Boost for Cultural Heritage
There is a great need to build up knowledge about and preserve the cultural heritage and cultural environment, and to make them accessible. The Government is now proposing a special initiative which will mean that a total of 4 400 people are expected to find employment, with wage subsidies, in the area of culture in the period 2012-2014.
© Copyright Naturbild AB/Bengt Hedberg
The Boost for Cultural Heritage is intended for people who have a particularly weak attachment to the labour market after a long period in the sickness insurance system and who have a disability that impairs their capacity to work. This initiative will enrich many cultural activities and at the same time provide people who are very much detached from the labour market with the opportunity to find meaningful and fulfilling employment.
The Boost for Cultural Heritage also means that a new form of support is being created, worth a total of SEK 270 million, which will give actors in the area of cultural heritage the opportunity to employ cultural workers with the relevant education as supervisors of the employees receiving wage subsidies who found their job through the Boost for Cultural Heritage.
The Swedish National Heritage Board will be tasked with administering the initiative together with other relevant government agencies in the area of culture.
Broad spread for the Boost for Cultural Heritage
Funds will be available to regional and municipal cultural institutions, as well as to state institutions and other actors that conduct activities in, or are connected to, the area of cultural heritage, such as non-profit organisations.
Funds are to go to initiatives in three main areas: digitisation, inventory and preservation. Within these areas there are major tasks for society that often cannot be addressed as part of regular activities.
Digitisation is about registering, digitising and collating knowledge about collections and archive material, such as photographic material, artefacts, documents, audio tapes, records, etc. Inventory is about building up new knowledge of cultural relics and buildings. Preservation is about restoring and making accessible valuable cultural sites.
Background and target groups
People who leave sickness insurance after a long period of sick leave may have problems finding a place again in the labour market. These are often people with some kind of disability which reduces their capacity to work.
This is why the Government is introducing temporary funding for more employment opportunities for those who leave sickness insurance and have a disability that reduces their capacity to work. This funding covers jobs with wage subsidies in the cultural sector as part of the Boost for Cultural Heritage, but also temporary employment contracts and surveying at Samhall AB. The target group for these initiatives are people who have left sickness insurance, taken part in working life induction programmes and who are considered to be very much detached from the labour market.
The Boost for Cultural Heritage in brief
- A total of 4 400 people are expected to find employment with wage subsidies in the area of culture; 1 200 places will be arranged within the framework of the initiative in 2012 and 2014, and 2 000 places will be available in 2013.
- The initiative is intended for those who have a particularly weak attachment to the labour market after having left the sickness insurance system following an extended period of time and who have a disability that entails an impaired capacity to work. This initiative is also contributing to important cultural heritage work.
- SEK 270 million has been allocated for grants for supervision of the positions that are created. People employed as supervisors should be cultural workers with relevant education. Supervision grants are distributed by the Swedish National Heritage Board. Funds can be allocated to various types of actors who make contributions in the area of cultural heritage that are of benefit to society.
- Funds are to go to initiatives in three main areas: digitisation, inventory and preservation.
