Art and culture make up the one item on the national budget where most Danes are willing to make cuts. Have the Danes lost faith in the arts? Is art merely a pleasant luxury pursuit for a Sunday afternoon? Is the art that is created sufficiently necessary and relevant? And is the Italian prime minister, on the other hand, on to something when he wants to invest large sums in culture as a way to fight terrorism? The New Carlsberg Foundation, which annually hands out more than DKK 100 million in grants for the pictorial arts, takes part in the panel debate at Gæstgiveren in Allinge on Saturday, 18 June at 10:00-11:00, which tackles these serious questions and asks, What’s the point of art?
Panellists: Morten Hesseldahl, director of the Royal Danish Theatre; Alex Ahrendtsen, spokesman on cultural affairs and primary school issues for The Danish People’s Party; Dorte Jelstrup, artist; and Mikkel Bogh, director of the National Gallery of Denmark. The debate will be moderated by Rune Lykkeberg, culture editor at the Danish newspaper Politiken.
Pitch presentations and grants
The Carlsberg Foundation and the Tuborg Foundation also join the debate. The Carlsberg Foundation discusses new and promising ideas on Friday, 17 June at 11:30-12:30 at Gæstgiveren. On stage are Professor Vincent F. Hendricks, the University of Copenhagen; Debate Editor Thomas Bernt Henriksen, the Danish newspaper Børsen; Communications Director Nina Perrin-Munch, The Danish Bankers Association; and Chief Economist Steen Bocian, The Danish Chamber of Commerce. The Tuborg Foundation invites organizations, NGOs and associations to pitch their idea live on stage at Gæstgiveren. Afterwards, it is up to the board of the Tuborg Foundation to determine who deserves to leave with one of the two grants of DKK 100,000 and DKK 50,000.