Balancing between artistic freedom and instrumentalisation. Art’s role in Nordic cultural policy.

Cultural policy documents are often considered to be simply intended for governmental officials’ use. Motivation for this inquiry is based on the idea that cultural policy does not limit itself by being merely a set of documents, but it is first and foremost an ideological field in which different practices emerge. This thesis is built on explorative cultural policy research and aims to explore and illuminate complex issues around Nordic cultural policy. In 2021, Nordic Council of Ministers, a central platform for cultural co-operation in the Nordic region, has published a new Co-operation programme on culture policy 2021-2024. The programme serves as a main Nordic cultural policy document and draws particular attention to the importance of art and culture in reaching regional goals for sustainable development. This inquiry is a qualitative case study of Nordic Culture Point, a Nordic cultural institution that aims to translate this policy into real-life practices with the help of funding programmes for art and culture. Thesis investigate institution’s strategic role as well as the role of funding programmes in relation to Nordic cultural policy. In addition, key focus is to investigate how the Nordic policy views the role and condition of art and culture in the context of regional development. To do so, the inquiry builds on the concepts of arm’s length principle, artistic freedom, and art’s instrumentalisation. Thesis provides in-depth analysis of policy documents, its design and attempts to balance artistic freedom and instrumental views towards the arts. In addition, it draws attention on how the policy and its implementation affect the work of funding advisors and experts at Nordic Culture Point. The analysis reveals that Nordic cultural policy views art and culture as important recourses for different welfare policy objectives. In addition, it applies a complex instrumental rationale at times suggesting an imbalance between intrumentalisation and artistic freedom. Opinions of advisors and experts also reveal that this imbalance may at times affect funding allocating for art and cultural projects