INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL COOPERATION
The Danish Ministry of Culture’s objectives for international cultural cooperation are to promote the development of Danish art and culture and to promote an awareness of Danish art and culture abroad.
To achieve these objectives, the Danish Ministry of Culture supports:
• Exchange of professional artists and cultural events.
• Exchange that establishes permanent relationships that in time may create economic and cultural synergies.
• Exchange that promotes Danish participation in artistic and cultural networks.
• Exchange that creates the foundation for developing Danish art and culture.
• Exchange that conveys new attributes to other countries’ art and culture.
It is assumed that the institutes, councils and boards of the Ministry of Culture and national cultural institutions, such as the National Museum, consider international exchange as a part of their normal activities and finance such exchange from their existing budgets. In compliance with the “arm’s length” principle, responsibility for the implementation of international cultural projects lies with individual institutes, councils and boards.
The ministry’s councils and boards cover the various fields of art and culture in general terms and queries of a general nature should be directed to these bodies.
For more detailed information on a specific area of art and culture, the relevant national institute should be contacted. The names and addresses of some of the major national institutes are listed below.
The overall policy of decentralisation in Denmark entails that municipalities, counties and major communities are important participants in international cultural cooperation. Details of the extent of this cooperation are not available from a central source.
It is also worth mentioning in this context that Danish embassies and consulates around the world are important participants in the field of cultural cooperation and that Denmark works closely with the other Nordic countries through the Nordic Council of Ministers. Cultural exchange within the Nordic countries and between the Nordic countries and other countries around the world is one of the Council’s priorities.
Moreover, certain institutes have specific responsibility for international cultural cooperation.
INSTITUTIONS
The Danish Secretariat for International Cultural Relations has, since the first of January 2001, operated and co-ordinated the international cultural exchange programmes of the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, the secretariat contributes to the formulation of long-term strategies for international cultural cooperation, draws up and implements multi-annual plans of action for international cultural cooperation and initiates its own international exchange projects. As a natural part of these tasks, the secretariat also handles cultural arrangements in connection with external State visits.
The Danish Contemporary Art Foundation (Center for Dansk Billedkunst) was established in 1995. The main objective of the Foundation is to promote contemporary Danish art, design and decorative art generally, including cooperation with the Danish Contemporary Art Gallery (DCA) in New York.
The Danish Literature Centre (Dansk Litteraturcenter) promotes interest in and awareness of Danish literature abroad.
The Danish Music Information Centre (Dansk Musik Informations Center/MIC) is responsible for the registration, documentation and dissemination of information on Danish music at home and abroad and, at the same time, plans and arranges public performances of Danish music internationally. MIC also promotes the export of Danish music.
The Baltic Media Center promotes media cooperation in the Baltic region between the former Socialist countries and the West and ensures the media a role in democratic development.
The Danish Cultural Institute is a self-regulating organisation, established in 1940 for the purpose of promoting cultural exchange between Denmark and other nations and regions through exhibitions, concerts, conferences, seminars, lectures, Danish education, job shadowing and study tours.
The Institute’s head office is in Copenhagen with divisions in Edinburgh (UK), Brussels (Belgium/Benelux), Hannover (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Kecskemét (Hungary), Gdansk (Poland), Riga (Latvia), Tallin (Estonia) and Vilnius (Lithuania). The Institute is planning to establish a new division in St. Petersburg (Russia).
Three other institutes also operate abroad (in Rome, Athens and Damascus) concentrating primarily in the fields of humanistic and cultural research and cooperation.
A NEW STRUCTURE
From January 2003, a New Structure for Public Support to the Arts and for International Cultural Cooperation will be implemented, creating a simpler, more efficient and innovative system. The Danish Contemporary Art Foundation, the Danish Music Information Centre, the Danish Literature Centre and the Danish Secretariat for International Cultural Relations will be merged with the Arts Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture.
THE 200TH BIRTHDAY OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN
The year 2005 will see the two-hundredth anniversary of Hans Christian Andersen. There will be celebrations in his honour that year all over the world.
Taking its starting point in his life and works, “H. C. Andersen 2005” will commemorate his importance with a series of artistic projects in both classic and innovative media – for example, theatre, music, dance, literature, art, feature films, television and animation, as well as research, various educational programs, tourism, conferences and the Internet – in Denmark and abroad.
“H. C. Andersen 2005” will be financed by both private and public means. The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Economic and Business Affairs, the Odense Municipal Council, the County Council of Funen, and the Bikuben Fund have provided DKK 200 million for this purpose.
For more information see www.hca2005.dk
ADDRESSES
Danish Secretariat for International Cultural Relations
(Internationalt Kultursekretariat)
Amaliegade 38
DK-1256 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 47 74 02
www.danishculture.dk
Danish Contemporary Art Foundation
(Center for Dansk Billedkunst)
Kongens Nytorv 3-5
DK-1050 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 70 74 70
www.dca-cdb.dk
The Danish Literature Center
(Dansk Litteraturcenter)
Kongens Nytorv 3
DK-1050 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 74 45 00
Tel. +45 33 74 45 00
www.danlit.dk
Danish Music Information Centre
(Dansk Musik Informations Center/MIC)
Gråbrødre Torv 16
DK- 1154 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 11 20 66
www.mic.dk
Baltic Media Center
Skippergade 6
DK-3740 Svaneke
Tel.+ 45 70 20 20 02
The Danish Cultural Institute
(Det Danske Kulturinstitut)
Kultorvet 2
DK-1175 Copenhagen K
Tel. +45 33 13 54 48
www.dankultur.dk
The Danish Institute in Rome
(Det Danske Institut i Rom)
Via Omero 18
I-00197 Roma
Italy
Tel. +39 63 26 59 31
The Danish Institute in Athens
(Det Danske Institut i Athen)
Herefondos 14
GR-10558 Athens
Greece
Tel. +30 1 322 46 39
The Danish Institute in Damascus
(Det Danske Institut i Damaskus)
Chekib Arslan Street
Abou Roumanek
P.O. Box 2244
Damascus
Syria
Tel. +963 11 333 10 08