Call for applications 2024: Subsidies for Promoting Cultural Wellbeing and Inclusion
The deadline for submitting applications is 16.00 (4.00pm) on the last day of the application period. This is the absolute deadline by which time Taike must receive the application.
Applications should be submitted online during the application period.
We require that applicants familiarise themselves with the call for applications before filling in the application.
Intended recipients
These subsidies are intended for registered communities (legal entities), such as associations, cooperatives, companies, municipalities and foundations. Unregistered communities and private traders are not eligible, as they are not legal entities.
These subsidies are intended for communities who promote inclusion, cultural wellbeing, and involvement in culture and the arts.
Impact goals
These subsidies shall
- promote the livelihoods and employment of artists
- promote cultural wellbeing and inclusion in the arts and culture
- promote involvement in culture and the arts nationally
- develop cultural wellbeing contents, as well as the structures and evaluation of activities.
Who decides
Applications and the operations of applicants are evaluated by Taike’s experts. Decisions are taken by the Director of Taike based on a presentation by a special advisor.
Purpose
These subsidies support
- cultural wellbeing projects and activities
- the employment of artists, including those who require special support
- participation and inclusion in the arts and culture
- actors who promote involvement in culture and the arts.
These subsidies are not awarded for
- investments
- recreational activities (e.g. outings, festivities).
Taike shall decide whether the subsidy is awarded in the form of an operational subsidy or a special subsidy. Operational subsidies are granted to cover a community’s basic operations or a specific area of operations. Special subsidies are granted to support specific projects implemented in 2025. Taike may award the subsidy in the form of a special subsidy for a specific project even if the application covers all operations.
These subsidies may be awarded if considered necessary in relation to the quality and scope of operations. Other state support shall be taken into consideration.
Amount
The minimum amount of each operational subsidy is 10,000 euros. The minimum amount of each special subsidy is 5000 euros.
These subsidies may cover only a portion of the total funding and not all expenses. Operational subsidies may cover no more than 80% of eligible operational expenses.
The amount of the subsidy combined with other state support may not exceed the total amount of eligible expenses (100%). If a project supported by a special subsidy generates a profit, the recipient may be asked to return the subsidy in full or in part.
Further information about eligible expenses can be found on the Taike website.
Previously awarded subsidies are listed on the Taike website.
Evaluation criteria
The awarding of subsidies is based on an evaluation, comparison and overall assessment of applications. When evaluating applications, the following criteria and questions are used, not all of which need to be fulfilled. There is no weighting in the evaluation criteria. The regional distribution and language of applicants are taken into consideration, as is the amount of available funding. Equality and fair treatment are also taken into account, as are the special characteristics of cultural and linguistic minorities.
These subsidies are discretionary and are awarded on an annual basis on condition that Parliament allocates the required appropriations in the annual state budget.
Evaluation criteria for operational subsidies
1. Ambition and quality of operations
- Are the community’s operations ambitious and of high quality?
- How are operations and the changes achieved by the operations evaluated?
- What is the community’s strategy and vision or operating plan for the coming years?
- How does the community respond to changes in the operating environment?
- How are fairness, occupational wellbeing and gender equality ensured?
- How are the principles of sustainable development implemented in operations?
- Does the community pay wages and fees in accordance with fair remuneration practices?
- How does the community develop its operations?
2. Scope and impact of operations
- Onko yhteisöllä erityinen valtakunnallinen tehtävä toimialallaan tai toiminnan kohderyhmissä?
- Does the community have a special national role within its field or among the target groups of its operations?
- What is the scope of operations regionally, nationally and/or internationally?
- What is the status or special role of the community in its field of the arts and among its target group?
- What kinds of networks does the community have?
- What is the social impact of the community’s operations?
- How do the community’s operations promote wellbeing and inclusion and reduce inequality?
- What are the key figures for operations (e.g. number of events, courses, workshops and performances, number of participants, publication activities)?
- Are the community’s staff members professionals?
- How are accessibility and inclusion ensured?
3. Financial sustainability and feasibility
- Have the community’s finances been managed sustainably and responsibly?
- Is the amount of the subsidy that has been applied for realistic and necessary in relation to the scope and financial situation of operations?
- What other financing does the community have for its operations?
Evaluation criteria for special subsidies
1. Quality of the project
- Is the project plan interesting, clear and consistent?
- What kinds of ideas and operating models that promote wellbeing and inclusion does the project offer?
