Kulturdirektoratet - Arts and Culture Norway's museum programme provides grants for sixteen projects over the next few years. The multi-year projects are largely based on long-term collaborative solutions between the museums.
In the period 2024-2026, the Norwegian Directorate of Culture has two museum programmes, which provide grants for projects in Norwegian museums. The Active Collaboration programme is aimed at three-year projects, while the Accessible Museums programme provides grants for one-year projects. A total of 36 applications were received with a total application sum of NOK 123 million.
"Museums are a central part of our democratic infrastructure. We want our museums to continue their good work of being active and relevant institutions in democracy and society, both nationally and locally. Therefore, it is important for us to help them get the expertise and tools they need," says Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery. "It's also nice to see that there are more museums that will collaborate in the future – it means even more knowledge sharing and thus an even stronger museum sector," she adds.
Active collaboration – three-year projects
The museum programme will stimulate new, permanent interaction structures, strengthen expertise and infrastructure in all museum disciplines, and strengthen the museums' work on competence development and the development of methods and strategies to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. In the deliberations, emphasis has been placed on the fact that the projects must contribute to competence development and have specific descriptions of the development of methods and tools for lasting collaboration structures.
A total of 24 applications were received for the Active Collaboration programme, with a total application value of NOK 120 million. Eight projects have been granted with a total commitment of NOK 36 million over three years.
"The applications show that the museums have worked well with competence development and are concerned with finding tools and methods that can contribute to a more sustainable development of society. All the projects that are granted grants are collaborative projects between several museums and the higher education sector," says Inga-Lill Sundset, Head of Section for Cultural Heritage and Museums at the Norwegian Directorate of Culture.
Among the projects that receive grants is the Museums in Akershus, which applies on behalf of five museums and several educational institutions. The project SAMBA: Active collaboration for sustainability dissemination in museums will establish collaboration on sustainability issues and a platform for interaction with lasting impact, with the aim of building a culture for sustainability work and increased sustainability competence in the museums.
The Norwegian Industrial Workers Museum has applied together with three other museums and several educational institutions for the project Lasting Competence Enhancement. The aim of the project is to strengthen the support functions for research in the museums, integrate the research into other museum practices and strengthen collaboration with the higher education sector.
Accessible museums – one-year projects
The programme is intended to help the museums strengthen their work on prioritising and planning measures that reduce social, structural and physical barriers, and that make the museum more accessible to people with disabilities. The goal is to lay the foundation for structural change in the museum's work with these target groups. The projects that have been awarded grants can refer to plans for dialogue and collaboration with user groups in the work of mapping needs and possible solutions for better accessibility.
"The Accessible Museums programme is the result of a long-term commitment by the Norwegian Directorate of Culture to increase the focus on accessibility in Norwegian museums. For many years, museum statistics have shown that museums are actively working to increase accessibility, but also that there is a long way to go. We hope that the granted projects will strengthen the visibility of this type of work in the museum sector, so that more and more visitors can make use of the museums," says Sundset.
For the Accessible Museums programme, 12 applications were received with a total application amount of NOK 3.2 million. Eight projects have been granted with a total commitment of NOK 2.1 million.
Among the projects receiving grants is the Aust-Agder Museum and Archives, which will carry out a collaborative project between all the museums in Agder and the Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted's county association in Agder. The main goal is to increase accessibility for blind and partially sighted people in the participating museums. The Norwegian Association of the Blind and Partially Sighted also contributes to the project.
The Museum of Justice has been awarded grants to develop its expertise and museum professional practice in order to become a better museum for people with intellectual disabilities. The museum also aims to contribute to greater knowledge and awareness of this audience group in Norwegian museums in general. The Museum of Justice already has good expertise in physical accessibility and now wants to expand its expertise to develop the museum for people with cognitive challenges and intellectual disabilities.
The Directorate of Culture's museum programme
The Directorate of Culture's museum programme is financed with the profits from Norsk Tipping AS, and is intended to help the museums strengthen the necessary expertise and develop methods and tools to solve museum tasks.
See all decisions for Active Collaboration - three-year projects
See all decisions for Accessible Museums - one-year projects