"Hela länet som sin hemstad" : Om statlig kulturpolitik och konstvärldar i Västernorrlands län

Sammanfattning: The swedish state have as of late seemingly distanced themselves from the cultural politics regarding painting- and sculpture artists. Since the implementation of “samverkansmodellen”, a plan to regionalise the culture politics and the distribution of economic resources to the different countys of Sweden, the state has increasingly been hesitant to make any decisions regarding the painting- and sculpture artists. While the interest in art and culture has increased in Sweden the last couple of years, the welfare and social safety of artists has been on a decline.At the same time Sweden’s art worlds revolves around the big city regions of Stockholm county, Västra Götaland and Skåne. In the shadow of these counties I have met with artists from the northern part of Sweden known as “Norrland”, specifically in the county of Västernorrland. Through interviews I study how they both relate to being a working artist in the cultural periphery, and how they relate to the politics and economics that comes with the occupation, and what benefits and negatives they see in the locality of the region of Västernorrland. Keywords: Art worlds, culture politics, centre-periphery, place, working environment.