State allowances and Grants
In addition to the remunerations, grants etc. from within the Public Lending Right Scheme, the Authors’ Fund administers and makes decisions on several state grants etc.
Grants to authors, translators and journalists in the arts
The State allocates an annual sum under the budget item Grants for Artists. The Board of the Authors' Fund disburses grants intended for authors, translators and journalists in the arts. SEK 2.5 million is available for these grants this year.
Openings for these grants are announced annually in August. About 20 grants are distributed most years, for a maximum of two years and for a sum of at least SEK 60,000.
Income Guarantee
State Income Guarantee for artists was previously awarded to an artist whose work is of high artistic merit and of major significance to the arts in Sweden. The Income Guarantees will be gradually discontinued from the year 2010. The State Income Guarantee for artists was awarded to artists of all kinds. The Swedish Authors' Fund made the decisions concerning guaranteed income to authors, playwrights and translators, while the Swedish Arts Grants Committee made the decisions concerning artists in other fields. Today there are 157 Guarantee holders in all, 35 of whom have been appointed by the Swedish Authors' Fund.
In addition to the Income Guarantees, 102 long-term stipends are similarly disbursed by the Swedish Authors’ Fund and the Swedish Arts Grants Committee. Twenty of these grants are disbursed by the Swedish Authors’ Fund. Of the twenty recipients, five are playwrights.
State Grants to Playwrights
From the State budget item Grants for Artists, the subcommittee on playwrights disburses grants intended for playwrights and translators of plays. This year, the committee has SEK 2.5 million at its disposal for this purpose.
Grants awarded for five years are intended to provide basic financial security for active professional artists. They are taxable and counted toward the national pension scheme. At present a five-year artist's grant is for an annual sum of SEK 95,000.
One and two-year grants are intended to give active professional artists the financial security to enable them to devote themselves to an uninterrupted period of artistic production. These grants are non-taxable. Currently one and two-year grants range between SEK 45,000 and SEK 75,000. The application period is announced in March. Decisions are made in May.
Playwright Subsidy
The playwright subsidy is a State subsidy for commissioning new Swedish plays. Free theatre groups, regional and local theatre institutions and radio and television companies can receive this subsidy, for partial financing of a new Swedish play commissioned by them. SEK 2.8 million is available for this purpose this year.
Applications are to be submitted jointly by a playwright and the theatre institution that wants to perform the play. Decisions are made twice a year.
The subsidy is paid to the theatre, which is then required to pay the entire amount to the playwright.
The sum of the subsidy is fixed at 2/3 of the basic amount paid to the playwright according to the prevailing agreement between The Swedish Playwrights' Union and The Association of Swedish Theatres, concerning acquisition and performance of plays. The theatre itself must pay at least 1/3 of the agreed payment to the playwright.
Grants for travel and international exchanges
In order to promote dissemination of quality Swedish literature and drama abroad and international exchanges in these areas, the Swedish Authors' Fund disburses special grants for travel and international exchanges. Decisions regarding these grants are made five times each year.
In 2010, the Swedish Authors' Fund will disburse a total of approximately SEK 1 million in grants for travel and international exchanges. The individual amounts granted are often quite small, normally ranging between SEK 3,000 and SEK 15,000.
Beginning in 2008, the Swedish Authors' Fund will have separate responsibility for translators working from Swedish into other languages. For this reason, a relatively large proportion of the funding will be devoted to travel for such translators, and for them to spend time in Sweden. Beyond this, no priority is given to any particular professional category or to any genre.
Grants for sample translations
As a further means of promoting international dissemination of Swedish literature and drama, the Swedish Authors' Fund also disburses special grants for sample translations of Swedish literature and drama to other languages. A sample translation is defined as translation of part of a work of literature in order to facilitate its placement with a foreign publishing house or theater.
These grants are for a fixed sum of SEK 5,000, and decisions are made twice a year. The grants may only be applied for by the translator. A total of approximately 30 grants for sample translations are expected to be disbursed in 2010.