Bilaga A2: Pro­gram­me Report 2024 for Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture

​The aim of the Nordic-Baltic Mobility Programme for Culture (NBMP) is to enhance the cultural and artistic cooperation in the Nordic and the Baltic countries. Nordic and Baltic ministers for culture have agreed to promote mobility to strengthen the conditions for cultural and artistic cooperation in the Nordic-Baltic region contributing towards the Nordic Council of Ministers’ vision to make the Nordic region the most sustainable and integrated region in the world by 2030. The NBMP offers three different forms of funding: Mobility funding, Network funding and Funding for artist residencies. Network funding is divided into Short-term and Long-term funding.

The Nordic and Baltic ministers for culture agreed in 2023 to prolong the programme with another 3-year period for 2024–2026. New Expert Groups were nominated for the programme in December 2023 and had an introduction to the programme in February 2024. At the same time the programme handbook was also updated. For Mobility funding module there were no changes to the structure of module, but the standard rates used for accommodation were updated slightly to correspond better to the increased living costs. Sustainability guidelines were added as formal criteria for assessment of Network funding and Funding for Artist Residencies modules; applicant organisations are encouraged to find inspiration in the Nordic Green Roadmap but applicants are free to describe their own take on economic, social, environmental and cultural sustainability and the expert group will take this aspect into account as a part of the overall assessment of the applications. Funding for Artist Residencies now requires also applicant organisations’ guidelines for a safe working environment.

Networks of Nordic School Concerts Providers got Network funding in 2024. Here the network is gathered in Bodø, Norway. Photo: Noora Herranen

Expert groups that are comprised of professionals from the Nordic and Baltic countries assess the applications and make decisions on grants. The experts meet a pre-set number of times throughout the year to discuss their recommendations and make the final decisions on grant allocations. The new expert groups had one joint introduction online and one module-specific introduction online and met physically in their own groups in the spring 2024 for their first decisions.  

In 2024, three application rounds were held for Mobility funding, one round for Long-term network funding, two for Short-term network funding and one round for Funding for artist residencies. In 2024 there was also an additional funding round to support Ukrainian artists, the extra funds from Nordic Ministers of cooperation (MR-SAM) were channelled through Funding for Artist Residencies. The expert groups for Network funding and Funding for artist residencies held their meetings in Helsinki. Within Mobility funding two meetings were held in Helsinki and one online. The decision meeting on additional funding for Ukraine was held online. All experts were invited to the annual joint meeting in September, during which the focus was set on the horizontal perspectives in the Nordic Council of Ministers' work.

In 2024, the NBMP granted a total of € 1 675 436. The NBMP received a total of 1 851 applications to the annual application rounds (excluding the additional residency round to support Ukrainian artists) which is 42 applications less compared to the previous year (1 893 applications in 2023). The number of applications that were granted funding from the NBMP amounted to 321 in total in 2024. In terms of percentages, 17,3 % of all applications were granted funding. Furthermore, 16 % of the total amount applied for was granted, a lower percentage compared to 18 % in 2023. These figures show that there is a great need for funds for Nordic-Baltic collaboration and the programme finds its target groups. 

Additional funding allocated by the Ministers for Nordic Co-operation (MR-SAM) in 2022 and 2024 to support Ukrainian artists has been much appreciated, especially since other early sources of emergency funding are ceased, but the safe spaces for work and professional contacts are still very much needed. More information on results of previous funding from 2022 and follow-up on additional funding from 2024 are presented in separate chapters of this programme report.  

Nordic Culture Point | nkk.org/en