30 September 2025
Hello from the North!
It has been a fantastic summer for the CAE Nordic–Baltic Hub. We kicked things off by joining BEYOND, the flagship bi-annual conference of Culture Action Europe, where more than 300 cultural producers, policymakers, artists, and workers from across Europe gathered.
Alongside the main programme, we also carved out time for our own hub meeting, this time marking the step from a Nordic to a Nordic–Baltic Hub. The meeting took place in Turin, in a beautifully regenerated street run by a local cultural association. It was an inspiring setting that reminded us how culture can breathe new life into houses, blocks, public spaces, and entire neighbourhoods.
During our conversations, we identified two urgent topics that will guide much of our work ahead:
- Culture as a stand-alone SDG goal, to strengthen culture’s position in global sustainable development frameworks.
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Artistic freedom, as threats to freedom of expression continue to grow in many parts of Europe and beyond.
After this energising gathering, we each took some time to recharge over the summer, and then came back together recently to cook up concrete plans for the upcoming season. Between now and 2026, we will host three webinars open to the public:
- Culture as a stand-alone SDG goal
- Artistic freedom and the future of cultural policy
All sessions will be livestreamed and open for wider participation.
Finally, we are thrilled to announce our CAE Satellite Meeting! It will take place in mid-April 2026 in Riga, Latvia, in collaboration with Nordic–Baltic Music Days. This two-day gathering will bring together cultural voices from across the region for dialogue, inspiration, and exchange.
We can’t wait to continue building momentum together—see you at our upcoming webinars, and hopefully in Riga in 2026!
15 May 2025
Hello from the North!
This spring, the CAE Nordic Hub gathered in Lund for a much-awaited in-person meeting hosted by our friends at Trans Europe Halles. Over lunch-to-lunch sessions on April 9 and 10, we explored key topics in cultural policy, bridging perspectives across local, regional, national and European levels.
We began with a rich and open conversation with Mårthen Mirza, Head of the Culture Department in Lund, and Sebastian Jaktling (S), Chair of the Culture and Leisure Committee. It was a grounded and honest exchange about how cultural policy takes shape on the ground (Check out the video).
This was followed by a compelling lecture from Niels Righolt titled The Future of Cultural Policy: Changing Rationales in a Digital Age. His reflections invited us to think critically about shifting paradigms in policymaking.
We then heard from Associate Professor Katja Lindqvist from Lund University, who presented findings from her recent study on rent structures in the cultural sector in Västra Götaland. The presentation sparked engaged discussion, with many participants sharing perspectives and questions.
Later in the day, Natalie Giorgadze, General Director of Culture Action Europe, introduced the Culture Compass, a timely strategic framework under discussion at the European Commission. She also presented CAE’s Ask, Pay, Trust campaign, which we explored together in the Nordic context (Check out the video for Niels, Katja and Natalie’s presentations).
We wrapped up with a session on the CAE School of Advocacy and its next steps. Two online sessions are planned for this autumn, with details to follow after Beyond the Obvious in Turin (June 4 to 7). We hope to meet again as a hub there.
Day two featured a thoughtful exchange between Anna Lyrevik, Head of Culture in Region Skåne, and Niels Righolt. Their conversation focused on the evolving societal contract of cultural organisations and the challenges cultural leaders face today.
Until next time!
6 March 2024
Hello from the North!
We are CAE’s Nordic Hub, a group of cultural professionals and proud CAE members working to strengthen cultural advocacy across the Nordic region. While we’ve been collaborating for a while, CAE’s Beyond the Obvious conference in Malmö (June 2024) gave us the push to take things further. Since then, we’ve been building momentum to strengthen and connect the Nordic cultural voice.
One big step forward: we applied for funding from Nordic Culture Point, and we got it! This means that throughout 2025, we’ll be launching the School of Advocacy, a capacity-building programme designed for leaders of cultural institutions. The focus? Three key themes:
- Advocacy – Helping cultural voices be heard where decisions are made.
- Public Funding Knowledge – Demystifying the Nordic and EU funding landscape.
- Leadership & Change Management – Giving cultural leaders the tools to navigate change.
After our latest discussions, change management feels like the biggest priority right now. The cultural sector is in constant flux, and we want to equip leaders with the skills to adapt, advocate, and stay resilient.
We’ll share monthly updates from the Nordic Hub, keeping you in the loop on what we’re working on, key discussions, and ways to get involved.
This is it from the North. Until next time…