The cultural city of Oslo is diverse.
We have those who work with culture out of interest, as a part-time job and as a full-time job. We have everything from some of Norway’s best visual artists to world-renowned dance groups such as Quick Style. We have internationally renowned artists, and Oslo’s Opera is famous around the world. What remains is that many of these actors make a living from the culture. We must not forget them.
These are people and actors who put our city on the map. Which conveys something unique, something outstanding. For a long time we only had the Vikings and Munch to show off. Now we have dancers, singers and other artists who make Oslo an attractive city internationally.
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Passionate and professional
Culture is often associated with volunteering. That artists must be volunteers, and that dance is not something you can make a living from. That is now changing, and in the future it will not only be oil that we will live on. Then tourism becomes even more important, and it is the cultural city of Oslo that will attract tourists.
We have festivals such as Melafestivalen, which attract people of all nationalities, both in and outside Norway. The city council platform assumes that Oslo should be a natural choice for international artists. Then we depend on supporting and cheering on those who will take the initiative to organize these meeting places, festivals and concerts.
Then we depend on having close cooperation with those who want something more from Oslo. Those who want to make the most of the potential this city has – and all that cannot be done voluntarily. It is the culture that will create the Oslo of tomorrow. Then we need zealots who want to work with this, and who can make a living from it. To get the most important expertise, in any field, you need the best people – and you don’t get the best people only through volunteering.
Volunteering is hugely important for our city, but cannot stand for an entire industry on its own. Because culture is an industry, and like all other businesses, it will not survive with only voluntary work. You need both.
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Rebuild the industry
When I meet cultural actors in Oslo, I see even more the importance of the industry that culture in Oslo creates.
We have everything from the Joint Workshop at Grünerløkka, which creates woodwork and art that is sold everywhere from Northern Norway to the Middle East, and other places in Oslo, to Human Rights Human Wrongs, which organizes documentary film festivals with up to 8,000 visitors. We have everything from Visit Oslo, which works to bring out all the offers that exist in our city, to Deichman, which gives libraries a completely new status and value in our society.
Three percent of all employed people in Norway worked in the cultural industries before the pandemic. 41 percent of dem in Oslo. The pandemic hit this industry the hardest, and getting the industry back to the same level as before the pandemic is therefore a special responsibility in Oslo.
Because it is the case that if Oslo is to be the world‘s best city, we also need the world‘s best cultural life – and then we have to start seeing culture and industry in context. In the last eight years with a red-green city council, culture was all too often associated with volunteerism. Now it is time to give culture the value the industry really has.
It is, after all, the culture that will create the Oslo of tomorrow – and not least make Oslo the best city in the world.