Pro Helvetia's Fields of Activity
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Cultural Promotion In Switzerland - The Players
Cultural Promotion In Switzerland - The Players
Pro Helvetia is one of several publicly funded promoters of culture; it is in constant contact with the Federal Office of Culture, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, the cantons and the cities.
Who does what?
Like education, cultural promotion in Switzerland is entrusted to the cantons and communes (cultural sovereignty). While they have, for the most part, long possessed a legal framework for this sector, it is only since 1999 that cultural promotion has been anchored in the Constitution. Paragraph 1 of Article 69 of the Federal Constitution confirms the cantons’ responsibility for culture within their own frontiers; paragraph 2 validates the responsibility of the federal government wherever cultural endeavours are of overall Swiss interest. With that, cultural promotion has become an established component of federal policy. A new federal law in conjunction with Article 69 is currently being drafted; it will give concrete form to the overall system of federal cultural promotion and is scheduled to go into force in 2007.
Who pays how much?
Of the over SFr. 1.8 billion francs invested in the public funding of culture, SFr. 913.7 million (50%) is spent by the communes and SFr. 682.2 million (38%) by the cantons, with the federal government contributing SFr. 230 million (12%).
What does the federal government do?
The federal goverment undertook activities in the cultural field long before a constitutional framework for them existed. Federal responsibility for foreign relations has, for example, always been interpreted to include foreign cultural relations as well.
Little by little the role of the federal government expanded to include tasks that exceeded the possibilities of the cantons or were not being fulfilled by them: in the field of art preservation, support for the film industry, the establishment of the National Museum, National Library and Cinémathèque suisse, and promotion of Rhaeto-Romanic as the fourth national language.
Today the Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and Pro Helvetia, a foundation under public law, share the institutional mandate for federal cultural promotion. As an administrative authority, the FOC supports cultural umbrella organisations by contributing to their operating costs, plays an active role in art and monument preservation and promotion of the film industry, is responsible for cultural mediation, the promotion of reading, participation in biennials, cultural legislation and more. The National Library, National Museum, Swiss Literary Archive and Centre Dürrenmatt are also affiliated with the FOC. The Arts Council of Switzerland Pro Helvetia has a legally defined cultural mission to preserve the national heritage, promote artistic creativity, disseminate the fruits of this creativity across the country’s linguistic frontiers, and foster cultural exchange with other countries.
The political component of Swiss cultural policy – which is designed to contribute to national cohesion - draws on the country’s character as a “nation of the will” with links to three great European (linguistic) cultures, and on a federal structure subsuming a host of smaller-scale governmental units and cultural and social groups. All measures relating to cultural promotion are ultimately guided by the underlying principles of Swiss democracy: the twofold objective of keeping alive the political will that unites the country and encouraging the exploration of cultural identities and cultural diversity, while reinforcing regional and social differences - be it in questions of tradition or contemporary forms of artistic expression.
Thus timely cultural policy always understands itself as a corrective to the forces of the culture market and leisure industry. With its commitment to diversity and innovation, it joins in Switzerland’s continuing efforts to contribute to the cultural development of Europe.
