Dalarna University's logo and link to the university's website

For a few decades during the 20^th century the public financing of arts and culture may have had it’s glory days in Sweden as well as in other European countries. In the 21^st century one trend is obvious; the call for private funding gets louder. Different systems are under development. Public-private partnerships is focusing on marketing and tourism. Private sponsors has turned out to be a short-sighted solution sensitive to business cycles. Social entrepreneurs are so far mainly focusing on social and environmental causes. What will then be next to finance local arts and culture? This article presents a theoretical model of a system where local businesses are co-financing local arts and attractions. The core of the model is the reinvestment of the revenues local companies are reaping from visitors to a destination. The modelling and analysis are based on existing financial systems, especially with inspiration from the Kulturprozent in Switzerland, together with interviews with key-persons in four case municipalities in the regions of Dalarna and Gävleborg. The success of such a system lies among others in mutual respect and the visible-making of the power positions of the funders and the funded respectively.