of the region will lose in the battle for funds in competition with other tasks that county municipalities and municipalities have if the plan is eliminated.
Asked by Dagbladet on Wednesday if he learned that the Culture Ministry has retracted the settlement, Egseth says he received the article at Bergens Tidende, but has not received any information from the Culture Ministry or the county municipality.
