The Opera receives 10.5 million kronor in 2025 and 21 million kronor the following year to project the upcoming renovation and relocation, which Lindgren sees as "a clear political signal" that the operation is prioritized.
The Social Democrats' cultural policy spokesperson Lawen Redar instead describes a budget that favors institutions in Stockholm but does very little for culture in the rest of the country. She predicts "major problems" for public libraries, county museums, regional theaters, and operas, and a risk of "massive layoffs".
With this economy, municipalities and regions will hardly have good conditions, and that also means they won't prioritize culture in competition with other policy areas.
"Remarkable"
No investment is made in the visual and design area, whose practitioners have "incomes at the bottom of the scale", emphasizes Sara Edström, national chairman of KRO. She calls the reduction of regional culture "remarkable".
Robert Uitto of the Regional Theaters describes the cultural budget as anemic, and the reduction of the regional grant as "a cold shower".
"...now our 20 member theaters are facing another year where they themselves have to make savings to cover both wage cost increases and other cost increases" he writes in a comment to TT.
Archbishop Martin Modéus is both disappointed and surprised. After a long period of stagnation, the grant for the care of the Church's cultural heritage is increased by 30 million, but it does not cover the needs, he emphasizes.
Lowest in Europe
Mats Berglund (Green Party), chairman of the Riksdag's cultural committee, is calling for more political initiatives:
What I react to is primarily that the activities where we really need to allocate money, for example the free cultural life, get nothing. A film initiative was needed, Sweden has the lowest film support in Europe.
Simon Norrthon, chairman of Scen & Film, talks about "a weak budget" and a continued and "devastating dismantling". Although he welcomes the investment in Creative School, he would rather have seen the money go directly to professional culture.
Creative School doesn't always go to performances, but to pedagogy and all sorts of things.
Corrected: In an earlier version, Mats Berglund was given the wrong first name.
