“Aesthetic subjects are not recreation”
Children have a self-evident right to culture - but how do we go from lottery to guarantee? Today, municipalities, schools and preschools do not offer all children culture on equal terms. Last week, decision-makers and professionals from both schools and culture from all over the country gathered in Luleå. The goal: to pave the way for greater equality.
All children have the right to culture – this is stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is law in Sweden. If this right is to be fulfilled, preschools and schools, among others, have an important role to play – otherwise the right to culture becomes a question of the families' resources, conditions and perhaps interest.
The conference was inaugurated with three flying paper airplanes by politicians Johannes Sundelin (S), chairman of the regional development committee in Region Norrbotten, Evelina Rydeker (MP), municipal councilor in Luleå, and Maritha Meetzh (S), chairman of the children and education committee in Luleå municipality. The paper airplanes symbolized dreams, creativity and movement – but also something that requires help to take off.
– Norrbotten is rich in rare earth metals, but we are also rich in culture. If we give children and young people the opportunity to mine it as early as possible, they will not only have a richer life, but also an ability to meet challenges and the future with more “tools” in their backpacks, said Johannes Sundelin.
Politicians Maritha Meetzh, Johannes Sundelin and Evelina Rydeker opened the conference by throwing three paper airplanes. Photo: Sanna Kalla.
Trends and tendencies
Opening speaker Karin Helander reminded us that all children are unique. Her lecture was about how children's rights to culture and art have changed over time and what trends and tendencies we can see today.
“Every child has their own, completely unique experience of culture,” she said.
Helander is a professor of theatre studies and a teacher at the Center for Children's Culture Research, among others. She also noted that there are still taboos within children's culture, around difficult topics such as divorce and death.
Karin Helander gave an opening speech with a strong focus on children. What does the adult world say about culture – and what do the children think? Photo: Sanna Kalla.
Moderator Parisa Amiri skillfully navigated the conference's various seminars and panel discussions, managing to balance serious questions with laughter.
One of the panel discussions was about the entire chain, from teacher training and curriculum to a child's cultural experience. What is needed within this chain to strengthen children's right to culture? Pernilla Sundström, Swedish National Agency for Education, highlighted the importance of elevating culture in schools.
“Aesthetic subjects represent their own learning and are not recreation between math and English,” she said.
Drama pedagogy for adapted schools
Scen:se and Uppsala Municipality invited to an optional seminar on the role of performing arts in adapted schools. Scen:se is a development project at Folkteatern Gävleborg that creates inclusive and accessible performing arts and drama pedagogy for children and young people, regardless of functionality or needs. Since its inception, the project has had close collaboration with an adapted school through, among other things, method development in drama pedagogy.
– Children's cultural experiences should not be confused with habilitation or pedagogy, but should contribute to their own cultural and artistic learning, said Eva von Hofsten, initiator of Scen.se.
Susanne Frick, Uppsala Municipality, Eva von Hofsten, Scen:se, Åsa Wiborgh, special education teacher. Photo: Annika Hellgren.
The conference was a follow-up to a conference held the other year in Mölndal. The audience, who had come to Luleå from all over Sweden, was engaged and occasionally burst into spontaneous applause. Culture is a hot political issue, which was not least noticeable during the panel with parliamentarians.
The conference had been planned by Luleå Municipality with Region Norrbotten as co-organizer. For Region Norrbotten, the years 2025-2026 are the theme year for culture for children and young people. One conclusion from the conference was that both governance and multi-level collaboration are required if culture is to truly become a guarantee and not a lottery.
Text: Annika Hellgren, Sara Stylback Vesa