New education will strengthen cultural life in the North Calotte
This week, the good news came that a training course for international cultural producers will be launched in Boden. The work to establish the training has been ongoing since 2018. “I had almost given up,” says Ricky Sandberg at Region Norrbotten.
The Swedish Agency for Vocational Education and Training (MYH) has given the green light to the two-year YH education. In September, the first students will be able to begin the education, which will partly be conducted remotely. The education is based at Campus Sävast at Boden Business Park. The education provider Almost There AB (formerly Changemaker AB) has previously held a number of education courses there in the gaming industry, hospitality and food crafts.
Jan-Erik Lundström and the Artists' Group in Luleå have developed a study plan, network and the applications themselves for the three application rounds.
Lack of the right skills
An education at a university of applied sciences should always correspond to an actual need for skills in the labor market. Norrbotten is one of the regions that invests the most in culture, and our municipalities have high ambitions in the cultural area. But access to the right skills has not kept up. That must change now.
– This is the third time we've applied, so I had almost started to give up, says Ricky Sandberg, art consultant at Region Norrbotten and initiator.
The idea of training as a cultural producer was raised by Ricky Sandberg several years ago and he worked on the first mapping of needs. In recent years, he has been pushing the issue as an arts consultant at Region Norrbotten. Photo: Ulrika Englund.
A feasibility study across the entire Barents Region, partly funded by Region Norrbotten, showed that it is difficult to recruit producers who can, for example, produce film, music, exhibitions and festivals. The feasibility study also showed a longing for more collaborations, both across national borders and between different forms of cultural expression.
– There is a need for a link between culture and the audience – a producer. We have so few artists and they should be allowed to be artists. The producer is the one to whom the art and cultural practitioners should send their invoices. At the same time, this link is the tool for presenting culture to a broad audience, it is part of the development and becomes the platform for culture to be made visible and available to everyone, says Ricky Sandberg.
Focus on Sápmi and Barents
The new education will provide general knowledge about art and culture, with a particular focus on contemporary and democratic issues in the Arctic – Sápmi and the Barents region – and the role of culture in society. In addition, students will receive training in areas such as project management, marketing, administration, financing, communication and international cooperation.
During the preliminary study phase, the idea was that the education would be open to students from all over the Arctic: Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia. The idea itself came from a previous exchange and the bridges that were built at that time. Then there was war and Russia withdrew, but it is still an international education. It will be conducted in classrooms and digitally, and with internships at cultural institutions and cultural organizations. It also includes the implementation of your own project or production.
The training will be run under the auspices of Almost There AB at Campus Sävast in Boden. Photo: Municipality of Boden/KOMM
– The idea is not that they will be employed by the institutions that already exist, they will create their own projects, such as an “Icehotel” or a small gallery in the countryside or their own festival. My dream is that those who take the course will work and have internships at the various institutions and events that already exist in the area: for example, the Luleå Biennial, the Korpilombolo Night Festival and the Capital of Culture year in Bodö. Then you win that the students learn but also inspire the institutions and cultural events we have in Norrbotten and enrich them, says Ricky Sandberg.
Promotes attractiveness
Norrbotten's labor market and economy today rest heavily on basic industry. A broadened and diversified labor market promotes the county's attractiveness. It also provides good opportunities to both participate in and practice culture. This is one of the reasons why Region Norrbotten has worked to bring about the new education.
– We have been working with advocacy for a couple of years towards the YH authority in dialogues and with a letter. This is a result of long-term advocacy and we are so happy and proud that this training will be available from autumn 2024, says Stina Almkvist, strategist at the regional development department.
Text: Sara Stylbäck Vesa