UKM - Young Culture Meets

UKM (Ung Kultur Möts) - is a nationwide initiative that was started in 1997. The ambition is to arrange festivals all over Sweden where young artists between the ages of 13 and 20 can participate and express their artistic vision in front of an audience and in front of each other. During the festivals, participants will also be able to attend workshops, where they can explore their interests and be inspired by the works of other artists. UKM is open to all artistic genres and methods of cultural expression, especially to those art forms and genres that have no other arena or forum. UKM festivals are based on the cooperation between young people and adult organizers who will work to identify young people's areas of knowledge and talent, to cultivate and nurture them as artists. In order to make new contacts and create large networks, UKM organizers hope to work with different partners in the arena of young culture, such as: municipal organizations, societies, youth recreation centers, educational associations, art schools, cultural institutions and other driving forces. The annual festivals are arranged on a local, regional and national level. More than 90 festivals take place in Sweden each year.

The goals of UKM

- To create meeting places - the various cultural festivals - where people from different backgrounds and with different interests, can get together and inspire each other.

- To increase respect, knowledge and understanding of youth culture, and to give greater visibility to the vast variety and abundance of young cultural and artistic expressions.

- To give young people an opportunity to be creative, and to encourage them to be enterprising and to make an impact through their actions and creations.

- To function as a method to promote young culture on a local, regional, national and international level.

Organization and funding

The Swedish National Council for Cultural Affairs funded UKM on a national level for a 3-year period (1999-2001). The budget covered a full-time coordinator, a kick-off grant for adding new regions and a grant that paid for the national festival. During 2003 the national level of UKM was established a non-profit association in order to continue the activities according to earlier commission. A committee of 11 members is the head of the national level. The committee consists of 50% members under the age of 25 and 50% over the age of 25. Every year a nationwide conference is arranged where delegates from all the regions meet, discuss and make decision about the future of UKM. The local and regional festivals are responsible to raise their own funds, mainly constituting of public means granted through cooperation with local organizations.

International network

UKM is one of the participating countries in Nordic Youth / Ung i Norden, initiated by the Steering Committee for Children's and Youth Culture of the Nordic Council of Ministers. The goal of the youth meeting is to provide a meeting place for Nordic youth, which would offer them an opportunity of showing their talents, cross-border cooperation and acquiring new friends and experiences for the whole of their lives.

UKM is also a member of a European network called European Youth Art Festival Network.

For more information, please contact the representative in the national UKM Council at
jytte@astridlindgrenshembygd.se
or call
Office: +46 (0)495 696 34
Cellphone: +46 (0)70 668 96 00