The Norad Programme in Arts and Cultural Education. A Mid-Term Review of the Programme Period 2006-2008/9

This report is a review of the Norad Programme in Arts and Cultural Education (ACE). ACE is a programme for cooperation between institutions for cultural education in the South and partners in Norway, established to contribute to the strengthening of cultural education institutions in the south and to the professionalization of artists and art forms.

In the programme period 2006-2008/9, seven projects have received funding, benefitting students from Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. By the end of the programme period, if all plans are successful, 50 students, close to half of them women, will have received a degree in Dance, Music, Drama, Ethnomusicology, or Visual Cultural Studies. A central element of the programme is to encourage students to work at their home institution (or at another cultural institution in their home country) upon completion of their degree. This will contribute to the strengthening of cultural education institutions in the south. The review finds that four to five of the seven projects are likely to fulfil this goal.

The review concludes that the programme has been economically efficient and that it should be continued. The review recommends that in the future, the programme should:

• Fund post-studies employment at institutions in the south
• Reduce scholarships during studies/fieldwork in the south
• Clarify responsibilities of each institution
• Revise the accounting system and streamline conditions
• Consider the possibility of research components
• Consider the possibility for south-south cooperation
• Introduce web-based information sharing