Since 2002-2003, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Business and Economic Affairs have cooperated closely on matters concerning the Danish cultural industry. Today, this cooperation is based on a political agreement signed in 2007 by the government and the opposition parties. The “Agreement on strengthening the cultural economy in Denmark” introduces the two corner stones of the political initiatives in this field: The Centre for Culture and Experience Economy and The Four Experience-zones.
The goal for the agreement and these two initiatives is:
- to strengthen the Danish cultural industry internationally through professional guidance and international networking; and
- to encourage cooperation between the more traditional companies and the companies working in the cultural field, in order to strengthen the business skills of the cultural and artistic field and to make the traditional companies learn to use the artistic and cultural skills in development of products and services (see chapter 7.3).
The Centre for Culture and Experience Economy has been established by the government to improve the cooperation between culture, business, universities and research institutions in the field. The purpose is to stimulate the branding of Danish products in the global experience society. As well as strengthening the cooperation between the business world and the cultural sector.
The initiative The Four Experience-zones is partly cultural and also has a business character. The four areas are: Fashion, computer games, food culture and music. In each field, a project holder is appointed and the goal is for the zones to cooperate internally to create growth and innovation within their field, and in the end create a stronger common ground from which they can promote their experience-goods abroad.
The Ministry of Culture indicate that the cooperation between the cultural sector and the business sector is still strongly encouraged. In the report Reach Out!, which was issued in October 2008, the experience economy, and the Ministry’s interpretation of it, is again at the forefront, as it is identified as one of three challenges to Danish cultural policy, the other two being new user groups and the question of quality. Another argument supporting a focus on the cultural industries is the increasing international cooperation in the field; the Ministry of Culture cooperates with both the EU and the Nordic Council of Ministers on cultural industries.
One of the main priorities in the Danish EU Presidency, which runs from 1 January to 31 July 2012, is to stimulate the development of the creative industries (see chapter 1.4 and chapter 2.1).
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