During an interview with Ekot’s Saturday host, Parisa Liljestrand suggested that the number of cultural authorities should be reduced. She pointed out that there are over 70 authorities dealing with cultural issues. However, the Ministry of Culture only has 26 state authorities under its purview, which includes the Forum for Living History, the National Museum, the National Antiquities Authority, the Sami Parliament, and the Norwegian Cultural Council. In a written comment to TT, Liljestrand clarified that the number includes companies, foundations, and other entities that fall under the Ministry of Culture’s area of responsibility. The proliferation of instances can lead to bureaucracy eating up the cultural budget. Liljestrand emphasized the need to ensure that the department runs efficiently, allowing as much of the budget as possible to reach cultural practitioners and consumers. This is not the first time Liljestrand has had to clarify her wording, having previously described herself as a “literature scholar” when appointed as Minister of Culture. Liljestrand explained that she had studied parts of the Swedish education at the Department of Literature at Uppsala University because of her background as a teacher.
When asked by Ekot’s Saturday interviewer whether the number of cultural authorities should be reduced, Parisa Liljestrand answered “yes”:
– I think we need to look at this issue, it is after all that we have over 70 authorities to deal with, she said.
But the Ministry of Culture does not have 70 but only 26 state authorities on its table. Among these are, for example, the Forum for Living History, the National Museum, the National Antiquities Authority, the Sami Parliament and the Norwegian Cultural Council.
In a written comment to TT, the culture minister explains that by saying “over 70 authorities” she chose a “slightly simpler way” to express herself.
What she meant was not only authorities but also “companies, foundations and other institutions that fall under the Ministry of Culture’s area of responsibility”, about 70 in total, according to Parisa Liljestrand.
According to her, the number of instances can lead to the money that politics spends on culture being eaten up by bureaucracy.
“As I covered in the interview, it is about seeing what can be done in general so that all the activities for which the department is responsible function as efficiently as possible and that as much of the cultural budget as possible reaches cultural practitioners and cultural consumers,” writes Lily beach.
It is not the first time Parisa Liljestrand is forced to clarify a wording. In connection with her appointment as Minister of Culture, she described herself as a “literature scholar”, a title she later backed away from.
– It was an unfortunate wording. In my professional role as a teacher, I have studied at Uppsala University and there you study parts of the Swedish education at the Department of Literature, she told TT at the time.
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