Call for application

Call for Applications 2024: Supplementary Artist Pension

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as recognition of an outstanding contribution to the creative or performing arts. Supplementary artist pensions are intended to supplement the artist’s pension security.

Application period

Decisions

Decisions will be made by the end of February 2025.

For what purpose

Supplementary artist pensions are intended to supplement the artist’s pension security.

For whom

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as recognition of an outstanding contribution to the creative or performing arts to an artist above the age of 60 or who has a permanent work disability and whose earnings do not exceed the set limit.

Who decides

The artistic activities of applicants are evaluated by national arts councils. Decisions are made by the Director based on a presentation.

About applying

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) requires that applicants familiarise themselves with the call for applications before filling in the application.

Please note that the deadline for submitting applications is 16:00 on the last day of the application period. This is the absolute deadline by which time Taike must receive the application.

Applications may be submitted online during the application period.

Intended recipients

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded to a professional artist who is currently living or has lived permanently in Finland.

A professional artist is one who creates, performs or interprets art as their primary or secondary occupation. A professional artist has an education in a specific field of the arts or otherwise acquired professional expertise in the arts.

This call for applications is for pensions beginning on 1 January 2025. A supplementary artist pension cannot be awarded to a person who has not turned 60 by 31 December 2024 without special reason. A permanent work disability due to poor health is considered a special reason.

Who decides

The arts councils review the sections of the applications concerning artistic activities. Information related to financial status is only processed by Taike’s officers after the artistic activities have been reviewed by the arts council. Decisions are made by the Director of Taike based on a presentation. The presentation process is a decision-making method used in public administration, where the presenting officer prepares the decision proposals and presents them to the competent decision-makers.

Purpose

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as recognition of an outstanding contribution to the creative or performing arts. The awarding of a supplementary artist pension is subject to the applicant's pension and other permanent income and capital income confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national pension income.

There is no subjective right to an artist pension, as the awarding of artist pensions is discretionary in which the artistic activities of applicants are reviewed and compared. In addition, the decision-making process takes into consideration the number of applications within each field of the arts, as well as the limited number of supplementary artist pensions that is available.

Amount

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded within the limits of the appropriations made in the State Budget for this purpose. The total amount of supplementary artist pensions awarded in 2024 corresponded to 51 full pensions.

Supplementary artist pensions are taxable income and may be awarded as a full pension or a partial pension. In 2024, the amount of a full pension was 1601.92 euros per month, while the amount of a partial pension was half that amount, 800.95 euros. The amount of supplementary artist pensions in 2025 will be confirmed in January.

A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as a full pension if the applicant’s confirmed pension and other permanent income, with the exception of national pension income, are less than the amount of the supplementary artist pension per month (1601.92 euros in 2024).

A partial pension may be awarded if the applicant’s confirmed pension and other permanent income, with the exception of national pension income, are more than the amount of the supplementary artist pension but less than twice the amount of the supplementary artist pension (3203.84 euros in 2024).

A supplementary artist pension cannot be awarded if the applicant’s confirmed pension and other permanent income, with the exception of national pension income, are more than twice the amount of the supplementary artist pension (3203.84 euros in 2024).

A previously awarded partial pension may be increased to a full pension upon application by the pension recipient if the pension recipient’s confirmed pension and other permanent income, with the exception of national pension income, are less than the amount of the supplementary artist pension per month (1601.92 euros in 2024).

Awarding and payment of pension

Supplementary artist pensions are awarded by Taike and paid by Keva monthly from the start of the year for which the pension was awarded. Taike processes applications for supplementary artist pensions once a year.

The number of new pensions that can be awarded and partial pensions that can be increased to full pensions is confirmed annually in the State Budget. Supplementary artist pensions are awarded on condition that Parliament allocates the required appropriations in the State Budget for 2025.

Grounds for not awarding a supplementary artist pension

  • If the application arrives after the application deadline. Applications must be received by Taike no later than 16:00 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).

Decisions about supplementary artist pensions are based on the Act on Supplementary Artist Pensions (194/2016) and the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Decree on Supplementary Artist Pensions (207/2016) and subject to the Act (657/2012) on Taiteen edistämiskeskus (only in Finnish) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).

Additional terms and conditions

Taike can, by its decision, order the payment of the pension to be stopped and the already paid pension to be recovered if the pension applicant has given false or misleading information in the pension application about a matter that has substantially affected the awarding of the pension.

What to include with your application

Please supply copies of the requested attachments and not the originals. Applications and attachments will not be returned. The maximum file size for each attachment is 4 MB.

Mandatory attachments:

  1. Your CV (do not include your personal ID number)
  2. Pension decision or proof of current amount of pension
  • If you are already on a pension, attach to your application up-to-date information about the amount of your pension each month.
  • If you are not yet on a pension, attach your up-to-date pension record with an estimate of your future pension.
  • Information about your current or future pension income is mandatory, and failure to supply this information will prevent your application from being processed.

Supply the following attachments only if they apply to you:

  • Decision or clarification of foreign pension income 
  • If you are under the age of 60 and are applying on the basis of a permanent work disability, attach the relevant medical certificate (Medical Certificate B).
  • Taike will request your tax decision directly from the Tax Administration if you have given your consent to this in the application form. If you do not provide consent for this, attach a tax certificate from your most recently submitted tax return.

Attachments related to your artistic work:

  • Applicants in the visual arts (including visual arts, design, illustrations and comics, and photographic art) must also include 3 to 5 images of their works or similar work sample as a single pdf file, including details about the name, technique, size and year of each work. 
  • For videos (for cinema and media art, for example), a link to the publishing platform with any passwords should be included. Remember to check the link to make sure it works.
  • The maximum file size is 4 MB.
     

In addition, you may also include two more attachments that are relevant to your application. The file names should describe the content.

Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the attachments include all the required information and samples of their work as specified in the call for applications.

How to apply

The application form will be available on Taike’s e-services at the start of the application period on 2 September 2024. To log in you will need eBanking identifiers, a mobile certificate or an electronic ID card.

LOG IN AND FILL IN THE APPLICATION ONLINE (USER INTERFACE IN FINNISH)

To log in you will need eBanking identifiers, a mobile certificate or an electronic ID card.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR USING ONLINE SERVICES

If you are unable to use our online services, please contact Taike’s customer service.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICANTS

Notification of decision

All applicants will be notified of the decision in writing by the end of February 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.

If you apply for a supplementary artist pension using a paper application form, you will receive the decision and attachments by post according to the delivery schedule once the decisions are ready.

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. Matters related to a person's privacy, for example contact information and matters related to health and financial situation, are always confidential. Work plans are also confidential to the extent that they contain information considered to be business secrets, such as artistic ideas. Taike does not publish the names of pension recipients on its website for data protection reasons.

Further information

Customer service 
t. 0295 330 700 
[email protected]