Navigating towards a sustainable artistic career

On November 17, 2026, Careers Conference #3 launches in  Dals Långed – a conference about how to establish yourself, make a living and grow within art, design and craft. With courage, knowledge and sustainability as your foundation.

This is a conference for those studying art, design or craft, as well as for those who have recently taken their first steps into a professional artistic career. This is a day for orientation, new perspectives and future possibilities.

Programme:

The full (more detailed) programme can be downloaded HERE.

08.30: Bus departs from HDK-Valand in Gothenburg
11.30-12.30: Lunch check-in, fair and exhibition opens.
12.30: The stage program is opened by moderator Love Jönsson.
12.45-13.45: Talk with Jesper Eng
14.00-14.45: Talks with Simon Westling, Karolina Hägg and Sofie Brinkmo 
15.00-15.45: Workshops with Jesper Eng, Hedvig Flärdh and Katarina Karlsson
16.00-16.45: Talks with Laura Blake and Oskar Gustafsson
16.45-17.00: Last words from moderator Love Jönsson.
17.30: Bus leaves from Långedsverken to Gothenburg 

Time: 17 November 2026 

Location: Långedsverken in Dals Långed 

Pre-register is now open: 
https://regionkalender.vgregion.se/sv/evenemang/22267

Careers Conference #3 is organised by The Cultural Administration of Västra Götaland, HDK-Valand, Konstkåren, Stenebyskolan and Mötesplats Steneby in collaboration with Bengtsfors Municipality.

 CONFERENCE IN ENGLISH: On March 6, 2025, Careers Conference #2 happens in Dals Långed – a conference about collaboration as a key to success in the cultural sector. 

In this second edition of the Careers Conference, we focus on the importance of collaboration, organizing in clusters, and gaining strength together with others. We do this with lively, exploratory, and captivating material

The conference is aimed at cultural creators, designers, artists, craftsmen, cultural project managers, artisans, producers, etc. who want inspiration about different career paths to take in an artistic professional life. Both students, professionals, and perhaps above all, those who have just thrown themselves into professional life but don’t know where to start, are most welcome to participate! This is also the conference for civil servants in culture and business, to be inspired and discover what KKB, the creative and cultural industries can bring to society and demand in working life. 

12.00 – 13.30 Lunch and check-in

13.30 – 13.50 Keynote speaker: My Gren and Lisa Holström

13.55 – 14.00 WELCOME

14.00 – 14.15 Change Creators

14.25 – 14.40 Not Quite

14.50 – 15.05 Ställbergs Gruva

15.10 – 15.25 Trans Europe Halles

15.25 – 15.35 Moderator Sara Vogel-Rödin 

15.35 – 15.55 BREAK

15.55 – 16.10 RiK Symbios

16.15 – 16.30 HURRA PANGPANG

16.35 – 16.50 Studio Växt

17.00 – 17.15 Konsthall 323

17.15 – 17.25 Moderator Sara Vogel-Rödin

17.25 – 17.45 Josefin Şîlan Karlsson – the conference poet

18.30 ( – late) After Work at Stenebykårens union house

Sara Vogel-Rödin (moderator) has worked with culture, cultural entrepreneurship, and rural development for over 20 years in Dalsland and the Västra Götaland region. You may have seen her e.g. as head of culture in Bengtsfors and Åmål municipalities, operations manager at Not Quite and Mötesplats Steneby, as project manager for Glupsk in Dalsland, and much more. She is curious, inquisitive, and energetic (and thinks this will be great fun).

My Gren and Lisa Holström will kick off the conference as keynote speakers with the theme cooperation. They will speak from their own lived experiences as employees at municipalities, in private sectors and as freelance culture workers and pedagogues.

“To cooperate we need a willingness to work together, an openness, curiosity and dare to do something completely new. To be able to compromise, shake up our roles and the pre-existing hierarchies.”

Change Creators is an EU project with the aim to strengthen the creative sector in rural Europe. Our focus has been on cluster organisations of artists in the countryside. We have seen a need for new cooperation with the public sector and other actors. A cooperation where the impact on society development, community, and resilience – by culture – is made more visible. Facilitating better understanding between actors and showing the potential with better cooperation, might release the power needed to give culture a bigger role in society.

