THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION ACT
dates from 1964. The Foundation's activities covers the visual arts, literature, music, handicrafts and design, architecture, cinematic art and theatrical art and also other forms of creative art comparable with the mentioned which do not have other avenues for state subsidy.

In 1964 at the establishing of The Danish Arts Foundation there was set up Commit­tees for the visual arts, for literature and for music. In 1969 the Committee for handi­crafts and design was set up, in 1978 the Committee for architecture and in 1994 the Commit­tee for film and theatre !!!. In 1996 the Committee for music was divided into one Committee for classical music and one Committee for popular music.

The Arts Foundation promotes Danish creative arts. The funds of the Foundation are spend on the following purposes:

• Grants to artists.
• Purchase of works of visual art, handicrafts and design. 
• Visual art works in buildings and facilities to which the public has access.
• Other measures suitable for fulfilling the objectives of the Foundation.
• Subsidies for dependents of deceased artists.

The criterion for support from The Danish Arts Foundation is the quality of the artistic production and the artistic talent.

THE FOUNDATION IS RUN BY A BOARD
consisting of the six chairmen of the Art Expert Committees. The Board selects itself the chairperson and vice-chairper­son for a year at a time. The tasks of the Board are to direct the Founda­tion, to establish general guidelines for its activities and to debate and decide on issues in­volving the Foundation as a whole. The Board has a coordi­nating function and repre­sents the voice of the Foundation on general issues of cultural policy.

The Board submits an annual report and statement of financial accounts, which is sent to the Minister for Culture via the Foundation's Council.

THE ART EXPERT COMMITTEES OF THREE ARE THE CEN­TRAL BODIES
in the activities of the Foundation. The Committees administer them­selves the funds at their disposal. Within the guidelines laid down, the Committees decide on the limits of their activities. As long as the law and regula­tions are respected, the specific decisions of the Commit­tees cannot be revoked or appealed to the Minister for Culture or other authorities.

It is the responsibility of the Committees to keep generally well-informed within their respective fields on conditions and terms of the artists and the arts.

To administrate the resources of the Foundation are set up two Committees for the visual arts, one Committee for the literary art, two Committees for the art of music, one Committee for handicrafts and design, one Committee for architec­ture and one Commit­tee for cinematic art and theatrical art.

Each Committee consists of three art experts appointed by the Minister for Culture. Two members are nominated by the Foundation's Council and one member is nominated by the Minister for Culture after having obtained a statement from the Foundation's Council. Among the three members, the Minister appoints a chairper­son - for the two Committees for the visual arts, a joint chairperson is appointed - and for the two Committees for the music, a joint chairperson is appointed. The members are appointed for three years.

Members of the Art Expert Committees cannot at the same time be members of the Council of The Danish Arts Foundation or of The Danish Arts Council or its bodies. Furthermore a former member of either The Danish Arts Foundation or of The Danish Arts Council or of any of their bodies cannot be appointed as a committee member until three years have passed since the expiry of their appointment to one of those other bodies.

THE COUNCIL OF THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION
is appointed to attend the work of the Foundation and to be the link between the Art Expert Committees and the Board of the Foundation and the Minister for Culture. Members of the Council are represen­tatives for the political parties in Parliament, municipalities, universities, artists' associations and art and cultural institutions etc. The Minister for Culture appoints the members for four years.

Members of the Council of the Foundation cannot at the same time be members of the Art Expert Committees of The Danish Arts Foundation or of The Danish Arts Council or its bodies. Furthermore a former member of either The Danish Arts Foundation or of The Danish Arts Council or of any of their bodies cannot be appointed as a council member until three years have passed since the expiry of their appointment to one of those other bodies. Yet members appointed by the political parties in Parliament shall be member of both the Council of The Danish Arts Foundation and the Council of The Danish Arts Council. Members appointed by the political parties in Parliament and by the organisation of municipalities have to be elected politicians.

It is the task of the Council to appoint two of each of the Art Expert Committees of Three. Annual reports and statement of financial accounts from the Board and Commit­te­es are presented to the Council and furthered on to the Ministry of Culture with the comments the Council wishes to attach. Normally, such comments can only concern the general principles followed by the Board and the Committees and do not concern individual awards. The Council makes recommendations to the Minister for Culture as to lifelong artists' grants after obtaining recommendations from the appropriate Committee.

GRANTS: SCHOLARSHIPS, BURSARIES ETC.
All the Art Expert Committees - with the exception of the Committee for Environ­mental/Public Art - have the task of awarding grants for creative artists. Danish artists or their dependents can get Foundation grants.

The Committees can give their grants in various forms - primarily working scholars­hips for periods of three years, working bursaries, travelling bursaries, prizes, commission honoraria for composers - or other measures to sustain and promote the work of the creative artists. The Committees can, in special circumstances, without applications award grants.

Currently, the working scholarships amount to DKK 280,000 a year. The idea behind these three-year scholars­hips is that artists for a period can work with their art without the need to have an income from non-artistic work. The amount of the working scholarships are the same for all Committees and is decided by the Board. The amounts of the other types of awards given to the artists to be able to continue their artistic work, for study travelling, as appreci­atio­n or as honorarium are decided specific by the Committe­es.

Another type of awards are subsidies for dependents of decea­sed artists. Subsidy can be awarded to the dependents of artists that have, or could have, received grants from the Foundation. Dependents refer to spouses/common law spouses or children. Subsidy is formally given for a year at a time but, in practice, subsidy for spouses has hitherto been given for life. The annual amount of these subsidies is currently DKK 16,000, at the moment paid to about 40 dependents of artists.

