Representatives of six Sami cultural institutions have agreed that there is a great need to establish Viermie K. The goal of the network is to create a common and strong stakeholder that can advocate for Sami cultural life nationally, regionally and locally – and make sure that the following conclusions apply if all Sami culture shall be the basis for the future work of the network:
The network shall:
- cooperate with the Sami parliament in matters of Sami cultural policy.
- promote understanding and work to strengthen the entire Sami cultural infrastructure at regional and national level.
- act as a conversation partner with stakeholders in both the Sami and Swedish cultural world.
The network sees special needs for strengthening, creating and / or participating:
- In a comprehensive support system for all parts of the cultural infrastructure. Support for production, venues, organizers, individual artists, meeting places, etc.
- In building long-term, stable Sami cultural institutions.
- Being an active part of the relevant cultural policy conversation and be seen as a contact partner/expert in the context.
- Understanding that Sámi cultural activities need to be led by Sámi people and that Sámi support systems need to be assessed by Sámi experts.
To achieve this, the resources for Sami culture need to be significantly increased. The difference between national support in Norway and Sweden is very large. Here, equality is required as a basic precondition for Sami culture in the Swedish part of Sápmi to be able to develop.
Viermie K was established during two working meetings in Staare, and in the network's first year, amongst other things, the issue of extended membership is to be addressed in order to open up the network to other Sami cultural institutions.
