At a conference hosted by the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, 14–15 February 2008, Minister of Culture and Church Affairs Trond Giske asked 'Are there outsiders to arts – and if so, how can they be included?'
'One of the important objectives of our Year of Cultural Diversity is to integrate multicultural aspects of arts and culture in institutions and activities that receive public funding, the Minister said. 'Our aim is to put in place a new state of mind, a curious, innovative, open-minded new attitude in a population who welcomes the challenges of an open world. Our 'grand project' is to bring people together - especially people who have never shared experiences before - and to build lasting and trusting relationships for the future. Hopefully the Year of Diversity will bring people of our country to discover new exciting elements of our cultural diversity and to look at our culture from a different perspective.'