The theme for the 13th NCCPR is Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins.
Nordic cultural policy research has traditionally often focused on nation states and major cultural centers, emphasising cultural administrations, formal art institutions, and politically prominent trends. Less attention has been given to cultural life outside these focal points.
However, art, culture and cultural policy also exist in areas beyond the spotlight. For example, in the northernmost regions of the Nordic countries, culture and cultural policy have always played an important role in the development of the regions and in the interaction between different populations and groups. Arts, culture, and politics are very important for the articulation of identities in these regions, characterised by an abundance of sparsely populated areas, a peoples’ interdependence with nature, a diversity of cultures and languages, and a mobility and collaboration across national borders.
Oulu being the European Capital of Culture in 2026 has brought to the fore the forms of artistic and cultural expression and the conditions for creative work in the northern regions, as well as issues that are relevant to cultural policy in the north. The unique and sensitive environmental conditions of the north, the proximity and crossing of the borders of four countries, the coexistence of many ethnic and linguistic groups, the postcolonial situation of the region, the growing geopolitical and economic importance of the North, and Sámi art and culture have been on display.
Together, these perspectives send a strong message to cultural policy and research: greater attention must be paid to the distinctiveness of such regions and to reassessing whether the core principles of Nordic cultural policy and practices organised for implementing them remain adequate in an era marked by intensified border crossings, demands for ecological sustainability, and decolonial principles. In particular, the experiences of northern regions deserve closer consideration if the Nordic cultural policy principles, including regional equality, is to be upheld.
With the theme Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins, we wish to make way for explorations of Nordic cultural policy in the light of its peripheral, marginal and translocal dimensions.