Lifelong artists' grants, see below.

PURCHASE OF WORKS OF VISUAL ART, HANDICRAFTS AND DESIGN
The Committee of Visual Arts Purchase and Grants and the Committee of Crafts and Design have the task to purchase of works of art with the aim on the one hand to support the artist, on the other hand to bring out good art to a broader public.

Every third year the purchases are distributed for a ten-year depositing period to municipal, state or other institu­tions to which the public has access. The distribution of the works is decided in cooperation with museum organisa­tions. After the ten-year depositing period, art works considered of particular significance are assigned to a relevant art museum. This selection takes place in cooperation between the Founda­tion and the art museums. Works that are not selected for museums remain in the institu­tions.

ENVIRONMENTAL/PUBLIC ART
The Committee for Environmental/Public Art administers the Foundation funds provided for public commissioning of visual art works in buildings and facilities to which the public has access. Funds can be used for artistic work in both new and existing buildings and facilities.

When decided to comply with an application The Committee for Environmental/Public Art has to be added by two representatives of the applicant institu­tion or ­munici­pa­lity and the architect of the building/facility. This ad hoc committee for the project is commissioned to find an agreement on how the project is to be elaborated and solved - including which artist should carry out the artwork.

The Committee can contribute to the elaboration of sketch projects and to competi­tions. The Committee may exceptionally fund the accomplishment of all ready projected art works and, also exceptionally, the Committee may fund purchase of art works to decorate a specific building or facility.

The Committee can cover all costs in connection with implementation of the art work in state-owned buildings and facilities. In the case of municipal or other non-state buil­dings/facilities, the recipient institu­tion has to contribute 25% of the total cost.

The Committee for Environmental/Public Art can, in special circumstances, fund the costs of works by foreign artists.

State building projects whose costs exceed DKK 1 million have to allocate 1,5% of the building costs to art works. In such cases, the Foundation must be approached as to the building's suitability for artistic decoration and on the building contractors decision will advise the building contractor.

LIFELONG ARTISTS' GRANTS
The Council of The Danish Arts Foundation recommends to the Ministry of Culture who should receive a lifelong grant. The lifelong grants can be awarded to artists who have completed an artistic production so that they have achieved significant distinc­tion as artist. It is solely the artistic production that counts.

There are in all 275 lifelong grants of which 93 goes to visual artists, 73 to authors of fiction, 12 to authors with a literary produc­tion of general cultural significance, 4 to translators, 35 to composers, 26 to craftsmen and designers, 14 to architects and 18 to creative artists in film and theatre.

All new lifelong artists' grants are income linked. The grants are individually regulated every year on the basis of the artists' taxable income for the previous three years. Artists with an income (minus the grant) of DKK 142,000 or less receive the maximum amount. For income exceeding DKK 142,000 the grant is reduced with an amount corresponding to 75 % of the exceeding income. All artists in receipt of the lifelong artist’ grant are as a minimum paid the minimum amount. The grants and the income limit are index-linked. The grants minimum amount in 2006 was approx. DKK 14,900 a year and the maximum amount approx. DKK 136,800 a year (January 2006).

Widows after holders of a lifelong artists' grant can apply for a lifelong widow's subsidy. The Ministry of Culture administers these measures dis­tributed due to financial circumstan­ces.

APPLICATIONS
Normally, Foundation bursaries are awarded on application. But the Art Expert Committees can themselves search out and encourage applications and can, in special circumstances, without application award bursaries. 

Each year, the Foundation advertises in the newspapers and professional journals calling for applications for three-year working scholarships, working bursaries and travelling bursaries, with a deadline of February 1st. During spring the chief part of the Foundations resources are distributed for three-year scholars­hips and for working and travelling bursaries.

Applica­tions for bursaries submitted after the deadline are taken into consideration if there are funds available.

Applications in other respects, including applications for support and commissioning visual art works in public buildings and facilities and applications for commission honoraria for composers, are considered continuously.

TAX REGULATIONS
The Foundation's working scholarships, working bursaries, starting scholarships, prizes, commission honoraria, lifelong artists' grants are, for the holder, taxable income. Travelling bursaries or grants for implementing projects or events are normally not subject to taxation.

RESOURCES OF THE DANISH ARTS FOUNDATION
are provided under the Government Budget where the appropriations made available for the Foundation's Art Expert Committees and Board, for the life long artists' grants and for the Foundation's running costs are earmarked. The appropriations for 2007 are distributed the following way:

Sum at disposal
for working scholarships, working bursaries, travelling bursaries, prizes, commission honoraria, purchase of works of art, environmental/public art projects, competitions etc.:

Committee for Environmental/Public Art	10,6 mill.
Committee for Visual Arts Purchase and Grants	19,6 mill.
Committee for Literature	16,7 mill.
Committee for Classical Music	6,3 mill.
Committee for Popular Music	6,3 mill.
Committee for Crafts and Design	11,4 mill.
Committee for Architecture	7,7 mill.
Committee for Film and Theatre	7,0 mill.
for joint expenses - for all Committees	1,6 mill.
including grants to dependents of deceased artists	0,6 mill.
Total	DKK 87,1 mill.

Lifelong grants

for artists' grants	22,2 mill.
for widows' grants	0,8 mill.

The secretariat of The Danish Arts Foundation attending to the administration for the Board, the Art Expert Committees and the Council from July 1^st 2003 is dealt with by The Danish Arts Agency.

2007, January
Vibeke Jakobsen
Head of Secretariat