Nordic Conference on Cultural Policy Research (NCCPR) 2021 in Borås

Having been postponed from August to November (10^th to 12^th), the 10th NCCPR took place in Borås, Sweden. The main theme was The Nordic Cultural Model – revisited, rejected, reimagined, taking the opportunity to look both back and forward and explore the idea of the “Nordic” in cultural policy, its past and its future, also amid Covid-19 impacts.

The CROWDCUL team had the pleasure to hold a panel session on Crowdfunding in the Nordic culture sector. In this session, we discussed the importance of crowdfunding as an alternative finance channel which is experiencing an exponential growth in the recent years. Despite the critical role played by artists as first adopters of crowdfunding, research dedicated to the role and impact of crowdfunding in the cultural sector remains limited. This is surprising, as crowdfunding may have critical influence on artists’ aesthetic practices, as well as the very structure of cultural funding. To address this gap, the session presented four papers looking on various aspects of crowdfunding in the Nordic culture sector. The first paper addressed the drivers of the use of crowdfunding, while the second one looked on the relationship between cultural production types and platform choice. The third paper compared the artists with and without crowdfunding experience. Finally, the fourth paper highlighted the role of crowdfunding as a co-creation mechanism instead of a pure finance instrument.

The NCCPR was an incredible opportunity to integrate the CROWDCUL project within the cultural policy community of researchers (and happily making new dancing friends too!) and our team is looking very much forward for the next encounters to exchange, discuss and debate the strategies in the culture sector, including the re-signification of fundraising practices. Stay tuned in our website to follow our research and discuss findings!