In the question of what Swedish museums need most from politics, opinions diverge between cultural policymakers and the museums themselves, a new report from Sweden's Museums reveals.
Politicians rank the museums' status as independent sources of research and education as the top issue. Second is the digitisation of museum collections.
For the surveyed museum directors, it is rather opportunities for funding that are the most important issue, followed by schools' access to museums.
At the same time, museums' trust in politics is relatively high. One in ten museum directors says they currently have problems with politicians or higher officials interfering. The previous year, one in five experienced the same problem. Six out of ten museum directors in the survey experience a positive engagement from politics.
The survey was conducted in May this year. The questions were sent to 212 museum directors and 88 of them responded. The politicians' answers come from 120 politicians in the cultural committee, Sweden's Municipalities and Regions, and several municipalities' cultural committees.
