At its first meeting in early January, Pro Helvetia’s new Board of Trustees elected the members of the Committee of Experts and the independent experts, laid down benchmark figures for the 2012 budget and took decisions regarding the financial planning up to 2015. Priority is to be given to continuity in the tasks conducted to date. The new fields of activity, i.e. promotion of emerging artists, cultural outreach and additional tasks in the visual arts field, will be developed gradually in cooperation with different parties concerned.

The new Arts and Culture Promotion Act came into force on 1 January 2012. For Pro Helvetia it meant a reorganisation of the Arts Council and a new set of responsibilities. The nine-person Board of Trustees determines the guidelines and the focal points of the Arts Council’s activities, and ensures that the strategic targets defined by the Federal Council are implemented. It convened for the first time on 5 January 2012 to elect the required specialist bodies and deal with the financial planning.

Committee of Experts and independent experts

The interdisciplinary Committee of Experts consists of 13 members and meets four times a year. It assesses multi-year support agreements as well as applications for financial support and Pro Helvetia’s own programmes amounting to more than CHF 50,000. Its recommendations are binding. Besides the Committee of Experts, there are 24 independent experts assisting Pro Helvetia’s in-house staff in the evaluation of projects in special fields. At the Arts Council’s request, they produce a written assessment and participate – together with members of the Committee of Experts – in the juries deciding on work grants. Cultural associations and renowned personalities from Switzerland’s arts scene were involved in the search for candidates for the two specialist bodies. Over 140 names were put forward. In its decisions, the Board of Trustees also took into account factors such as language, region and gender.

Financial planning 2012-2015

In December 2011, Swiss parliament approved the first CHF34.3 million instalment of the Confederation’s overall financial contribution to Pro Helvetia amounting to CHF 140.4 million in accordance with the Federal Council’s dispatch on cultural promotion (Kulturbotschaft). As parliament refused to raise the total amount to cover the costs of Pro Helvetia’s new responsibilities, the Board of Trustees was forced to set priorities. To ensure continuity, it decided to leave the 2012 budget for the activities conducted to date – work grants, domestic and international cultural exchange – at the same level as in the previous year. Tasks in the new fields of activity, where no commitments have been made yet, will be embarked on gradually and introduced in a staggered fashion up to 2015. Among the three traditional areas of activity, top priority is to be given to international cultural exchange, in which Pro Helvetia plays a leading role.

Distribution of means for new tasks

Among the Arts Council’s new responsibilities, priority goes to the continuation of activities – taken over from the Federal Office of Culture – in connection with the art and architecture biennales and international book fairs. A budget of CHF 1.5 million has been allocated to these platforms, which are important for Switzerland’s cultural presence abroad. CHF 200,000 each have been budgeted for media art and photography. The promotion of design will be initiated in 2012 with a comprehensive research project. First measures are to be tested from 2013. Work grants for visual arts practitioners are planned for 2014 onwards, in parallel with the augmentation of the Confederation’s annual contribution defined in the Kulturbotschaft. CHF 500,000 have been earmarked for arts outreach, with the focus on projects that further the development of the outreach and education practice. A total of CHF 1 million has been budgeted for the promotion of up-and-coming young artists in all disciplines. The Arts Council is launching initial projects with partner institutions in this field and will identify long-term requirements together with associations and relevant municipal and cantonal institutions.

Further information on Pro Helvetia’s organisational structure, personnel as well as statutory and regulatory basis is available on its website www.prohelvetia.ch under THE ARTS COUNCIL. Details on the criteria for support can be found in the 2012 Guides for Applicants at www.prohelvetia.ch/downloads.

Media Relations: Sabina Schwarzenbach, Head of Communications
tel. +41 44 267 71 51, fax +41 267 71 06, sschwarzenbach@prohelvetia.ch 

Committee of Experts and independent experts

as at 19 January 2012

Members of the Committee of Experts:

• Visual arts: Felicity Lunn, Director of Centre Pasquart, Biel
• Design: Chantal Prod‘Hom, Director of MUDAC, Lausanne
• E-music: Thomas Meyer, music journalist, Mettmenstetten
• Jazz: Christoph Merki, musician and lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts, Zurich
• Theatre German-speaking Switzerland: Ute Haferburg, Director of Theater Chur
• Theatre French-speaking Switzerland: Roberto Betti, Director of Théâtre du Pommier, Neuchâtel
• Dance German-speaking Switzerland: Carena Schlewitt, Art Director of Kaserne Basel
• Dance French-speaking Switzerland: Serge Rochat, dance expert, Lausanne
• Cultural studies: Walter Leimgruber, Professor of Cultural Studies, University of Basel
• Digital art: Daniel Sciboz, lecturer at the Haute Ecole d’Art et de Design, Geneva
• Literature German-speaking Switzerland: Corina Caduff, lecturer in literature and cultural studies, Zurich
• Literature French-speaking Switzerland: Thomas Hunkeler, Professor of French Literature, University of Fribourg
• Literature Italian-speaking Switzerland: Stefano Prandi, Professor of Italian Literature, University of Bern.

Independent experts:

Media art: Sabine Himmelsbach, Basel – visual arts: Boris Magrini, Zurich/Locarno – photography German-speaking Switzerland: Ulrike Meyer-Stump, Zurich – photography French-speaking Switzerland: tbc – photography Italian-speaking Switzerland: Luciano Rigolini, Lugano – architecture: Valérie Jomini, Lausanne – folk music: Dani Häusler, Schwyz – e-music: Isabelle Milli, Geneva – pop: Nicolas Julliard, Geneva – theatre Italian-speaking Switzerland: Romana Walther, Soglio – folk theatre: Barbara Schlumpf, Uznach – dance/performance: Anne Davier, Geneva – folk dance: Renaud Albasini, Riddes – cultural studies: Thomas Antonietti, Brig – computer games: Marc Bodmer, Zurich – cultural outreach: Franziska Dürr, Aarau – translation: Jürgen Becker, Berlin – Rhaeto-Romanic literature: Rico Valär, Pragg-Jenaz and Zurich – literature German-speaking Switzerland: Martin Zingg, Basel and Philipp Theisohn, Zurich – literature French-speaking Switzerland: Isabelle Rüf, Lausanne and Anne Pitteloud, Geneva – literature Italian-speaking Switzerland: Fabio Pusterla, Lugano and Goffredo Fofi, Rome (Italy).

On 5 January 2012, Pro Helvetia’s Board of Trustees elected the Committee of Experts members and the independent experts for a period of four years. They may stand for re-election once.

Media Release Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia, 19.01.2012