Arts and Culture Norway is ready with a new climate and environmental program for the cultural sector. Five priority measures will speed up the green shift in cultural life.
On behalf of the Ministry of Culture and Equality, Arts and Culture Norway has prepared a climate and environmental programme for the cultural sector. The assignment came in the wake of a report that showed that half of Norwegian cultural enterprises have not introduced activities to adapt to a changing climate. 70 percent stated that they wanted to do more, and just as many thought that the state should take a driving role.
"The cultural sector has asked for action and tools to strengthen its ability to make the green transition, and Arts and Culture Norway climate and environment programme has contributed both with knowledge sharing and concrete tools. Last autumn, we conducted an input meeting with the sector and the program that is being launched responds to many of the inputs. It is exciting for the sector's work to contribute to the green transition and I look forward to seeing the results, says Minister of Culture and Equality Lubna Jaffery.
Five priority measures in 2025
The climate and environment programme contains a number of measures. Five of these are prioritised in 2025, and relate to skills enhancement and guidance, environmental requirements for recipients of state cultural funds, and a supplementary scheme for green transition in the sector.
"It has been a challenge to create measures for a sector with so many different actors. Therefore, it has been important that the sector has helped to prioritize the need to contribute to the green transition that society must go through, says Mia Frogner, responsible for climate and environment at Arts and Culture Norway.
Read the entire climate and environment program here
Hopeful support scheme will be financed
Arts and Culture Norway is in the process of implementing the first four measures in the programme, which will be carried out in collaboration with the cultural sector. The fifth measure, which is a supplement scheme, is under construction.
"When it comes to the measure to set environmental requirements for grant recipients, we have a lot of work ahead of us to find out what requirements we can and should set for Kven and Korleis. It is important that the requirements are relevant and actually contribute to restructuring," says Mia Frogner.
"The cultural sector cites scarce resources and costs as the biggest barriers to the green transition. We hope that funds for a supplementary scheme will be put in place.
Will measure emissions from the sector
In parallel with the implementation of the climate and environment programme, Arts and Culture Norway will measure emissions from the cultural sector and monitor the development of the cultural sector over time. Mia Frogner is preoccupied with seeing the measures in the program and measuring the effect in context.
"It is important that what we measure gives us good and correct insight, but also that it can be used actively to develop measures that create lasting change. I am also excited about how we can help create arenas for sharing experience and collaboration, both in and across different cultural fields. This is the most important factor in the work to become more climate- and environmentally-friendly.
Valuable input from the cultural sector
The climate and environment programme has been designed in close collaboration with the cultural sector through input meetings and consultation workshops. Kulturtanken and the Norwegian Film Institute have been part of the working group for the program.
"I would like to thank Kulturtanken and the Norwegian Film Institute for a good collaboration. Together with the many useful inputs from the sector, we have created a climate and environmental program based on what the sector needs, and what gives the best results in the work to become more environmentally friendly. No, we look forward to putting the measures into practice," says Nina Kulås, Director of Innovation and Partnerships at Arts and Culture Norway.