Taike submits opinion on draft legislation on administrative reform

Taike’s opinion can be read on the lausuntopalvelu.fi website (in Finnish). The consultation round on the draft legislation is open until 31 January 2025.

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 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. Once the law is ratified, a director would be selected for the Culture Agency of Finland. 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.

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.

Taike’s key remarks on the draft legislation

Taike sees both opportunities and challenges in the new structure in how peer reviews would be organised. The expert 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 expert panels. Changes related to regionality should also be closely monitored.

The opinion submitted by Taike draws particular attention to the following points:

• Compared to the current Act on the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, the justifications for the proposed act do not assess the significance of the draft legislation in terms of the autonomy and peer review of the arts. Taike believes that in order to secure the system of peer reviews, the justifications should emphasise this more broadly.
•  The autonomy of the arts would also be strengthened by consulting key parties in terms of the arts and culture when appointing the Central Arts and Culture Council.
• The composition of the Central Arts and Culture Council should be larger than proposed so that it can include a sufficient number of experts to ensure peer reviews and the expertise required by the draft legislation regarding the operations of the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI). Taike proposes that the Central Arts and Culture Council have 10–12 members. 
• Since Taike foresees situations of disqualification in the decision-making of the Central Arts and Culture Council, it should be ensured that there are always at least three deputy members. The current draft legislation would allow for a situation in which there would be no deputy members at all.
• The length and succession of terms of office should be regulated. Taike’s proposal is either a four-year term without the possibility of consecutive terms of office or a shorter, three-year term of office, in which case a member could have two consecutive terms.
• The internal division of duties between the Central Arts and Culture Council and the Culture Agency of Finland in preparing matters and organising administration should be clarified.

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.