Health & WellbeingGlobal EqualityActive · Ongoing initiative
Bridging the Nordic Arts & Culture Sector
Arts & Culture: Community of Practice
Cross-Nordic Community of Practice and an equity framework for organisations — confronting the inequities embedded in who gets to participate, thrive and lead in the Nordic arts and culture sector.
About
The arts and culture sector wields immense power in shaping societal narratives, inspiring creativity, and preserving diverse cultural legacies. Yet it simultaneously mirrors and perpetuates the systemic inequities that pervade society, limiting who can participate, thrive, and lead in the Nordic arts and culture landscape.
Since 2023, Diversify has been working to change that. What began as a dedicated Arts & Culture stream at the Diversify Summit, in collaboration with Kulturdirektoratet Norway, grew into a cross-Nordic Community of Practice. With support from Nordisk KulturFond, that work became a co-created equity framework, now being tested by a cohort of arts and culture organisations across the Nordics.
Looking ahead
- Refine the framework using what pilot organisations learn from applying it.
- Translate it into Nordic languages.
- Convene a second cross-Nordic and Baltic gathering.
- Open dialogue with national arts councils and funders on embedding equity into funding and evaluation criteria.
- Extend the framework beyond arts and culture, into other sectors facing similar challenges.
- Extend it beyond the Nordics and Baltics, to European and global partners.
- Develop a clearer way to measure impact as adoption grows.
We are actively seeking funds, partners and collaborators for this project.
What we're building
A Community of Practice (CoP)
A network of diverse and intersectional stakeholders across the Nordic region: artists, cultural practitioners, policymakers and activists, with significant representation from marginalised and underrepresented groups. A platform for cross-sectoral collaboration, shared learning and mutual support.
An Equity Framework
Built around five conditions, Systems Change, Power Shifting, Leadership & Accountability, Listen & Act, and Data, the framework gives organisations a practical, intersectional and equity lens for examining their own systems and practices. It is currently being tested and refined through real-world piloting, and remains a living, evolving tool.
Peer Learning and Knowledge Sharing
Workshops, dialogues, and co-creative sessions that amplify diverse perspectives and develop sector-wide solutions.
A Digital Resource Hub
An open-access library of the framework, tools, templates, and learnings from piloting organisations, so any organisation can begin applying an equity lens independently.
Growing Beyond the Nordics
We are actively expanding the pilot cohort into the Baltic region and beginning to scope translation of the framework into Nordic languages. This lays the groundwork for the framework to reach more people, and eventually, beyond arts and culture altogether.
The Journey So Far
- 2023 — Where it started
An Arts & Culture stream at the Diversify Summit in 2023, in partnership with Kulturdirektoratet, surfaced the issues and set the stage for a longer-term initiative.
- 2024 — Arts & Culture Collective Gathering | Co-Creating the Nordic Equity Framework
A 4-day collective gathering supported by Nordisk KulturFond, bringing together 37 stakeholders from across the Nordics. Their insights and lived experience formed the foundation of the Nordic Equity Framework.
- 2025 — Framework Development
Turning insights from the gathering into a comprehensive, practical draft framework organisations can actually apply.
- 2026 — Framework Implementation
A cohort of arts and culture organisations across the Nordic region are applying the draft framework to a real process within their own organisation. The piloting process includes a baseline mapping of the current process, a tailored implementation plan, a customised workshop on applying the framework and ongoing check-ins and support across the implementation period.
- 2026 — Framework Dissemination & Peer Learning
A public dialogue series opening the work to the wider sector, and a digital peer-learning session bringing pilot organisations together with participants from the original 2024 gathering.