Kultur Gävleborg

(Culture Gävleborg)


The assignment within art aims to strengthen, promote and develop a vibrant and sustainable art world in Gävleborg. Working with art involves a close and attentive collaboration with the county’s actors. The assignment includes providing necessary and complementary tools in the form of ongoing education, meeting places or technical equipment. These can include education, network meetings or various support that enables the exchange of experience for artists, art teachers, associations or culture officials.

The work covers everything from social and integrative art projects and a visualisation of art as a social and critical reflection, to art as a starting point for learning.

Through art education, temporary and mobile exhibitions, workshops and lectures, the assignment within art also cooperates with the team behind the art collection work within Region Gävleborg. Among other things, this is in the form of integrating art, exhibition technology and artistic processes and support for the county’s organisers and professional cultural creators. In this context, work with art disseminates knowledge about MU agreements (the Swedish national framework agreement for artists’ compensation for preparing and participating in exhibitions).

Region Gävleborg’s art collection activities have the task of managing, producing and bringing the art collection to life. Region Gävleborg aims to work according to the so-called one percentage rule, where 1 percent of the building budgets are used for producing public art. The purpose is to contribute to a stimulating and humanistic environment within Region Gävleborg’s various departments.

Cross media

Kultur Gävleborg’s unique work with cross media develops skills, methods and coordination in the county. Through development support, the organisation contributes to raising the level of knowledge about the possibilities of digitisation, cross media, transmedia and participatory culture. Method development is often about project leading pilot projects for children and young people with inclusion and diversity as targets.

Work to promote cross media primarily involves cultural professionals with permanent regional assignments and municipal activities to bring the cross media perspective into their regular activities. This involves participation, accessibility, inclusion and democratisation through, for example, game development, design or various forms of digitisation.


Kultur Gävleborg will integrate, showcase and develop dance in Gävleborg. In the area of dance, the organisation arranges ongoing education, network meetings and inspiration days where dance actors, associations and culture officials are target groups.

Dance is promoted by developing and visualising professional dance. Special investments are in hip-hop culture. This work is done in collaboration with other art forms and together with municipalities. Dance is promoted through dance camps and workshops as well as audience and event organiser development for both public organisers and in schools and preschools.

The activities promote professional dance performances for both school and public event organisers, and contribute to providing national and international guest performances through the Dansnät Sverige network, Riksteatern, NorrDans and independent dance groups. In this way, the county’s inhabitants can participate in high-quality dance art, both as an audience and an active participant. Access to professional dance is increased by offering dance buses around the county, which also result in greater involvement from municipalities and theatre associations.

The promotion of dance involves ongoing education and inspiration days with, for example Dansväskan (the dance bag). The material in the bag is specifically aimed at the elderly and people with disabilities or special needs. The bag provides tools for working with the body and other senses in order to be able to use dance as a form of expression.

By arranging workshops and dance camps in collaboration with other stakeholders, the promotion of dance also supports children and young people’s right to express themselves through dance. Children and young people are given the opportunity to experience professional dance as an audience, create dance and choreography, and practice dance, for example through aesthetic learning processes.


Kultur Gävleborg’s assignment within film aims to contribute to a thriving film life throughout the county. The regional film advisers shall, through collaboration, coordination and granting, enable the county’s municipalities, cultural practitioners and civil society to start, run or carry out film culture promotion and film educational projects either themselves or in cooperation.

Kultur Gävleborg contributes to bringing film culture and filmmaking closer to the inhabitants of the county, for example by creating meeting places, arranging training courses and workshops, supporting and running pilot projects and producing certain educational material. In this way, Kultur Gävleborg supports activities within Skolbio (School cinema), film in the local culture schools, Skapande skola (Creative school) and intercultural film projects.

Kultur Gävleborg’s assignment within film should promote screening activities in the county through skill development, coordination and project support for the county’s cinemas and other film screeners. Working with the opportunities related to digitisation helps to create accessible, interactive and nearby meeting places for people.

Kultur Gävleborg’s assignment within film aims to strengthen the conditions for a creative and qualitative film production in Gävleborg through development and project support, supervision, financial or technical support, networks, meeting places and ongoing education. Special focus should be on young filmmakers and the development of talent.


Kultur Gävleborg’s assignment within handicraft aims to preserve the traditions of craftsmanship, contribute to the development of craftsmanship, and to strengthen craftsmanship and its relevance in the present. Work with handicraft involves initiating and coordinating efforts, primarily in collaboration with Gästrike-Hälsinge handicraft associations, local associations, county museums, study associations and craft entrepreneurs.

Part of the assignment involves safeguarding the ability of craftsmanship to create meeting places over linguistic and cultural boundaries. Activities in the field of handicraft also contribute to promoting handicraft from a sustainability perspective, by inspiring one’s own creation and innovation, and preserving and disseminating knowledge about different materials and techniques.


Literature is a new culture area for Kultur Gävleborg. The regional initiatives aim to coordinate, collaborate, showcase, strengthen and support literature as an art form. Guidance is provided in the national goal formulated in the report  Läsandets kultur (SFS 2012:65): Alla, oavsett bakgrund och förutsättningar, ska ges tillgång till litteratur av hög kvalitet (Reading culture: Everyone, regardless of background and conditions, shall be given access to high-quality literature).

Kultur Gävleborg intends to develop strategies and infrastructure for dialogue and collaboration with authors as well as representatives of the municipalities, the literary actors in civil society and the cultural and creative industries. This is the basis for future choices and development of the area.


Kultur Gävleborg’s promotion and production within music aims to ensure that everyone who lives in the county has access to various genres of professional music. The organisation produces and coordinates tours, marketing and subsidises the costs. Kultur Gävleborg offers music series with professional musicians and supports several music festivals and concerts in Gävleborg.

By promoting productions from independent groups and productions developed for specific needs, Kultur Gävleborg provides a broad, flexible and decentralised offering to the county’s organisers. This promotes interest in music among the county’s residents. Many of the music events result from interaction with local organisers.

Kultur Gävleborg’s work with music involves running two youth orchestras and several projects aimed at giving young people the opportunity to develop their musical abilities. The organisation also offers concerts and workshops with professional musicians for preschools, schools and culture schools, as well as collaborates with various event organisers in the county.

Kultur Gävleborg cooperates with Gävle Symfoniorkester and the organisations can together offer the county a varied and high quality range of music.

Kultur Gävleborg offers organisers training, mentoring and audience development. The interaction with the county’s municipalities and the non-profit sector is of the utmost importance.

Regional libraries and reading-promoting activities

Regional library activities are covered by the Library Act (2013:801). Regional library activities develop skills, coordinate and provide development support to the public libraries in Gävleborg. The ambition is to give all residents equal access to literature, information and library services to support formal and informal learning through libraries.

The regional library activities conduct external monitoring and run projects, as well as work with method development.

World Heritage Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland

Kultur Gävleborg’s assignment within the World Heritage Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland is to carry out strategic work related to communication, information and sustainable development in accordance with UNESCO’s regulations. The purpose is to support the various people involved in the preservation and management of the farmhouses, as well as monitoring and engaging in national and international networks.

A regional coordinator/cultural developer specialising in the World Heritage Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland has been working at Kultur Gävleborg since September 2016 with a small team. Their responsibilities include working with the World Heritage Management Plan, communication and marketing, developing knowledge and researching for lectures and seminars, as well as promoting stories about the World Heritage site.