The Danish Arts Council and its affiliated committees have long supported a number of international initiatives and programs that are described at the end of this memorandum. On the basis of hard-won experience and need, the Council has formulated three general goals for this focus area based on a number of common principles.
In addition to this, the Danish Arts Council has launched a number of new initiatives and programs to secure its goals. In the interim, the Council has earmarked DKK 6 million over the next two years for this purpose in addition to already existing programs.
Goals and principles for ‘Art and Globalisation’
The Danish Arts Council's international goals are:
- To promote the growth of Danish art by incorporating an international dimension into the Council’s programs and initiatives to the broadest extent possible
- To increase the international mobility of Danish artists and their interaction with foreign artists
- To promote diversity in the production and promotion of art
The following principles will guide all of the Danish Arts Council’s work in this area:
Artistic quality, originality, and relevance
Artistic quality, originality, and relevance are the primary criteria for all the projects and applications the Council chooses to support nationally as well as internationally. Moreover, in the future, the Council and its committees will to a higher degree make comparisons with international projects in its assessments and decisions. Similarly, contemporary cultural and geographical contexts will be a part of the assessment of the potential for individual works to do well in the relevant markets.
Collaboration and reciprocity
The Council will emphasise reciprocal, fruitful collaborations between Danish and foreign artists, including collaborative initiatives that come from artists or art professionals themselves. In order to create the optimal conditions for developing networks, etc., it is important for artistic collaborations to be reciprocal.
Long-range, flexible, and proactive
The effort to garner attention for Danish art out in the world and to develop strong networks with international collaborative partners must necessarily be a long-range one, but the Council will also strive to facilitate a quick and flexible response to qualified inquiries from abroad for Danish art. The ability to act quickly and resolutely is often a decisive factor in international collaborations.
Knowledge-sharing, education, and debate
The Council will endeavour to share broadly what it has learned from previous experience through existing networks, easily accessible information channels, seminars, etc. The Council will support a variety of education programs for Danish artists in order to enhance their ability to meet the cultural and purely practical challenges presented by exhibiting and working internationally. Finally, the Danish Arts Council’s view is that the debate about art naturally includes art in an international perspective. On an ongoing basis, therefore, the Council will help ensure that important topics in this area are discussed publicly.
Evaluation, documentation, and follow-up
The Council’s international activities must be documented and, to the extent appropriate, evaluated. There is a need for an ongoing development of methods of evaluation and follow-up on initiatives and measures put into motion.
New initiatives from the Danish Arts Council
The Council has launched the following new initiatives in this focus area:
Employment of intercultural consultant at the Danish Arts Agency
The Danish Arts Council has decided to finance the employment of a consultant at the Danish Arts Agency. The consultant will help the Danish Arts Council focus on diversity and intercultural issues within the Council’s overall purview, including the launching of more specifically directed initiatives within individual genres. The Danish Arts Council has earmarked DKK 1.7 million over 2 years for salary and activities for the initiative with an option to apply to the Council for additional funding to resolve specific problems.
Support for residencies abroad
The Danish Arts Council, in collaboration with foreign arts councils and/or other relevant organizations and hosts, will establish an externally-directed counterpart to the existing DIVA (Danish International Visiting Artists) program, which provides foreign artists with the opportunity to become a part of Danish artistic networks. The new program will support residencies for Danish artists abroad. The program will typically cover the costs of a return ticket and a monthly work stipend as may be appropriate. The program is available to all genres under the auspices of the Council. At the same time, the promotional aspect of these residencies will be strengthened, inter alia, with the help of the Danish Arts Council’s website. The Danish Arts Council will earmark DKK 2 million over two years for the program and DKK 100,000 for the establishment of new online functions.
Competency development for artists
There is a great need to increase the opportunities and skills of Danish artists for working internationally. The Danish Arts Council, therefore, will take the initiative for education seminars, etc. for Danish artists to improve their capacity to handle the many practical issues and problems involved with working and residing abroad. The Council will assess how such a program can best be organized – for example, by exploring opportunities for collaborating with educational institutions, unions, and Danish representatives abroad. The Council will earmark DKK 100,000 annually for these activities and their promotion.
Support for major international events
Where appropriate, the Danish Arts Council will support the arrangement of major international events such as, for example, showcases and major exhibitions that can help promote familiarity with art in Denmark and Danish art internationally.