Not Quite, Helen Mahieu will talk about how the artist collective in Fengersfors has created a dynamic and inspiring community, where collaboration and shared resources enable both individuals and the collective to grow. Not Quite is a diverse group of artists and craftsmen who, among other things, run exhibitions, a shop, and a café. While many people see Not Quite as a destination, a place to visit, Helen will explain that it’s much more than what meets the eye. In her talk, Helen will explore how, together, we can create something greater than what we could achieve on our own, and highlight how Not Quite has become a vital platform for creativity and community.

Ställbergs Gruva, Carl-Oscar Sjögren: co-founder and business developer at Ställbergs Gruva, also artist and director from Bergslagen. Ställbergs Gruva is a cultural association that gathers people from different areas and works, among other things, with structural questions about the conditions and significance of artists and culture locally in a global (cultural) world.

The group often works based on common issues and methods, which challenge the outside world and its economic, human, and ecological conditions. A key idea at Ställberg Gruva is that people with different backgrounds, professions, and ages are allowed to think, act, and research together

Trans Europe Halles is a European network with our headquarters in Lund, Sweden. The network is a member-led force for change driven by a bottom-up, activist spirit that challenges conventions. We have been at the forefront of repurposing abandoned buildings for arts, culture and activism since 1983. Member centers are rooted in repurposed spaces across the world, and they recognize and embrace the untapped potential of urban and rural spaces. In collaboration with local communities, they breathe life and creativity into neglected places, transforming them into vibrant hubs. Mieke Renders (Belgium) lives in Fengersfors and is the managing director of the network.

RiK Symbios, Jeanette Lindh Svanqvist. This is the story of how Bengtsfors kommun and Mötesplats Steneby, together with the local business community, have created new circular business opportunities through the RiK Symbios Bengtsfors initiative by giving waste materials new life. The success is built on the unique collaboration between industry, craftsmanship, design, and art, where different perspectives come together to create innovative solutions. You will get to learn about concrete examples of how this collaboration has generated positive effects for both businesses and the community.

HURRA PANGPANG is an up-cycling studio where the love for treasure hunting creates fiesta fashion, costume design & stage decor. You can rent, create custom creations or collaborate through their ongoing workshop & pop-ups. The unsellable goods from local second hand sorting facilities are repurposed though HURRA PANGPANGs party fingers and placed in new contexts, bodies and parallel universes. ”We turn your forgotten treasures into wearable treats”

They want all material to speak in high voices of their former past and future value. All material is thereby sourced locally and like organic and local produced vegetables – they are all individual and taste better! HURRA for leftovers!<3

Studio Växt, Álvaro Aramburu is an artist and designer based in Dals Långed. At the Careers Conference he will be speaking on behalf of Studio Växt, a workshop and co-working space which gathers many local creative businesses under one roof. During his presentation, Álvaro will share the unique factors which enabled the Växt community to grow, and will give insight into their vision for an even brighter future Långed.

Konsthall 323 is an art institution in a car. An exhibition space and an artistic collaboration between Frida Krohn and Ylva Trapp. The art institution started in 2010 and has since then collaborated with around 50 artists, invited audiences to series of conversations, produced a musical, organised a symposium, started a café and showed up in parking lots around the world.

Josefin Şîlan Karlsson is a social worker, creative jack of all trades and prize winning spoken word poet from Norrbotten (SE) and Kurdistan. Her artistic and social work is intertwined, in longing for a society where we allow the stories we tell about each other and ourselves to be numerous and complex. She often mixes other mediums and artforms into her poetry. She has been collaborating with dancers, musicians and textile artists and is a part of the queer feminist poetry collective ”Det Nya Gardet”.

At Careers conference she will perform poetry specially written for the conference mixed with real time recorded soundscapes.

After Work, 18.30 (- late) ay Stenebykårens union house. There will be soup and refreshments to buy!

____

Breakbird: The Journalist game

Instructions: Interview at least two people by asking the questions below, and be interviewed by two people

Questions to ask: 
How do you work together with others today? 
How do you want to try collaborating in the future?

Location: Open Wood, Långedsverken. Enterence via Hajuddevägen, Dals Långed
Time: Lunch and check-in from 12, the program from 1.30pm

Mötesplats Steneby organizes the conference together with Västra Götalandsregionens kulturförvaltning, Campus Steneby HDK-Valand, Bengtsfors Municipality and Stenebyskolan.

Welcome to Careers Conference – for students, alumni, and creative practitioners. The conference will offer you inspiration for and examples of different career paths you can pursue after your education.

At the conference you can listen to presentations from alumni students from Steneby and other craft and artistic educations. Their career paths might have taken them to unexpected places. The themes of the presentations are sustainability, project and event management, and research.

