Guidelines for grant applicants

Applications must arrive no later than 16:00 (4pm) on the last day of the application period. Applications that arrive after this time shall be deemed late and rejected.

It is recommended to send applications using Taike’s e-services in good time due to possible congestion in the system and our customer service on the last day of the application period.

Working grants are intended to cover working and living costs. Working grants are always awarded as personal grants for artistic work, i.e. living costs. 

Project grants are intended for professional artists and working groups formed by them for individual projects. Private traders may also apply.

Taike does not award grants to support studies or thesis work related to vocational qualifications or higher or lower university degrees.

Select the artform within which you are applying. Your selection will guide the processing of your application.

If you are applying for a regional grant, select the regional arts council in addition to the artform. For example, you can select the regional arts council according to where you live, where the project is being implemented or where you work.

• Write in your application a clear work plan that summarises the main points.
• Answer concisely the questions what, how, when, where, why, with whom and for whom.
• Explain why your project is good and feasible. Convince the decision-maker of your competence and expertise.
• Explain the value that your project or work would have for a wider audience.
• Remember to specify the precise schedule for your project.
• Make sure that your work plan covers all the applicable years if you are applying for a multi-year working grant (State artist grant).
• Check the period within which the grant must be used in the call for applications and target your work plan accordingly.
• Indicate in your application any other parties from whom you are applying for a grant or have already received a grant for the same project, or if you have been awarded another grant after submitting your application.

A copy of your CV is mandatory. When applying for a grant as a working group, a summary of the CVs of all members must be included.

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

• The maximum permitted file size for each attachment is 4 MB. 
• Visual arts applicants should include 3 to 5 photos of their works in pdf format (max. 4 MB each). Details should be provided about the name, technique, size and year of each work. Files containing videos or other moving images should not be sent as attachments.
• We recommend including a link to your website. 
• Attachments should not be sent by e-mail. Applications and attachments will not be returned. 
• Check the call for applications to see if other attachments are required.

Select the length of the grant period for which you are applying. If several different grant periods are offered and you would like to apply for all of them, select all grant periods. You can only be awarded a grant for the period that you have applied for.

You do not need to specify in euros the amount you are applying for. The only exception to this is library grants for writers and translators, the application form for which requires that you specify an exact amount between 4000 and 16,000 euros. Public display grants in turn are always awarded as six-month working grants, and the amount of each grant is 12,000 euros.

The grant periods for artist grants vary from six months to five years. Three-year and five-year artist grants are awarded primarily to professional artists who have distinguished themselves within their field. One-year and half-year grants are also awarded to young artists and those who are at the start of their artistic careers. In addition, artist grants for up to ten years are periodically awarded within certain artforms to artists of exceptionally high merit (Artist Professor grants).

For project grants, you must always specify in euros the amount you are applying for.
Apply for a realistic amount. Check the call for applications to see whether a minimum amount has been specified. You cannot be awarded a grant if you apply for less than the minimum amount. At the same time, applying for an unrealistically large amount can detract from the credibility of your project.

The bigger the project for which you are applying for a grant, the bigger the role played by other financing. If your project is particularly big, you should apply for support from as many parties as possible. State appropriations may not be used to cover all expenses except on special grounds.
 

Project budget

Prepare a project budget that includes a cost estimate and financing plan.

• Itemise clearly all the expected income (financing plan) and expenses (cost estimate), which must tally in the budget. 
• Group expenses according to their purpose; the overall sum alone is not enough.
• Report any self-financing for the project, as well as other grants that have been applied for and awarded for the project, along with previously secured income.
• Indicate the overall project budget even if you only apply for partial funding. This will give the decision-maker an overall picture of your project.
• When estimating the share of your own working expenses, you can estimate 2000 euros/month, which corresponds to the monthly sum of an artist grant.

Applying as a working group

• The application is filled in by the contact person for the working group, who includes the names and personal identification numbers of the other group members.
• The contact person includes with the application a brief description of the artistic activities of all members of the group.
• Each member of the group is responsible for how the grant is used and reported. The contact person is responsible for submitting clarification of how the grant was used before the deadline.
• Artist grants, working grants, library grants and public display grants are not awarded to working groups.
• Any member of the working group may participate in applying for funding for another working group’s project or apply for a project grant individually.

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 submits information about all grant decisions for publication on the tutkiavustuksia.fi website (Act on Discretionary Government Grants 688/2001 and Government Decree 1394/2022).