The Culture Support Programme aims to reach out to new interest groups and reflect new cultural expressions. The purpose is to increase knowledge and interest in Nordic cultural co-operation among more people and across generations. The vision is for the Nordic region to become the world’s most integrated and sustainable region by 2030.
Culture binds people together, and people who collaborate on cultural projects build trust in each other and the people around them. Culture is inherently sustainable, and NAPA grants support to projects that are sustainable from an environmental, social and / or competitive perspective.
In all the conversations we had when we changed director, we received feedback that few knew about NAPA and about the opportunities that lay in the Culture Support Programme. This resulted in an information strategy where we emphasized telling children and young people and cultural actors throughout Greenland about the opportunities that lie in Nordic co-operation in general and in the Culture Support Programme in particular.
New applicants
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Since 2019, NAPA has aimed to make the Culture Support Programme better known and thereby attract new applicants. Out of all applicants in 2021, 63% were first-time applicants, and out of these, Greenlandic applicants accounted for 66%, which is less than in 2021, but still more than half.
Since its establishment in 1987, the cultural support program has annually distributed 3 M Dkk to cultural actors in the Nordic countries. In the last five years, there have been 50-60% Greenlandic applicants and 40-50% applicants from the rest of the Nordic region.
NAPA’s cultural support program differs significantly from other programs in the Nordic region, where Greenlandic applicants have a significantly lower proportion of applicants and in some programs are completely absent. In total, in the Cultural Support Program, Greenlandic applicants have been awarded 7.9 million in the period 2016-2021. Other Nordic projects have received 9.8 million in the period 2016-2021.
Statistics for previous years show that Greenlandic applications make up 50-60% of the applicant base, but it has been declining for several years. In 2020, the COVID19-pandemic probably led to Greenlandic applicants in particular being cautious about applying for Nordic co-operation projects that required travel activities. In 2021, we see that the number of applicants increased again.
Number of applications 2016-2021
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In 2021, NAPA’s Culture Support Programme received 101 applications, which is 14 applications more than in 2020, but still a low number compared to the 145 applications on average in 2016-2019. The total application amount was DKK 9 million. We have allocated a total of DKK 2.8 million.
Most applications came from Greenland (44%). In 2020, the number of Greenlandic applications was significantly lower than usual, which led to a clear goal in the strategy to increase the number of Greenlandic applicants in early 2021, and the figures show that the strategy has worked despite the fact that the number is still lower than before – until 2019, 50-60% of the applications came from Greenland.
In addition, 42% of the applications are from Denmark, which shows a clear increase from the approx. 25% every year in 2012-2019, but less than in 2020, when 45% of all applications came from Denmark. In 2020 and 2021, the number of applications from countries other than Greenland and Denmark has been low compared to before, which may be partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic which still affects the travel business in the Nordic region.
Previously, approx. 20-25% of the applications came from other Nordic or non-Nordic countries, while in 2021 applications from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Slovenia accounted for only 14% of all applications.
NAPA received applications from 7 different countries in 2021, of which 4 also received grants. Of the 53 grants, 55% went to Greenland-clad projects, 38% to projects with a Danish project owner, and the rest (7%) was distributed between projects from Sweden, Norway and Finland.
In terms of money, the distribution is as follows: Greenland accounted for 46% of the amounts granted, Denmark 46%, Sweden 4%, Norway 3% and Finland 1%. There were no applications from the Faroe Islands or Åland in 2021.
In 2022, it will also be possible to choose “Sápmi” as a country, which will help NAPA to also register Sami applicants and project partners, which is considered important in terms of highlighting and recognizing Arctic perspectives in the Nordic region.
Applicants sorted by country of residence
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Granted applications sorted by country of resicence
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Granted applications sorted by genre
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As in 2020, most of the funding has gone to projects related to music (19%), but there is a big difference between 2020 and 2021 in the category “exhibition”, which is the second largest category in 2021 with 9 projects or 17 % of all approved projects. In 2020, there was only one project associated with the exhibition category. Projects related to children, young people and civil society accounted for 15% of all approved projects, films 13%, visual arts, performing arts and miscellaneous (other / not relevant) respectively 9%, dance 6% and crafts 2%.
Most, 40%, of the grants were in the form of project support and 32% in the form of travel support. 28% of the appropriations were combinations of the two. Travel support has long been the most popular form of NAPA support due to the expensive ticket prices in the Arctic, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the travel business in the Nordic countries is low and thus also the need for travel support.
Since 2019, NAPA has aimed to make the Culture Support Programme better known and thereby attract new applicants. Out of all applicants in 2021, 63% were first-time applicants, and out of these, Greenlandic applicants accounted for 66%, which is less than in 2021, but still more than half.
We have worked to update the handbook for the Culture Support Programme and clarify the criteria in line with the vision «the world’s most integrated and sustainable region by 2030» and our own ambition to promote Arctic perspectives throughout the Nordic region.
The criteria are:
More than half (58%) of the approved projects are aimed at children and young people. And 50% of those who applied for Culture Support for the first time, engage and involve children and young people.
3 out of 53 approved projects tick in all criteria, otherwise it is fairly evenly distributed. There are the lowest approved projects within the category “Sustainable in an environmental, social and / or competitive perspective”. 42% of the approved projects fall into this category.
In 2021, NAPA implemented a digital application system to reduce the risk of sources of error in the application process.
The new system reduces the number of human errors that can otherwise occur in mail correspondence. It makes it easier to pull reports from the system, helps with internal communication and evaluation of projects and enables safer and more flexible contact with the bank in relation to disbursement of appropriations.
The system is new and is still evolving according to NAPA’s needs and feedback from applicants.
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