The government prepares the merger of art authorities

According to documents that DN has taken part in, the government will commission the Moderna Museum to prepare to take over Arkdes (the state center for architecture and design) and the state’s information’s data from 1 January 2026.

At the same time, Arkdes and the Arts Council will be discontinued.

Government decisions are made on May 28, experience DN. This is despite the fact that the proposal for a merger has been met by harsh criticism. The majority of the referral response, including those from the authorities concerned, Be negative And pointed out, among other things, the risk of power concentration and factual errors in the investigation.

Also the opposition has been criticized. Mats Berglund (MP), chairman of the Culture Committee, has described the merger as a prestige project.

« We are deeply concerned that the Minister of Culture and the Ministry of Culture do not seem to absorb the massive criticism from the referral bodies, » he told DN earlier in May.

Now looks The government out proceed with the proposal. The draft government decisions that describe the new museum’s new assignment reveal that the current tasks of the three authorities must remain unchanged, that the merger must be cost -effective and that « the instructions must be handled within the existing financial framework ».

Anna Troberg, chair of the museum staff trade union DIK, describes it as « remarkable » that the government looks to proceed with the proposal despite being sentenced by virtually all referral bodies. She sees a risk that the individual operations will be rectified and believes that the proposal is also bad from a democratic perspective.

« It is very clear that the investigation would from the beginning come up with a merger and that the referral round is made for the sake, not to obtain knowledge from relevant competence and base a wise decision on it. Here the government simply makes a lousy political craft stab with Swedish practice, » Anna Troberg writes in a comment on DN.

According to the draft Government decisions are a merger in line with the government’s ambition to create a more efficient and less fragmented state administration:

« Gathering the authorities’ tasks would create a more robust government structure. Even taking into account the views of the referral bodies, the government therefore makes the assessment that the organizational change should be implemented. »

At the same time, the government writes that the referral bodies’ views on, among other things, organizational and management forms « will be considered in the continued work ».

DN has sought Minister of Culture Parisa Liljestrand (M) whose press secretary replies that the issue is currently being prepared on the government office and that it is not possible for the Minister of Culture to precede the process by commenting.

Read more:

The opposition critical of suggestions to merge modern, arkdes and the art council

Harsh criticism of proposals for merger of cultural authorities

Birgitta Rubin: I suffer from secondary comb before government museum sofa