This is the new policy council for the cultural and creative industries, which has been tasked with improving Norway’s cultural and creative competitiveness

- The council will consider key questions such as how best to strengthen the value chain and ensure that Norwegian artistic content reaches out to its national and international audience. Another issue is how best to return earnings to Norwegian industries and ensure investment in the talents of tomorrow, explains Minister of Culture Widvey.

Press briefing, 25 June 2015 (.pdf) 

The members of the new council have extensive national and international experience, and have achieved commercial success in areas such as computer games, music, film, design, architecture, literature, ICT and finance.

- The enthusiasm generated by the project The Dream Commitment – Ideas and Proposals (Drømmeløftet) testifies to a great interest in business development in the cultural and creative sectors. Institutions such as Innovation Norway and the Research Council of Norway run various excellent schemes that support industry and commerce. The council will examine how these can be utilised to promote the cultural industries even more effectively, says Monica Mæland, Minister of Trade and Industry.

Anne-Britt Gran, Professor at BI Norwegian Business School and head of the BI Centre for Creative Industries, will act as independent secretary to the council. Her mandate is to ensure that the arm’s length principle is upheld and that the council makes headway in its work.

When the plan to appoint the council was announced at the Kilden conference in Kristiansand in April, the government invited suggestions for potential members. - Organisations, businesses and individuals nominated more than 70 potential candidates. Nine of these have been appointed to the 15-member council, concludes the Minister of Culture. 

The industrial policy council for the cultural and creative industries:       

Computer Games:

Kim Daniel Arthur, computer game entrepreneur and partner in Superplus. (Tromsø)
Fredrik Sundt Breien, computer game developer, general manager and partner in Turbo Tape Games. (Bergen)

Music:

Kai Robøle, general manager and founder of the Waterfall companies; director of the by:Larm festival and Musikkforleggerne. (Akershus)
Erik Brataas, managing director, Phonofile. (Akershus)
Erlend Mogård Larsen, founder of a series of music festivals and general manager of the by:Larm festival. (Tromsø)

Film:

Elisabeth Sjaastad, freelance film director and producer. Former CEO of the European Federation of Film Directors (FERA), Brussels; now works for Kulturmeglerne. (Oslo)
Peter Aalbæk Jensen, film producer, general manager and partner in the production company Zentropa and the studio Filmbyen. (Herfølge, Danmark)

Design and architecture:

Siv Helene Stangeland, architect, entrepreneur and partner in Helen & Hard. (Stavanger)
Leila Hafzi, designer, founder of Empower Productions AS and partner in Rebuild Nepal Foundation. (Stavanger)

Literature:

Tor Jonasson, literary agent, Salomonsson Agency. (Stockholm, Sweden)
Anne Gaathaug, publisher, Kagge Forlag and deputy chair of the Norwegian Festival of Literature. (Oslo)

Finance, ICT and intellectual property rights:

Stine Helén Pettersen, lawyer and partner at the law firm Bing Hodneland. (Oslo)
Bente Sollid Storehaug, managing director, ESV Dinamo AS and board member of the media group Polaris Media. (Oslo)
Rolf Assev, IT entrepreneur, investor, partner at StartupLab and chairman of the board, WeWantToKnow (Oslo)
Kjerstin Braathen, Group Executive Vice President, corporate banking, DNB, in charge of DNB’s division for start-up businesses. (Oslo)

Secretary:

Anne-Britt Gran, Professor at BI Norwegian Business School and head of the BI Centre for Creative Industries.

Kim Daniel Arthur	Fredrik Sundt Breien	Kai Robøle
Erik Brataas	Erlend Mogård Larsen	Elisabeth Sjaastad
Peter Aalbæk Jensen	Siv Helene Stangeland	Leila Hafzi
Tor Jonasson	Anne Gaathaug	Stine Helén Pettersen
Bente Sollid Storehaug	Rolf Assev	Kjerstin Braathen
The industrial policy council for the cultural and creative industries		Anne-Britt Gran