Summary of Førdekonferansen 2015
Two main themes were at the centre Førdekonferansen 2015: The place of volunteering in cultural life and the role of festivals in society. In two sessions, around 90 participants from a wide range of the Norwegian cultural field were challenged and inspired by engaging presenters. Although the temperature was sometimes high and the cultural policy views were divided, the tentative conclusions were diplomatic: the volunteer sector must be handled on its own terms, as an independent social sector, and actors in cultural life and business must think new thoughts, engage more strongly with each other and learn from each other's successes.
Welcome to the "volunteer country" Sunnfjord!
The conference was opened by Førde -Mayor Olve Grotle, who was proud to welcome the "volunteer country of Sunnfjord", where the value of the volunteer work far exceeds the municipal budget. As the first of several presenters, Grotle was able to establish that cultural life, with festivals in a special position, generates great value for and in the local community, both in the form of ringing coins in local coffers and less measurable great things such as a sense of community, local pride and a positive reputation.
Chairman of the Board of Directors Førdefestivalen , Kristin Hille Valla, in turn, was an appeal to use the conference as an arena for innovative thinking. Her call to the participants was to dare to think new ways of interacting between the cultural and business sectors, and to build the field stronger through mutual exchange and active participation.
All volunteering is based on trust.
The first session, on culture, volunteering and trust, was opened by Sturla Stålsett from Frivillighet Norge. His message was simple but clear: All volunteering is based on trust. Trust is a value that cannot be actively created, but can be nurtured and strengthened through the right, good conditions. Active participation in society increases trust in society, and thus creates a strong cohesive force. Therefore, surveys that show that Norwegians have a particularly strong social trust can go a long way to explaining Norwegians' strong commitment to volunteering. The challenge is that values such as trust and volunteering cannot be valued in kroner and øre. The voluntary sector is easily threatened by the instrumentalizing accounting of the public and private sectors. Stålsett therefore pointed the finger at both sectors of society, and especially the public sector, for their desire to target and bureaucratize volunteering, and thus put the fundamental values of volunteering under pressure.
Volunteer life is a leisure community
Ivar Eimhjellen from the Centre for Research on Civil Society and the Voluntary Sector followed up with a statistical overview of developments in Norwegian voluntary life, with material taken from the last 35 years. The surveys depict small but visible changes in Norwegians' participation in voluntary work, defined as unpaid effort, not as ordinary participation in organizational work. The figures show that Norwegian organizational life provides an important social and democratic infrastructure, but a high density of organizations, members and volunteers. The surveys have revealed that the traditional vertical communication structure, with local, regional and national teams, has today been partly replaced by independent organizations, either at local or national level.
Over the past 30 years, Norwegian organizational life has become less politically and ideologically oriented, Norwegian volunteer life is characterized by being a leisure society. Similarly, it is seen that more people are doing a time-limited effort, are "short-term volunteers", and that there is thus a weakened bond between organizations and volunteers. Overall, the development shows a fragmentation of the field. At the same time, more organizations are characterized by stronger top management, with more paid employees, more board meetings and fewer member meetings. Nevertheless, or precisely because of this, organizational life is experienced as more consensus-driven. The surveys show that the mass of those who participate most in volunteer life, the core volunteers, is relatively stable overall, but that more older people are doing volunteer work now than before.
Immigrants: Work voluntarily, but for their own interests
Social scientist and artist Lavleen Kaur could point to a number of her own experiences where volunteering played an important role as an arena for integration and involvement. Her example of immigrant parents who were happy to volunteer for their own causes, but refused to participate in Norwegian volunteer work, effectively illustrated the message that a sense of ownership and commitment are the alpha and omega of participation in volunteering. In order to dare to take the first step into a new sphere, individuals and groups must be met with an inviting attitude.
Volunteer life is changing
The figures from the volunteering surveys showed small but clear trends that volunteering is changing. Knut Olav Åmås, director of the Fritt Ord Foundation, believed that the changes are probably larger and more important than the figures could reveal. A skewed recruitment to the voluntary sector, for example with underrepresentation from ethnic minorities, makes the voluntary sector less representative of society, and gives individuals and groups less opportunity to express themselves. Åmås's presentation then focused on the people behind the trend, individuals in a voluntary sector that is gradually moving towards professionalization and streamlining. More and more people are paying for their work through volunteering and demanding more in return for their work, the effort seems calculated. The motivation for volunteering is often not real commitment, but a desire to build a CV and network. Individual case involvement and Facebook campaigns are non-binding, easy and symbolic, but often yield little return. - In the virtual shaping of our existence, the visible is the most valuable. Volunteering is often less visible, and therefore less interesting. When participation in Norwegian volunteer life nevertheless remains consistently high, it must be because volunteering provides space for personal expression and important interpersonal encounters.
