
Russia
Opening of the liaison office in Moscow
With its support for more than 4,000 events abroad and almost 1,500 artistic and cultural projects in Switzerland, Pro Helvetia is looking back on 2017 with satisfaction.
Opening of the liaison office in Moscow
New promotional structures in Berlin and London
First calls for interactive media and design projects
Inauguration of «COINCIDENDIA – Swiss & South American Cultural Exchanges»
Swiss literature at the Frankfurt Book Fair «Francfort en français»
Philippe Bischof is the new director
In 2017, Pro Helvetia underwent major renewal at several levels of the organisation, from management to the Board of Trustees. This transition was successfully mastered, backed by the solid processes and well-anchored activities that the Arts Council can build on in Switzerland and across the world. The year 2017 was also marked by significant progress in implementing the new features of the Federal cultural policy statement for 2016–2020.
In 2017, Pro Helvetia’s Management, Board of Trustees and Committee of Experts underwent major changes. The implementation of these changes underscored the Arts Council’s trademark ability to operate collectively, on the basis of shared values, clear priorities and an institutional agenda identified with across the organisation.
Sabina Schwarzenbach, interim director since December 2016, succeeded in harnessing Pro Helvetia’s resources, thus ensuring that projects could not only be pursued but also continue to evolve. We are delighted that Philippe Bischof joined Pro Helvetia’s management last autumn, and that the organisation will benefit from his in-depth knowledge of cultural policy, his experience in managing complex organisations, his openness and his interest in innovation – all of them indispensible characteristics in view of the tasks he has been entrusted with. The changes on the Board of Trustees are due to the term limits applicable. Finding appropriate successors for the three outgoing members Anne-Catherine Sutermeister (Vice-President), Felix Uhlmann and Guillaume Juppin de Fondaumière represented a significant challenge, both in terms of the skills required and the regional and gender balance that needed to be maintained. We are very pleased to welcome the following new members: Françoise König Gerny from Basel, Marie-Thérèse Bonadonna from La Chaux-de-Fonds and Hannes Gassert from Zurich, all of whom share the values of Pro Helvetia and its collaborative approach.
I am especially proud to report that we are well on track in implementing the new features of the 2016–2020 Federal cultural policy statement. While the previous year’s focus had been primarily on research and conceptual work, we were able to put new measures into practice in the year under review. For instance, we awarded the first work grants – to be conferred twice a year – in the visual arts domain, and launched the first calls for interactive media and design projects as part of our «New models of collaboration – Culture and Business» programme. We also completed and consolidated our support measures for emerging artists, set up our new promotional structures in Berlin and London, and launched COINCIDENCIA, our new cultural exchange programme with South America, in October 2017.
We are already now looking ahead to the possible implications of the next Federal cultural policy statement (2021–2024) and are preparing for future challenges and new themes. Pro Helvetia must constantly reassess its activities and draw appropriate conclusions to be properly equipped for the medium and long term future. In so doing, our institution can rely on one of its traditional strengths: the ability to strike the right balance between stability and innovation.
Promoting cultural diversity and cultural exchange are two of Pro Helvetia’s principal tasks to which we devoted intense efforts in 2017. In a turbulent world, in which divisive worldviews and exclusion are on the rise, we see it as our responsibility to foster art as a means of promoting dialogue on different value systems and their influence on liberal society, and thus to contribute to mutual understanding between cultures in Switzerland and abroad.
Understanding is also an act of translation. This makes it all the more surprising that the importance of literary translation is still not universally recognised. It is often forgotten that translation is an artistic activity in its own right and that translators play a significant role as intermediaries. In multilingual Switzerland, this is a crucial aspect, since the exchange of information across language boundaries is a prerequisite for a sustainable sense of togetherness. The book industry alone is rarely in a position to take the financial risk involved in translating high-quality literature that lacks bestseller potential. This is one of the reasons why Pro Helvetia has substantially increased its funding of translation from 2017 onwards. We want to make a significant contribution to ensuring that a larger range of works from one linguistic region in Switzerland becomes available to another in the form of translation.
Increasing not only the number, but also the quality of translations pays off twice over. Not only does this contribute to disseminating Swiss literature at home, but it also raises the likelihood of authors from Switzerland becoming noticed internationally. At this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, France, as guest of honour, invited Pro Helvetia to present literature from French-speaking Switzerland as part of its «Francfort en français» programme. The event met with great interest and highlighted the importance of literature from French-speaking Switzerland in the Francophone world as a whole.
«Dans la vie, rien n’est à craindre, tout est à comprendre.» What Marie Curie said about the natural sciences is also perfectly applicable to our mission: nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understand. As part of its mission to promote cultural exchange with other countries, Pro Helvetia aims to contribute to such understanding. In 2017, we accomplished two important milestones in our cross-cultural work:
In the course of the management transition, we set ourselves the internal goal of gaining a fresh understanding of each other and of the work we do. The director’s baton was handed over on 1 November following an interim management phase. Understanding, learning, developing: this is a leitmotif in 2018 for our fostering of a diverse and successful Swiss art and culture scene, a fostering in which Pro Helvetia plays a leading and connecting role.
In 2017, Pro Helvetia supported some 1,500 artistic and cultural projects across Switzerland. Important milestones include the launch of the first call for design and interactive media projects as part of the «New models of collaboration – Culture and Business» programme, and the expansion of support for emerging artists.
In 2017, Pro Helvetia supported over 4,000 artistic and cultural projects in 102 countries worldwide. In particular, it strengthened its presence in Europe by developing flexible promotional structures in London and Berlin, and in South America with the inauguration of its COINCIDENCIA cultural exchange programme.
Pro Helvetia promotes cultural exchange between Switzerland and the outside world through its network of offices abroad. These include its liaison offices, the Centre culturel suisse run by Pro Helvetia in Paris, and several partner institutions.
Of the CHF 39.8 million that Pro Helvetia spent in 2017, 88.1% went directly to culture. Administrative costs (11.9%) remain clearly below the strategic threshold of 15% prescribed by the Swiss Confederation. Pro Helvetia received more than 5,000 applications in 2017.
The annual report has been produced in English since 2016. For previous years and for annual accounts, please consult the German, French or Italian pages.