News

This spring, the Ministry of Education and Culture and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) have continued preparing for the restructuring of Taike’s arts councils. The background to the restructuring is the external evaluation of Taike (Agency Taking Shape) published in 2021, the related hearings and the opinion rounds held in autumn 2023.

In February, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) requested nominations for candidates to its national and regional arts councils for the 2025–2026 term from significant actors in the arts sector. The deadline for nominations was 31 May 2024.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is transferring some calls for applications for support intended for communities to Applyforgrants.fi, the new joint online service of government grant authorities.

On 14 May, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) organised an info briefing on the priorities and future development needs of subsidies for communities. The key takeaways from the info briefing are summarised below.

Suomen Yrittäjät – the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and the Creative Net project of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) are organising the Eloon! tour, which brings together actors from traditional business sectors with representatives of the arts, culture and the creative industries. The goal is to come up with new solutions to the challenges of regional vitality. The tour will take place this autumn and visit Lappeenranta, Jyväskylä, Rovaniemi and Rauma.

The latest Arts and Culture Barometer looked into the different types of work performed by artists. The results of the survey revealed that artists work and create art in many areas of society. However, approximately half of the work performed by artists does not involve making art. The findings of the Arts and Culture Barometer 2023 will be presented at a discussion forum at Semifinal on 17 April 2024.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is currently accepting nominations for candidates to its national and regional arts councils for the next two-year term, which begins on 1 January 2025. The deadline for nominations is 31 May 2024.

In spring 2024, Taike is organising a series of workshops in Kemiönsaari aimed at increasing the production skills of artists. These free-of-charge workshops will be held at Kulturhus Björkboda and are primarily intended for local artists. In addition, artists will have the opportunity to participate in the pitching webinar in April.

Author, theatre instructor and long-time arts council member – Siri Kolu has many roles in arts. Now that Taike’s arts councils are looking for new members, we asked a veteran of council work about everything it involves.

Library grants for writers and translators and public display grants for visual artists for 2024 could be applied for from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) until 31 January. Altogether 1270 applications for library grants and 1241 applications for public display grants are now being processed. The number of applications was at the same level as last year.

Regional grants and artist grants awarded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) can be applied for during the period 1 March – 3 April 2024. A few changes have been made to these grants compared to last year. Artists can now apply for a regional grant to cover work and expenses using the same application. Regional grants can be applied for from one region and with one application only. For artist grants, it is no longer possible to apply for a ten-year Artist Professor grant.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has appointed Maria Pirkkalainen-Barber as Internationalisation Expert. Her job is to coordinate and prepare the agency’s strategy for international activities. The position is new and continues until the end of June 2025.