Norwegian cultural policy—A civilising mission? The Cultural Rucksack and abstract faith in the transforming powers of the arts

This article examines the extent to which a “civilising mission” has informed Norwegian cultural policy. I begin by acknowledging the dominant view in arts policy studies—that the arts have become beleaguered in an era where cultural policy is guided by utility-rationality rather than by aesthetic values. This should imply that the civilising mission is losing potency and influence. Drawing on Bildung (roughly translated as “human growth”) for a conceptual framework, I then chart empirically a shift in Norwegian cultural policy-discourse from 1973 to 2003—as it moved away from an approach stressing the benefits of culture broadly (e.g., amateur activity) to an approach celebrating narrowly the “professional arts”. This shift is particularly epitomised in the arts-in-school programme, DKS (“The Cultural Rucksack”) of the 2000s; its discourse has asserted (rather than demonstrated) that the arts offer a path to Bildung. Based on analysis of policy-discourse, this article challenges the dominant position amongst cultural policy researchers that arts policy is now required to demonstrate measurable social impacts. This is not the case in Norway, as its policy has been shaped by an abstract faith in the arts. Indeed, DKS demonstrates that the civilising mission is arguably intensifying rather than disappearing.

► Aims to assess if “civilizing mission” a key rationale for Norwegian cultural policy.
► Conceptual framework draws on Bildung (roughly translates as “human growth”).
► Since 1970s, Norwegian cultural policy has subject- and object-approaches to Bildung.
► Since 1990s, an object-approach in ascendancy, exemplified through the DKS programme.
► Conclusion that the civilizing mission is not disappearing but intensifying.