Visitation programs
Targeted visitation programs are an effective method for creating new contacts and attracting invitations from abroad. The Danish Arts Council has decided to expand existing programs to include visits abroad for Danish curators, festival directors, etc., with a view toward arranging for and inviting foreign artists, curators, etc., to visit Denmark. This change is to be financed within the existing economic framework for visitation programs in the various committees. Moreover, in the future, it will be possible to apply for funding for short, so-called ’research-programs/ fact-finding visits’ for art professionals independently. These programs are less expensive and resource-demanding than the existing visitation programs. The Danish Arts Council has authorized the Danish Arts Agency to make final decisions on applications based on general criteria and funding limits established by the Council. DKK 0.5 million has been earmarked for such research programs.
Follow-up on the DaNY-Arts project
The Danish Arts Council has identified a number of projects in a continuation of the major development project from 2006-08 between the arts scenes in, respectively, Denmark and New York that it will support further for a period. The purpose is to ensure a continued expansion of the networks between Danish and American artists that were established during the project. The Council has earmarked a total of DKK 1 million for a follow-up on these projects. Finally, the Council and its committees are considering a number of proposals from the committees for a variety of initiatives in the area of globalisation such as, for example:
· Launching a new quadrennial for contemporary art
· Increased support for translations
· Better cooperation with embassies and consulates and, possibly, cultural institutes in connection with residencies of Danish artists abroad
· Financing a showcase for performing arts in 2010 and a grant for the Assitejs World Congress in Copenhagen and Malmö in 2011.
The Council’s existing globalisation initiatives
General construction and development of networks
The Danish Arts Council supports the expansion of professional national and international artistic and cultural networks as well as the creation of meeting places and platforms for dialogue, and it strives to ensure the necessary coordination between them. The Danish Arts Agency, as secretariat for the Danish Arts Council and in collaboration with Council and committees, will maintain and develop further the existing networks and help create new ones where relevant.
Residencies in Denmark
The Danish Arts Council launched the DIVA (Danish International Visiting Artist program) program in 2008, which is open to all the Council’s artistic genres. 20 international artists and groups will visit Denmark in 2009 with a view towards collaborating with and developing networks with Danish artists.
Residencies for Danish artists abroad
The Danish Arts Council’s International Visual Arts Committee is already financing a number of residencies abroad of which there is a large number of residency options for which Danish artists may apply.
Travel grants, etc., for Danish artists
In a variety of contexts, the Danish Arts Council’s committees provide support to defray travel and boarding expenses for Danish artists in connection with their participation in projects, exhibitions, collaborations, etc.
Visitation programs for foreign artists, curators, translators, etc.
Visitation programs in Denmark for foreign artists, art professionals, and cultural operators are one of the core tasks in the operations area. The visitation programs will be financed by the Danish Arts Council’s committees and the Steering Committee between the Danish Ministry of Culture and the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by the Danish Arts Agency. A total of 75-85 visitation programs have been arranged for DKK 750,000 of the Danish Arts Council’s international funding and 20-25 visitation programs for DKK 200,000 of the Steering Committee’s funding.
Showcases
The Danish Arts Council’s Performing Arts Committee has previously held a showcase in Copenhagen in which Danish productions were presented to foreign professionals. A similar showcase is planned.
Support for translations
Danish is a relatively small language area. It is necessary to support translations into other languages if the works of Danish authors and dramatists are to be introduced and sold abroad. The Danish Arts Council’s Literature Committee already provides support for short trial translations as well as translations of entire works. A concrete collaboration between the Danish Arts Council’s Literature Committee and Performing Arts Committee is in its preparation stages in order, inter alia, to encourage translation of Danish drama.
Support for tours and participation in festivals and exhibitions abroad
The professional committees will support such activities in a variety of ways.
Participation in fairs, festivals, biennales, etc., abroad
The Danish Arts Council’s committees will support Danish participation in important international fairs, etc., in a variety of ways, often with the Danish Arts Agency as implementer.
Commission of works
The commission of works from foreign artists is a way in which foreign art can be introduced to Denmark. Such commissions have typically been used as a part of a larger project such as, for example, the U-Turn festival.
Forming consortiums
The DANY-Arts project is an example of this method in which the Danish Arts Council has entered into a collaboration with cultural institutions in New York on a major network project. This model can also be used in other countries/areas.
