“Art throughout Sweden” – Konst i hela Sverige – is a collaborative project for smaller municipalities that want to develop their work with public art. During the spring, municipalities have been able to apply to participate. The selection process has now been completed and the Public Art Agency is in the starting blocks to initiate the collaboration with the selected municipalities: Munkedal, Flen, Markaryd, Norberg and the Umeå surrounding municipalities of Bjurholm, Vännäs, Vindeln, Robertsfors and Nordmaling, who made a joint application.
The Public Art Agency called for an idea for an art project that small municipalities needed help developing or implementing, and received a total of 25 expressions of interest from smaller municipalities throughout the country, from Kiruna in the north to Lomma in the south. The applications were characterised by great will and high ambition, with widespread hopes of adopting the one percent rule and with a focus on working directly with children and young people.
– We at the Public Art Agency want to work with smaller municipalities to participate in preliminary studies, method development and knowledge support in the implementation of new art projects. The aim is to strengthen art expertise and promote local collaboration in continued long-term work with public art and the designed living environment throughout the country, says Lotta Mossum, head of the art unit at the Public Art Agency.
The Public Art Agency believes that the selected municipalities are particularly interesting for the project as they face various artistic and societal challenges.
The selection of the municipalities is based on “ska requirements” (requirements in the procurement that must be met by the tenderer in order for a contract to be awarded), established selection criteria, geographical distribution and relevance to the Public Art Agency’s mission to spread art throughout the country.