LIVING ON THE EDGE. Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins
Info
Oulu City Hall
Kirkkokatu 9
Oulu 90100
Finland
The Nordic Conference on Cultural Policy Research aims to strengthen the Nordic community regarding cultural policy research and to promote the foundation of Nordic networks of researchers in this field.
Oulu, Finland, 18-20 August 2027
Contact: nccpr2027@jyu.fi
UPDATES:
IMPORTANT DATES:
Abstract submission opens: 1 November 2026
Abstract submission closes: 17 January 2027
Review results released: March 2027
Submission of final papers: 1 June 2027
Deadline for pre-conference workshop: 1 August 2027
Registration opens: March 2027
Registration closes: 31 July 2027
Conference begins: 18 August 2027
The theme for the 13th NCCPR is Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins.
Nordic cultural policy research has traditionally often focused on nation states and major cultural centers, emphasising cultural administrations, formal art institutions, and politically prominent trends. Less attention has been given to cultural life outside these focal points.
However, art, culture and cultural policy also exist in areas beyond the spotlight. For example, in the northernmost regions of the Nordic countries, culture and cultural policy have always played an important role in the development of the regions and in the interaction between different populations and groups. Arts, culture, and politics are very important for the articulation of identities in these regions, characterised by an abundance of sparsely populated areas, a peoples’ interdependence with nature, a diversity of cultures and languages, and a mobility and collaboration across national borders.
Oulu being the European Capital of Culture in 2026 has brought to the fore the forms of artistic and cultural expression and the conditions for creative work in the northern regions, as well as issues that are relevant to cultural policy in the north. The unique and sensitive environmental conditions of the north, the proximity and crossing of the borders of four countries, the coexistence of many ethnic and linguistic groups, the postcolonial situation of the region, the growing geopolitical and economic importance of the North, and Sámi art and culture have been on display.
Together, these perspectives send a strong message to cultural policy and research: greater attention must be paid to the distinctiveness of such regions and to reassessing whether the core principles of Nordic cultural policy and practices organised for implementing them remain adequate in an era marked by intensified border crossings, demands for ecological sustainability, and decolonial principles. In particular, the experiences of northern regions deserve closer consideration if the Nordic cultural policy principles, including regional equality, is to be upheld.
With the theme Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins, we wish to make way for explorations of Nordic cultural policy in the light of its peripheral, marginal and translocal dimensions.
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Call for papers
Guidelines for authors
With the theme Arts, culture and policies in and of the margins, we wish to make way for explorations of Nordic cultural policy in the light of its peripheral, marginal and translocal dimensions.
If you would like to present a paper (long or short) or a poster or host a panel or a roundtable at the conference, we invite you to submit an abstract (papers and posters) or a proposal (panels and roundtables) by January 16. They can relate to the overall theme of the conference, or to other themes of interest for Nordic cultural policy research. We invite submissions from a variety of fields provided that the contributions relate to Nordic cultural policy research in a broad sense.
Important dates
- 1 November 2026: Call for abstracts and abstract submission opens.
- 17 January 2027: Deadline for abstract submission, and panel and round table proposal submissions.
- 15 June 2027: Deadline for paper submission.
Information about discussant nominations and access to full papers will be communicated to the authors in the beginning of August, 2027.
Programme
Preliminary conference programme
The preliminary conference program will be placed here in November 2026 and the final program will be released in March 2027.
Speakers
Conference keynote speakers
Miia Huttunen is an Academy Research Fellow at the University of Jyväskylä. Her research sits at the intersection of political science, cultural policy, and international relations, looking at instances where culture shapes and is shaped by international politics. She is interested in the principles of international interaction that frame the multilateral governance of culture, particularly as they are articulated through the discursive practices of the United Nations system. In her current research project, she seeks to rethink the protection of cultural heritage in times of armed conflict as a negotiation over the normative foundations of international order.
Saila Saraniemi is Professor of Brand Marketing at the University of Oulu, a Visiting Professor at Luleå University of Technology, and Adjunct Professor at the University of Eastern Finland. Her research focuses on various types of brand relationships and brands in networks. She also examines value creation, as well as issues of resilience and sustainability in networked environments, and how emerging technologies shape interactions between brands and people. More recently, her research has focused on the prerequisites and conditions for sustainable cultural tourism, particularly the collaboration between cultural and tourism actors in the Bothnian Arc area within the Interreg Aurora-funded ACCENT project.
Danielle Wilde is Full Professor at Umeå University and the University of Southern Denmark, and Arctic Six Chair of Arctic Food Citizenship, with a focus on eco-cultural and more-than-human relations. Her research engages food practices, Traditional Knowledges, and Intangible Cultural Heritage as ways of cultivating deep listening, collective decision-making, and capacities for self-determined futures. Using participatory Research through Design with food, she convenes community-led, place-based processes that bring communities and decision-makers together to address disconnects between societal structures, lived experience, and more-than-human flourishing. Her work reimagines citizenship, education, and governance through situated and embodied relations, foregrounding pluriversal perspectives and culture as living practice in the shaping of resilient and just futures.
Registration
Conference registration
Registration will open here in March 2027.
Venue
Conference venue
The conference will be held in downtown Oulu, at Oulu City Hall. The address is Kirkkokatu 9. More detailed information about the venue will be provided here later.
Accommodation
Accommodation options
The conference organizers have negotiated special rates for conference participants with hotels in downtown Oulu. Information about the hotels will be updated here and on the news page during 2026.