A vibrant cultural scene for everyone | The Left Party, Västerås

Culture is a human right. It has intrinsic value, a natural place in a democratic society, and should be accessible to everyone.

We want Västerås to be a municipality where culture is visible, audible, and has a presence in public spaces. A municipality where everyone has the opportunity to both create and experience culture, regardless of class, gender, disability, ethnicity, age, or place of residence. For this to become a reality, an active cultural policy and strong public support are required.

At the same time, the content of culture should never be dictated by politicians. Our task is to create the conditions that allow artists and cultural creators to work freely and enable everyone to participate in cultural life. Culture must be free from ideological control, censorship, and commercial pressures.

Overall, we want to see a cultural policy that supports both breadth and excellence, both established institutions and the independent cultural scene. Here in Västerås, we have a vibrant, dynamic, and inclusive cultural scene that is given the opportunity to grow and develop.

Independent Culture and Adult Education

We want to improve conditions for independent cultural actors—both nonprofit and professional. These cultural creators play a crucial role in fostering a vibrant and accessible cultural life for everyone. But today, many professional cultural practitioners struggle to make a living from their work, which risks weakening the entire cultural sector.

A fundamental prerequisite for a strong, vibrant cultural life is access to suitable venues and meeting places. We want to ensure that there are stages, rehearsal spaces, and other creative spaces where culture can grow and develop. The performing arts and music should be available throughout the municipality, and resources should be shared to benefit more people.

Adult education and study associations also play a crucial role in Västerås’ development. Through study circles, events, and other activities, curiosity and engagement are fostered. Adult education strengthens democracy, bridges educational gaps, and raises the level of education throughout society.

The Left Party in Västerås wants to:

Ensure that study associations have long-term, stable funding so they can provide access to and promote culture and education
Increase support for both professional and volunteer cultural creators, and adjust the support levels upward on a regular basis
Increase funding for associations and adjust it regularly.
Expand support for organizations so that more organizations are eligible for support and their activities reach more groups
Ensure that culture is never a matter of financial means by making children’s and youth culture free of charge and by exploring opportunities for family, student, and senior discounts or other types of subsidies.
Ensure that access to cultural and recreational activities, as well as suitable facilities, venues, and spaces, is always incorporated into urban planning.
Provide more municipal facilities and meeting spaces for young artists
Introduce studio grants for artists with the aim of making art more visible and present in Västerås
Give special support to community centers and local heritage associations, whose activities are vital to culture and the local community
They ensure that culture is present wherever people are—for example, at senior centers, workplaces, schools, community centers, or in parks.

Culture and Institutions

Västerås is home to several well-established and highly regarded cultural institutions, such as Västmanlands Teater, Karlsgatan 2, and Västmanlandsmusiken. Their core funding must be secured, and their programs must be made more accessible to a wider audience in Västerås.

The Culture School is an important part of the city’s cultural life and should be open to all children and young people. To give more people the opportunity to participate, especially in underrepresented areas, the program offerings need to reflect demand, more teachers need to be hired, and activities need to be expanded to more locations. We want to see a permanent increase in funding to make this possible.

The museums in Västerås are well-attended and highly regarded. The Vallby Open-Air Museum attracts visitors year-round, Anundshög conducts cultural education programs, and the Västerås Art Museum features both popular exhibitions and an active public art program. However, the museum sector is generally underfunded throughout the country. Demands for higher visitor numbers, expanded operations, and increased crisis preparedness are growing, but resources are not being increased at the same rate. The museums’ high level of expertise must be harnessed, and their operations must be given long-term support.

Libraries enjoy a high level of public trust and should be an integral part of cultural life. All residents of Västerås should have the right to equal library services, including a wide range of media in various languages and digital services for film, music, and literature. We want library funding to be reviewed and increased, particularly to strengthen the digital collection. The Left Party believes that public libraries should be operated exclusively by the public sector.

Libraries’ most important resource is their librarians. Their professional expertise should be valued more highly and given greater prominence in library operations. Libraries should continue to be places where literature and reading take center stage.

Cultural heritage is essential to understanding our present and shaping the future. We want to see greater recognition of folk culture and to highlight the history of the labor movement, the gender perspective, and the stories of national minorities.

The Left Party in Västerås wants to:

Make the Arts School completely free of charge
Make the Culture School available in more locations than it is today
Ensure compliance with the one-percent rule, which stipulates that 1 percent of the municipality’s construction and renovation costs be allocated to artistic design
Give art a more prominent place in the urban landscape through, for example, an increased presence of public art, decorative elements, and designated graffiti walls
Allow Västerås’ museums to remain completely free of charge and offer cultural education programs for children and young people, as well as for adult residents of Västerås who lack personal experience in experiencing and interpreting exhibitions and performances.
Review how children and young people’s access to visual arts and visual literacy is ensured in collaboration with Region Västmanland, and establish initiatives to promote the visual arts
Allow Västerås’ museums to continue working in collaboration with community organizations and local stakeholders to create more permanent, community-building cultural education programs for children and young people, and allocate funding for this purpose.
Increase access to and proximity of public libraries in the municipality through enhanced library services, more library branches, or outreach programs
Establish new libraries in economically disadvantaged areas
Ensure that more community service centers are located adjacent to neighborhood libraries and are run by organizations and professionals with the appropriate expertise
Make libraries completely free of charge and eliminate late fees
Increase funding for our municipal associations, Västmanlands Teater and Västmanlandsmusiken, with the aim of making theater and music accessible to more people through, for example, more performances, collaboration with the Culture School, and a wider geographic distribution of performances
Provide employees at municipal cultural institutions and municipal associations with sufficient resources to ensure a good work environment, a reasonable workload, and full-time employment as the norm
Preserve our cultural heritage and highlight our industrial history, with a focus on the voices that are rarely heard.
Take advantage of the opportunities offered by Växhuset and Culturen as two central cultural centers that can be filled with organizations, cultural practitioners, and visitors, where creativity and participation take center stage and reflect the diversity that Västerås has to offer