You can also visit the fair where you find local and national businesses, projects, initiatives and organisations. Here you can talk and ask questions that would be useful for you future endeavours.

And why not join in for some practical problem solving! We offer twox2h Hackathon sessions where you get to try your knowledge and creativity together with others.

At the Careers Conference you can listen, ask, and try – what might be your upcoming career!

Where at? Långedsverken, Dals Långed
Free entrance!

Management for Careers Conference; Otto Samuelsson at otto.samuelsson@hdk.gu.se

Explore, connect and shape your future in Dalsland
Explore the opportunities Dalsland offers for work, life and residence. In the FAIR @ HANGAR you will meet local and national businesses, projects, initiatives and organisations. Here you can see, talk, question and network and seize the opportunity to shape your future endeavors! Come and get inspired and unveil the possibilities for work, entrepreneurship, education, and living in Dalsland.  Can Dalsland your place for creativity, innovation, and a fulfilling life? See you at the FAIR @ HANGAR!

10-12 & 14-16
Hack the beaten track! Derailing with creative minds  
Get the opportunity to use your creative skills to solve real problems and learn about how you as an artist/designer/crafts person can use your skills in multifaceted ways. For this Hackathon we have collected challenges and problems from organisations/companies in Dalsland. Problems that we need to go off the beaten track to solve. 

It is time for you to use your creative skill to help us derail their problems and turn them into solutions for a more flourishing future. In return you get to participate in a fun and inspiring workshop where you will find new ways to use your skills.

09.00-10.00 KeyNote Helena Hansson
10.30-12.00 Session – Sustainability: Monique Wernhamn, Ola Andersson, Helene Mathieu & Lova Öberg
13.00 – 14.00 Session Cultural project management: Karin Linderoth och Helena Pernow
15.00 -16.00 Session research: Franz James och Rosa Tolnov Clausen
Moderator – Tom Cubbin

Keynote: Helena Hansson
The Juggling Crafter – Helena Hansson is a researcher and lecturer at HDK-Valand with particularly interested in collaborative and community-building processes, focusing on practice-based methodologies for craft and frugal design. In her current research within the EU-funded project Hephaestus, Helena has interviewed 35 actors in the Dalsland craft ecosystem. Initial findings show that craftsmaking is not ONE job but rather a set of combined jobs, where the crafter is trying to combine different jobs to make a living. Yet the materiality of the place in which craftmaking takes place plays an important role in keeping craft makers close to the identity of craft.

 Session Sustainability
Monique Wernhamn, has been professionally active for the past 15 years, In 2023, Monique released a book The Sustainable Woman, that explores personal sustainability, work and human value.In her talk she will introduce The Sustainable Woman and give some creative recipe’s on how to become a sustainable artist.

Ola Andersson, Nothing to sphere but the sphere itself. A presentation about daring to create your own path within wood working and design, with the realization that nothing has ever been square because nothing has ever been straight, nor has anything been flat, nor spherical, cylindrical or cubical.

Lova Öberg and Helén Mahieu are two former students who have chosen to remain in Dalsland and together they run SNICKQUEERI. They will talk about how they work with sustainability in their company both from an ecological, economic and social perspective.

Session Cultural project management
Karin Linderoth is a educated designer and has worked as a graphic designer in various contexts as well as an artistic director and project manager at the art center Ställbergs gruva. Karin is now a teacher at the Design program at HDK-Valand, in addition to working with Ställbergs gruva and the publishing house NON.

Helena Pernow is a textile artist and project manager in the field of contemporary craft and art. Collaboration is a central part of both her artistic practice and her role as an organizer. Parallel to her textile work, she works as a project manager at the Swedish Craft Center, an organization for professional craft artists in Sweden.

Session research
Franz James holds a position as assistant professor in furniture design at Campus Steneby. He is a furniture maker and designer by trade and has worked at both large and small companies and is today, apart from teaching and research. Franz is partner in Healsafe Interior. The company designs self-harm resistant products and interiors for secure care environments, e.g. forensic psychiatric hospitals and prisons.

Rosa Tolnov Clausen Was educated as a textile designer since 2013, focusing on hand-weaving. After graduation, she was employed for two years to develop my graduation project further. She have done several commissioned projects and self-initiated grant-financed projects in the past ten years. Since 2018, she have been employed as a doctoral student in the craft department at HDK-Valand.