How is the restructuring of arts councils progressing?
The government proposal will likely change based on the feedback from the opinions when processed by ministerial groups before being discussed during the spring parliamentary session. It is currently unclear how precisely peer reviews will be regulated. 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. 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.
According to the draft legislation, the current national and regional arts councils would cease to exist. Instead, the preparation of decisions based on peer reviews would be carried out within the Council of Arts and Culture. The legal justifications refer to a structure in which peer reviews are carried out by grant assessment panels. The panel members are selected from a pool of experts, whose members are in turn appointed by the Arts and Culture Council.
Above all, Taike is ready to address the following issues:
- How the composition of the pool of experts is prepared and decided
- How the grant assessment panels are pointed
- How peer reviews are conducted within the grant assessment panels
- How matters are presented for decision by the Council of Arts and Culture
In terms of the autonomy of the arts and regional equality, what is essential is how widely the arts sector is consulted when preparing the composition of the pool of experts and how pluralism will be ensured. In Taike’s view, the composition of the pool of experts should be sufficiently broad, comprising at least 200 members, to ensure that it meets the requirements of peer reviews in the arts sector. One of the key starting points of the new system is that the current pool of experts in the arts councils would not necessarily be broad enough to peer review grant applications. This is particularly evident in the management of situations of disqualification.
The preparation of grant decisions based on peer reviews would take place in grant review panels, in which both the sufficient rotation of experts and transparency regarding all decision-making stages are essential. Currently, the law stipulates both the rotation of experts and transparency, as arts council appointments are documented in public documents. In the new structure, each applicant should know who has participated in the processing of the application at its different stages.
The new structure will see the processing of grant applications in two stages, which means separating the evaluation process from the decision-making process. This will pose new challenges in terms of schedules. It is also essential to consider how the restructuring will change the types of support that can be applied for.
Taike will begin internal preparations regarding the restructuring of its arts council during March. Once the draft legislation has been discussed in Parliament, info briefings will be organised for stakeholders on the progress of the restructuring. Taike also aims to involve stakeholders in the preparations in a manner to be announced later.
Questions and answers
How will further preparations of the restructuring proceed? What are the roles of the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)?
Taike is still waiting for more detailed information on how the work stages related to peer reviews will be defined in the law. The intention is to draw up internal operating instructions during 2025 so that the structures and operating methods for peer reviews are ready when the new Culture Agency of Finland starts on 1 January 2026. It is essential to draw up the new agency's rules of procedure and the specifications to be made in it. This work will probably start in autumn 2025. Preparing the decision-making structure is Taike’s task, but this will be done in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Culture.
How can the Council of Arts and Culture decide on all individual grants? Will it simply rubber stamp decisions?
According to the draft legislation, the Council of Arts and Culture would decide on all grants. This means thousands of individual decisions. It is clear that the Council's task is based on advanced preparations, in which the Council would discuss extensive entities. The decisions would be based on the preparations made by the grant assessment panels. It is difficult to predict how much and in what way the Council would want to change the prepared proposals. In any case, the agency must be prepared for the possibility that the Council will also want to intervene in individual grant decisions, because according to the draft legislation, it would have the right to do so.
How will the autonomy of the arts be secured if the politically appointed Council of Arts and Culture makes all the decisions?
The autonomy of the arts requires that the appointment of the Council of Arts and Culture is done at arm’s length – the members of the Council are equal actors who must act independently of the Ministry of Education and Culture that appointed them. From Taike’s perspective, what is essential is how the expertise of Council members is determined and how consultation with the arts sector is organised as part of the appointment process. The practical solutions for appointing the Council are also essential.
Taike’s own opinion on the draft legislation is that the Council of Arts and Culture should make decisions based on peer reviews. It should not under any circumstances act contrary to the structure of peer reviews, as this is the only way to ensure the autonomy of the arts. It is also worth noting that the current Central Arts Council is also appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which means that in principle the political nature of the appointment will not change from the previous system, although the Council’s decision-making power will increase significantly.
Who will be consulted in the future when processing grant decisions for communities?
According to the draft legislation, grant decisions concerning communities would be made by the agency. Currently, Taike’s arts councils (or panels for thematic forms of support) are consulted in decisions regarding communities, as according to the law, the arts councils provide expert opinions on matters each within its own field of the arts. There is no such structure in the new law. However, it would be advantageous for decision-making if the new agency also receives support from the pool of experts for community evaluations. The procedures related to this are part of the further preparations.
How will regional equality be ensured if the regional arts councils cease to exist?
Currently, regional arts councils decide on approximately 5 percent of all discretionary government grants awarded by Taike. Regional arts councils are of great importance in terms of regional equality, but in terms of actual amounts in euros, national forms of support and how they are distributed across Finland are of even greater importance. Although regional arts councils are being removed from the structure, regional equality can still be taken into account in decision-making, and this remains the responsibility of the new agency. It is even more important that the pool of experts has sufficiently diverse regional coverage.
Who will appoint the grant assessment panels and on what grounds?
According to the draft legislation, the appointment of the grant assessment panels will be the responsibility of the new agency. The law does not provide further details on how the grant assessment panels will be appointed. Experience with peer reviews suggests that each panel should process comparable applications. In that case, the composition of the grant assessment panels should correspond as closely as possible to the materials being processed and the diversity of applicants involved.
Further information
Henri Terho, Head of Arts Support
[email protected], t. +358 295 330 901