STAY IN THE CONVERSATION - Reflections on global collaboration
Please note this the English translation of a reflection written in a Danish context for the Danish performing arts magazine ISCENE.DK.
Director of WILDTOPIA, Karen Toftegaard, who advises creative organizations and individuals in Denmark and globally on strategy, reflects on her time as a fellow at ISPA – International Society of Performing Arts in the USA. She highlights the transformations currently taking place in the American cultural sector and how they will impact international collaboration.
In January 2022, I stood in an empty Times Square—no cars, no people. New York had been hit by COVID. The city's January festivals had all canceled just a few weeks before my trip—mainly because their staff and artists had been affected by COVID. The only ones who had a performance in New York were the resilient Irish at The Irish Institute of New York—quite fittingly, the performance Hard to Be Soft – a Belfast Prayer by choreographer Oona Doherty.
The Irish-American population in the USA is seven times larger than in Ireland. You cannot dive into New York's cultural life without immediately feeling the presence of a USA built by immigrants from different parts of the world who came to the country over centuries in search of opportunities their homelands could not provide. Most people have relatives who made the journey across the Atlantic to the USA. My great-grandfather’s brother immigrated. My father’s cousin married a ranch owner in the USA.
The American Spirit
Here, I reflect on my years as a Danish fellow in the mid-career leadership fellowship program of the American organization ISPA – International Society of Performing Arts from 2021 to 2025. I have learned from the American spirit—to think bigger and stop playing small. “We’re in the U.S., you’re allowed to speak highly of yourself.”
Personal power and an entrepreneurial mindset command respect in American culture. Self-promotion and confidence are encouraged here, in contrast to Danish culture, where Janteloven keeps you in check. I am a proud supporter of the Danish welfare system, where the strong help those in need. At the same time, I also long for higher ceilings—although, from an outsider’s perspective, it seems that only a small part of American society actually has access to that opportunity.
READ more about ISPA’s fellowship program here.
We Are in a Crisis
The U.S. cultural sector is in crisis, facing a devaluation of values as Trump rejects a range of moral principles that are essential for a functioning society. What strategies does the U.S. performing arts sector (and other cultural industries) choose to navigate this crisis? How does it affect the relationships that I and other cultural professionals worldwide have built with the U.S. over the years? How do you sustain culture in the face of adversity and conflict?
I participated in a roundtable discussion on precisely this question at ISPA this January. One perspective at the table was that art is often pushed into being either black or white, but art’s role is also to make space for the gray—the uncomfortable.
Ahmed El Attar, director of the Egyptian festival D-CAF, as a representative from the Arab world, pointed out that a large part of the problem is often “Western moral superiority”—that Westerners see themselves as morally superior, and that attitude causes significant damage. If you always believe you are right, it becomes difficult to genuinely listen to other perspectives. This thought keeps resurfacing in my mind because if you truly embrace it—what does the world look like if we genuinely listen to others? Without assumptions or self-righteousness?
Stay in the Conversation
Perhaps Denmark should also adopt a more proactive cultural policy strategy that focuses on relevance and visibility? And a much more appreciative collaboration with Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Maybe we should look at some of the strong cultural diplomacy actors who succeed in creating international relations while highlighting their own identity—such as the French minority in Canada, Quebec, and Taiwan—the beautiful country with a complex history shaped by various external powers, including periods of governance by both China and Japan
And when I think about whether it might be time to break with the U.S. as a consequence of Trump’s aggressive tactics and strategic consolidation of power, I recall a meeting I had with an experienced British Council director for the Nordic countries, when Russia made the military intervention in Ukraine in 2022.
I had worked with cultural diplomacy through an open, dialogue-based approach, but now I was experiencing Baltic partners and a Danish Minister of Culture opposing all forms of collaboration. Of course, I would respect that. But I also wanted to respect the Russian artists who were not pro-Putin but were striving to create art and culture in a country that needed it. So I asked him for advice on handling this situation. He replied that the British Council had always said: “Stay in the conversation.”
That advice has stayed with me in my cultural diplomacy work. One can continue a respectful dialogue even if, for political reasons, a concrete collaboration is not possible. The question that lingers with me is: Where does Denmark stand—not just in terms of defense, but also culturally?
This commentary reflects the writer’s own opinions.
