Restructuring of arts councils

The Ministry of Education and Culture and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) are preparing for the restructuring of arts councils.

The current arts council structure has been in place since 2013. A restructuring of the arts council structure is now being prepared. The restructuring is in response to, among other things, the increased workload of the arts councils, challenges related to conflicts of interest, and the uneven distribution of work.

The restructuring of the arts councils requires legal amendments, and the new law could enter into force in 2026 at the earliest. Preparations for the restructuring began in autumn 2023. Various stakeholders and the entire arts sector are being consulted extensively in the restructuring work.

Current arts council structure

Taike currently comprises 24 expert bodies that decide on the awarding of grants and prizes, as well as provide expert opinions.

The Central Arts Council decides on the roles, names and number of national arts councils. It also appoints the members of the national and regional arts councils for two-year terms based on recommendations by recognised experts within the arts. The chair and members of the Central Arts Council are appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The national arts councils decide on the awarding of grants and prizes to artists and artist groups.
The regional arts councils decide on the awarding of grants and prizes to artists and artist groups within their regions.
Taike’s boards decide on the awarding of statutory grants.
Taike’s expert panels evaluate applications for thematic subsidies.

Proposed new structure

Visual description about the new arts council structure. On the left there are pink dots that descripes 200 experts who create the expert pool. Some of these dots have been selected as a part of grant assesment panel on the right side of the image.

According to the draft legislation, the current national and regional arts councils would cease to exist. In the new structure, the Culture Agency of Finland would have a Council of Arts and Culture, a pool of experts and grant assessment panels, the composition of which would change regularly. The Culture Agency of Finland would be formed at the start of 2026 by merging the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI).

The Ministry of Education and Culture appoints the Council of Arts and Culture.
The Council of Arts and Culture appoints the members of the pool of experts.
The preparation of decisions based on peer reviews is carried out within grant assessment panels that comprise members of the pool of experts. The panels are appointed by the Council of Arts and Culture.
The Council of Arts and Culture makes all grant decisions based on peer reviews as prepared by the grant assessment panels.

Consultation round on the draft legislation in December 2024

The consultation round on the draft legislation as part of the Education and Culture Administration 2030 reform project was open until 31 January 2025.

According to the draft legislation, the change will enter into force in stages. The Culture Agency of Finland would start operating on 1 January 2026, but the changes affecting the arts councils would take place after a transition period, starting on 1 July 2026.

Taike sees both opportunities and challenges in the new structure in how peer reviews would be organised. The grant assessment panels assembled for each application round would provide the opportunity to form more diverse peer review groups, in which the specific characteristics of each form of support and artform could be taken into account more broadly.

Taike has identified the concerns of regional actors about maintaining the regional structure, as the draft legislation proposes to abolish the current structure of regional arts councils. The new Culture Agency of Finland should have other means to ensure a balanced distribution of resources for promoting the arts across Finland. Regional equality should be taken into account in the composition of the grant assessment panels. Changes related to regionality should also be closely monitored.

Both Taike and the Central Arts Council submitted their opinions on the draft legislation. Links to the news articles are listed below.

The government proposal on legislation on the reform of the administrative branch of the Ministry of Education and Culture is intended to be submitted to Parliament for decision in the spring session of 2025.