Public consultation on draft legislation affecting Taike

According to the draft legislation, the Culture Agency of Finland would carry out tasks related to the promotion of the arts and culture, media education and a safe media environment, as well as the preservation of audiovisual culture.

The task of the Culture Agency of Finland would be to promote the arts and culture and their status and significance in society, create conditions for making art and for the work of professional artists, promote media education and media literacy, promote a safe media environment for children, preserve materials related to audiovisual culture and promote their research and other use, and promote awareness of audiovisual culture.

The new agency would continue the operations of the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). Employees would transfer to the new agency in their positions. One the law is ratified, a director would be selected for the Culture Agency of Finland.

There will also be significant changes, however. According to the draft legislation, the current national and regional arts councils would cease to exist. In the future, the preparation of decisions based on peer reviews would be carried out by expert panels assembled from a pool of experts. The Culture Agency of Finland would have a Central Arts and Culture Council, which would make decisions on grants and prizes based on the preparations of the expert panels. The Ministry of Education and Culture would appoint the members of the Central Arts and Culture Council, which in turn would appoint the members of the pool of experts.

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.

The Education and Culture Administration 2030 reform is based on the need to strengthen the effectiveness, productivity and service capacity of operations. For customers, the services and functions of the Education and Culture Administration would remain unchanged for the time being and can be found at familiar addresses.

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 Education and Culture Administration 2030 reform is part in the Government Programme.

Taike will organise an open webinar on the draft legislation and its impacts on the tasks of promoting the arts and culture on 15 January 2025, 12:30am–1:30pm. The participation link will be published on Taike's event calendar.

Find out more about the draft legislation on the lausuntopalvelu.fi website (in Finnish).