- How noteworthy is the community implementing the project in its field of the arts?
- Are the community’s staff members and project implementers professionals?
- What is the quality of the project’s cultural content?
- Does the community pay wages and fees in accordance with fair remuneration practices?
2. Impact of the project
- How does the community evaluate the implementation of the project and what metrics are used?
- What is the impact of the project regionally, nationally or internationally?
- What is the social impact of the project?
- How does the project promote an understand of the arts/culture and a discussion about the arts/culture?
- What kinds of cooperation partners does the project have?
- What kinds of expertise does the project have?
- How does the project reach its target group?
- How are accessibility and inclusion ensured?
3. Project financing
- Have the community’s finances been managed sustainably and responsibly?
- Is the amount of the subsidy that has been applied for realistic and necessary in relation to the scope of the project and financial situation of the applicant?
- What other funding does the project have?
What does sustainable development refer to on the call for applications?
What do non-discrimination and equality refer to on the call for applications?
General terms and conditions
- Subsidies awarded by other parties are taken into consideration when awarding subsidies. Other private and public financing is considered an advantage when evaluating the applicant’s need for a subsidy insofar as there is still a need for the subsidy.
- The activities of the community cannot be profit-based.
- The applicant is responsible for organising accounting in the manner stipulated in the Accounting Act and Decree.
- Subsidies for communities supported in previous years may be increased, decreased or not awarded according to the community’s operations, comparisons to the applications submitted by other communities, or the amount of funding that has been allocated.
- The subsidy must be used during the year in which it is awarded.
- Recipients of subsidies must submit written clarification and a financial statement of how the subsidy was used.
- The Arts Promotion Centre Finland requires that communities comply with the Act on Equality between Women and Men (609/1986) and the Non-discrimination Act (1325/2014), as well as other legislative obligations for employers.
- Taike’s aim is to give communities the opportunity to safeguard the continuity of their operations by strengthening their own capital. Own capital does not affect the amount of the operational subsidy if it does not exceed 50 % of the annual operating budget.
- Subsidies are awarded as de minimis aid. Information about other de minimis aid received during the current tax year and the two previous tax years must be included in the application. Taike may also award the grant in accordance with the General Block Exemption Regulation if the conditions for de minimis aid do not allow the grant to be awarded.
What to include with your application
- It is mandatory to include the community’s audited financial statements (signed) for the previous financial period (annual report, long income statement and balance sheet) and operating plan and budget for the forthcoming year.
- In addition, you may also include up to two attachments that are relevant to your application. The file names should describe the content. The maximum file size for each attachment is 4Mb. Applications and attachments are not returned.
Grounds for disqualification
- If the application arrives after the application deadline. Applications must be received by Taike by 16.00 (4.00pm) on the last day of the application period.
- If the application is incomplete (if the required information has not been delivered to Taike following a request for such information).
- If the applicant has not submitted written clarification of previously awarded subsidies before the given deadline.
Subsidies are subject to the Act (657/2012) and Statute (727/2012) on Taiteen edistämiskeskus (only in Finnish); Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001); Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003). Taike monitors the use of subsidies and is entitled if necessary to review the finances and activities of recipients.
How to apply
Log in and fill in the application online (user interface in Finnish)
You can log in using Suomi.fi e-identification.
Instructions for using online services
If you are unable to use our online services, please contact Taike’s customer service.
Guidelines for subsidy applicants
Notification of decision
All applicants will be notified of the decision in writing by 17 March 2025. Applicants will be informed by e-mail when the decision can be accessed from our online services. If you do not receive the e-mail to your inbox, remember to check also your junk mail folder. Applicants are responsible for checking their e-mail messages on the address supplied in the application.
Applications are public documents
Applications submitted to Taike are public documents, about which everyone is entitled to receive information according to Finnish law (Act on the Openness of Government Activities 621/1999). For example, the media can request to view applications. Taike does not disclose confidential information. The project plans of communities are confidential to the extent that they contain information considered to be business secrets, such as artistic ideas or information about private individuals. Information about subsidies awarded to communities is published on the Taike website.
Taike submits information about all state subsidy decisions for publication on the tutkiavustuksia.fi website (Act on Discretionary Government Transfers 688/2001).
Further information
Special Advisor Isto Turpeinen, t. 0295 330 831, [email protected]
Customer Service t. 0295 330 700, [email protected]