Recruitment via social media
Åmås's comments about Facebook engagement sparked a heated discussion in the assembly. In the closing conversation between Åmås, Stålsett and Kaur, several participants expressed concern that recruitment and information dissemination via social media could exclude the increasingly older participants in volunteer life. At the same time, social media is an important arena for recruiting and organizing people who would otherwise not be reached.
PART II: FESTIVALS AS SOCIAL DEVELOPERS
In the second part of the conference, the festival took centre stage, with questions about what position festivals can and should have, locally and nationally. State Secretary Bjørgulv Vinje Borgundvaag at the Ministry of Culture made a passionate appeal that private actors can and should increase value creation in cultural life, and view cultural expressions as investments rather than expenses. The local business community must be educated to see the benefits of supporting local culture, and both cultural institutions, the public sector and the business community itself must contribute to this shift. A strong local anchoring of festivals and other cultural institutions is of mutual benefit to cultural life and business, to develop local communities and local distinctiveness – on the premises of the festival and the cultural institution.
Research shows: Culture is cake decoration
In contrast to the strong ripple effect optimism in a majority of the conference presentations, Bård Kleppe from Telemarksforsking went a long way towards writing off the visions that culture has practical utility. Culture has often been attributed almost miraculous properties for culture users, such as providing better health, grades and quality of life. At the local community level, there is also jubilation about increased immigration and economic growth. Few studies can substantiate the claims. A purely instrumental cultural policy cannot therefore be defended. – But as a cake icing, culture can certainly have its uses.
Magnetane Vinjerock and Bratt Moro
If the mood sank in step with unfavorable statistics and weak arguments, it was quickly lifted sky-high again. Tor Yttri from the parish festival Bratt Moro and Julie Forchammer from Vinjerock were both able to show migration statistics, volunteer numbers and financing models that both cultural directors and politicians had to gasp for. The festivals are a textbook example of how the best results come from the wildest ideas, and that individuals with blindly burning commitment, and an inclusive community are the absolute main factors for success. Yttri's important point in the ripple effect debate was that a four-day festival in itself does not generate migration, but that migration can increase if a breadth of quality in the local community is demonstrated. -The migration statistics to Sogndal municipality since Bratt Moro's start in 2008 speak for themselves. Forchammer's two guiding principles for festival success are that the festival must have a clear identity, a strategy for what sets it apart from others, and that the festival must be bigger than itself. For Vinjerock, the strong local roots and the combination of culture and nature give it a unique brand. What the two events have in common is the enthusiasm, pride and opportunities that are drawn from local resources and spread to a national audience.
Think again
The closing conversation between State Secretary Borgundvaag, Trude Storheim from Vossajazz and Gunhild Berge Stang from the Norwegian Youth League and the Liberal Party was a clash of opinions between the different political viewpoints of cultural actors and business actors. The topic was the festival's role in local social development, in practice a discussion about the positive and negative consequences of public versus private funding of art and culture. The commitment was great, the questions were many, and the conclusions were few but clear. Both large and small, fully commercial and non-profit cultural actors find it demanding to find good sources of funding. Non-profit art actors in particular need partners who allocate funds to culture on their own premises, so that the artists do not have to compromise with themselves. This is currently challenging. When society is now changing and cultural life is dependent on support from the private business sector to an ever greater extent than before, both cultural and business enterprises must dare to think anew about their coexistence. Culture and business must learn from each other and gain knowledge from the other party's strategies and successes. The cultural sector has much to learn about professionalization and sales, and the business sector must be educated to see the value of culture as an investment – in and for society, locally and nationally.
– That's how it was then too Førdekonferansen 2015 rounded off and summarized, just as board chair Kristin Hille Valla declared in the introduction: " Førdekonferansen should create awareness about creating direction for change”.
Førdekonferansen is a collaboration between Førdefestivalen , Sparebanken Vest, Sogn og Fjordane University College, BRAK, Sogn og Fjordane County Municipality and Førde municipality.