Praise Where Praise is Due Jóna Hlíf Halldórsdóttir Chairman of SÍM
“Culture is a Human Right”, is the title of the City of Reykjavík’s Culture Policy 2014-2020, which was approved by the city’s Culture and Tourism Committee in April 2014, and by the City Council’s Executive Committee in May 2014. Attached was a project plan with aims towards action in the cultural field, which was a novelty. This project plan is updated annually in accordance with the city’s approved policies and budget plan. As the president of The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, and representative of the Federation of Icelandic Artists, I have attended meetings at the Department of Culture and Tourism at the City of Reykjavík as an observer for the last four years. In that time, it has been a great pleasure to observe how the City of Reykjavík has steadily followed this project plan through to the great profit of Reykjavík’s cultural environment. There have been many gains in the field of visual art and I want to mention a few improvements that have made our society more fair and just. A great milestone was reached on the 12th October 2017 when the executive board of the City Council approved new procedures for the
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Reykjavík Art Museum, along with extra budget of 8.5 million ISK. Payments to artists for exhibitions in the year 2018 will amount to 12.5 million ISK. This is an increase of 268% from 2017, where the museum paid 3.4 million ISK in fees to artists. In this case, the City of Reykjavík took the initiative ahead of the state, not for the first time, and thereby set a leading example nationwide. Now Akureyri Art Museum and Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art have also set up similar procedures and therefore have received a great increase to their budgets to pay artists fees for their work. It would be safe to say that Reykjavík’s initiative in the matter has marked a turning point in the work conditions of visual artists. The 18th of March 2017 saw the grand opening of the Marshall House, where The Living Art Museum, Kling & Bang and Studio Ólafur Elíasson now have a future residence. This leverage has been a great pleasure for artists. The City of Reykjavík has guaranteed the rent of the house, which is now alive with modern visual art and provides the grassroot a beautiful and respectful venue. At present, there is an ongoing competition among visual artists to
produce an outdoor art work in the quartier of Vogabyggð. 140 million ISK will go towards the project, which is in accordance with the city’s policy and a part of an agreement with landowners. This is the first project of many that are planned. It is exemplary that visual art has finally been ensured a place in the city landscape, and thereby accepted as one factor in the planning and building up of new quartiers. Finally, I would like to mention the city’s purchase of the sculpture Icelandic Cairn by Jóhann Eyfells, placed at Sæbraut. The City of Reykjavík borrowed the sculpture in 2010 and since then it has become one of the landmarks of Reykjavík. The Cultural Policy of the City of Reykjavík should set an example for all other municipalities to follow, and the same applies to the Icelandic state. I therefore want to use this opportunity to encourage the Icelandic government to dig up the drafts for the Icelandic government’s policy in visual art, made by the Icelandic Visual Arts Council in 2015, and realize it with a project plan. As long as the City of Reykjavík continues to support art, the city will prosper. Accessible culture and art are vital elements of a free society.