The earliest support for artistic activities in Denmark was provided by the Church, the nobility and the Crown; a distinctive example was the Renaissance monarch Christian IV, who spent large sums on the arts and surrounded himself with art and artists.
The first public subsidy scheme for literature and the visual arts was the Fonden Ad Usus Publicus ("Fund for the Public Benefit"), which was set up in 1765. With the introduction of democracy in 1849, the State took over the task of supporting the arts in Denmark; while regional arts subsidy schemes date from 1897, when the Municipality of Copenhagen created its first arts foundation.
In 1961, the arts were given a ministry of their own for the first time, and 1964 saw the creation of the Danish Arts Foundation (Statens Kunstfond). The first grants awarded by the Foundation gave rise to a heated debate about the extent to which providing support to artists ought to be a state responsibility, spurring a popular protest movement against arts subsidies in general. The Arts Foundation survived, however, and today forms a major cornerstone in state support for the arts in Denmark.
The first legislation providing support for a particular area of artistic activity saw the light of day in 1963 with the Theatre Act. This act was eventually supplemented by a number of others laying down guidelines for public arts subsidies: namely, the Music Act (1976), the Literature Act (1996), the Film Act (1997) and the Visual Arts Act (2001). These acts, which have been subject to ongoing amendments, ensure that the distribution of state support to artists and artistic activities occurs in accord with the so-called ”arms-length principle”; i.e., funds are allocated by the Danish Parliament, but politicians and the State have no say in how they are distributed. All decision-making power in this area has been placed in the hands of expert bodies, whose members are regularly replaced.
A change occurred in 2003, when Parliament approved the creation of a new organ, the Danish Arts Council (Kunstrådet), whose role would be to provide support for Danish art, both nationally and internationally. The Danish Arts Council is responsible for the visual arts, literature, music and the performing arts, as well as for corresponding interdisciplinary art forms. Its legal basis rests on the above-mentioned legislation.
As a result, the Danish state arts subsidies system now comprises two organs of equal status, the Danish Arts Foundation and the Danish Arts Council
The Danish Arts Foundation supports all forms of artistic activity in the creative arts, including genres within the Danish Arts Council’s area of activity and genres that do not receive support from the Council. Support from the Danish Arts Foundation is primarily directed toward the artist – to provide the artist with an opportunity to concentrate on future creative endeavours without pressure to create any particular kind of work. In certain contexts, the Foundation may also support an artist’s production of particular works.
The Danish Arts Council further promotes this task by supporting creative as well as performing arts in the fields of visual art, literature, theatre, and music, which were previously the responsibility of four specialized arts councils. The Danish Arts Council assembles and coordinates national and international cultural endeavours with support for the production and dissemination of art. With respect to the performing arts, the Council concentrates to a wide extent on mounting productions of particular works; while the Council directs support for creative arts primarily toward the projects of individual creative artists or their dissemination.
The Danish Arts Agency was established alongside the Danish Arts Council in 2003 as an administrative unit of the Danish Ministry of Culture. The Agency administers arts subsidy schemes under the auspices of the Danish Arts Foundation and the Danish Arts Council and functions as secretariat for these organs and their expert committees.
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