Major donation to new research institute for culture and creativity

Thanks to a generous donation from the Anders Sandrew Foundation, Uppsala University can now establish a brand new institute – the Anders Sandrew Institute for Culture and Creativity. It will concentrate the University’s research in the broad field of culture and creativity.

The donation from the Anders Sandrew Foundation amounts to SEK 50 million over five years, with a possible extension of a further five years. A new professorship – the Anders Sandrew Chair in Digital Art History – will be attached to the Institute.

The Anders Sandrew Institute for Culture and Creativity will enable researchers and doctoral students from different departments to come together for cross-disciplinary research.

Professor Joakim Palme, Vice-Rector of the Disciplinary Domain of Humanities and Social Sciences at Uppsala University, sees the donation as having created great opportunities.

“Naturally, this kind of concentration in one institute generates many new research collaborations across subject area boundaries. But the potential is even greater than that. The initiative also provides an excellent platform for developing new relationships with other stakeholders in society and to promote entrepreneurship in various creative industries. Ultimately, it’s about the contribution of research and culture to human health and the importance of culture for social and community cohesion,” Palme explains.

In the rapidly growing cultural and creative industries, there is a great need for researchers with expertise in digital art history and cultural analysis methods. Through the establishment of the Anders Sandrew Institute for Culture and Creativity, Uppsala University aims to:

1.Concentrate support for pioneering research into new and traditional cultural expressions – from runic inscriptions to digital art and game design

2.Raise awareness of the importance of culture in people’s lives and for their health and creativity

3.Promote entrepreneurship around culture, creative industries and social cohesion.

“At the Foundation, we’re pleased to be contributing to important research that reflects Anders Sandrew’s life’s work as an entrepreneur and business leader in the film industry and other cultural industries. That he came from Uppland also means that this donation to Uppsala University closes a circle,” says Björn Börjesson, Chair of the Anders Sandrew Foundation.

The Anders Sandrews Chair in Digital Art History will be based in the Department of Art History which, over the past decade, has developed digital research and instruction in collaboration with world-leading cultural institutions.

The head of department, docent Johan Eriksson, was one of the initiators behind the creation of this multidisciplinary upgrade to the University’s research in the field of culture. He is now looking forward to helping to realise the Institute and to increase digital literacy.

“Nowadays, everything from cave paintings to contemporary image streams are analysed using digital research methods, and museums and other cultural heritage institutions are using digital tools in their exhibitions, management and analysis,” notes Eriksson. “The research will now be further strengthened by being concentrated and developing in a shared environment. The new, digitally focused professorship is a great fit in this and will both complement the Institute’s current skills and expertise and contribute to an important development and a critical discussion of digitalisation and AI,” he says.

Uppsala University’s Vice-Chancellor Anders Hagfeldt is enthusiastic about the generous donation from the Anders Sandrew Foundation.

“This is a very generous and welcome gift from a foundation whose founder was a pioneer in the Swedish film industry. It’s fantastic that the Anders Sandrew Foundation now wants to support a major, future-oriented cultural research initiative,” says Hagfeldt.

About research in culture and creativity:

A society’s culture is expressed in many forms such as film, visual art, craft, literature and music. These cultural expressions are usually studied in the context of academic disciplines such as art history, textile, literary studies and musicology, and more recently film studies and game design. Research is also being conducted into the social conditions under which cultural expressions emerge and develop, ranging from the economy, markets and entrepreneurship to the legal frameworks around intellectual property rights. Culture is being influenced more and more by various forms of digitalisation, which has implications for research and the need for digital skills.

About the Chair in Digital Art History

The subject area of art history includes teaching and research into art, design, architecture and forms of visual expression such as photography, film, set and stage design, and other art forms – from both historical perspectives and using contemporary methods of analysis. Digital art history is a new field that includes methods and tools to visualise environments, products and messages to reach a wide audience. By bringing together modern digital technologies and art, we are redefining the way we understand and experience culture.

Jubilee campaign Boundless knowledge - Uppsala University

In 2027, Uppsala University will turn 550 years old. In the face of multiple, complex challenges, the University aims to strengthen research and education, culture and cultural heritage. By seeking additional, new sources of funding, we will be able to make a greater contribution to societal development, which is why the Vice-Chancellor has initiated a jubilee campaign titled “Boundless knowledge – since 1477”.

About the Anders Sandrew Foundation

Anders Sandrew (1885–1957) was the founder of the Sandrews film and theatre group of companies and, at the time of his death, was Scandinavia’s top private entrepreneur in the entertainment industry.

After Sandrew’s death and in accordance with his wishes, his entertainment empire was transformed to establish the Anders Sandrew Foundation. The Foundation’s articles of association stipulate that support should target primarily young students in artistic courses and study programmes that focus on film and theatre in a broad sense. However, support is also available for older stage and screen actors and others who have made a significant artistic contribution to theatre and film. In addition, the Foundation is to “promote scholarly research of national importance.”