The October Round of Applications | The Finnish Cultural Foundation

The Finnish Cultural Foundation awards grants for scientific and artistic work as well as for projects and acquisitions from the October round of applications.

This page was last updated on August 7, 2023.

Grant Application Schedule

Grant applications close at 4 pm Finnish time (EET) on the last day of the application period. The grant decisions are announced by email about a week before the end of the January round of applications in the first week of February.

Grant-funded work may begin no sooner than February. An expenditure grant may only be used for expenses dated from February onwards.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants include all Finnish nationals and people and organisations residing or working in Finland. Others are eligible as well, provided their application demonstrates clear, strong ties to Finland or Finnish culture.

Grant Purpose

In the October round of applications, it is possible to apply for a regular working and/or expenditure grant or a special purpose grant, such as Additional Million-euro Funding to Science, Art for Everyone, Discover Science, Eminentia, Non-fiction Books, Popularization of Science and Arts, Support for Romani Language and Culture and The Kirpilä Art Collection Research Grant grants. The Application Guidelines for Grants apply to all of these. Special purpose grants also have their own detailed additional guidelines.

The grants open for application will be confirmed and grant guidelines updated annually before the application period opens. The grants introduced below apply to the October 2023 Application Round.

Regular working and expenditure grants

Regular working and expenditure grants have been outlined in the Application Guidelines for Grants. The amount of a one-year grant intended for full-time scientific or artistic work is 30,000 euros (34,000 euros for doctoral-level research). The minimum sum applicable is 3,000 euros, apart from the dissertation expenditure grants of basic (bachelor's and master's) degree students, which range between 1,000–4,000 euros.

Read more on the regular working and expenditure grants

Art for Everyone

The Finnish Culture Foundation annually awards Art for Everyone grants to artists, working groups and professional registered art associations. The minimum amount to be applied for is 25,000 euros. The aim of the grant is to increase the opportunities of people in need of care or support to experience high-quality art and in this way promote cultural equality.

Additional Million-euro funding to Science

The Finnish Cultural Foundation will award EUR 1 million under the theme 'Finland’s competitiveness in industry, business or creative fields' in the October 2023 round of applications. The funding will be used to support no more than five research projects. Eligible applicants include working groups. Universities and research institutions, however, are ineligible.

Discover Science

In the October 2023 application round, the Finnish Cultural Foundation awards over half a million euros for science education of children and young people. The amount of the Science Education Grant can range from 30,000 euros to 150,000 euros. Applications will be accepted from registered organisations and foundations, such as universities, science centres, science events and organisations in the field of science and education.

During 2017–2020, the Finnish Cultural Foundation awarded Dig It! Archaeology Initiative grants, the purpose of which was to offer primary and secondary school students the opportunity to take part in archaeological research in their home region. The aim was to increase students' interest in scientific methods, their own local heritage, and history in general. The Dig It! grants are no longer available but, you can apply for a grant for this purpose under the Discover Science special purpose grant.

Eminentia

The Finnish Cultural Foundation annually awards one or more Eminentia grants to researchers or artists in the later stages of a long scientific or artistic career. The grant amount is 25,000 euros.

Non-fiction Books, Popularization of Science and Art

The Finnish Cultural Foundation annually awards grants for popularization of science and art. In the October 2023 application round, around 400,000 euros will be allocated for the writing of popularized non-fiction books, biographies, textbooks, podcast recordings, reviews, and other publications about science and art, as well as for the translation of non-fiction and scientific literature.

Support for Romani Language and Culture

In the October 2023 application round, the Finnish Cultural Foundation awards grants to support the Romani language and culture as a new special purpose grant. You can apply for a grant for preparing educational materials for the Romani language, written work in the Romani language, translating literature into the Romani language, researching the Romani language and developing materials that support the Romani language revitalization.

The Kirpilä Art Collection Research Grant

The Kirpilä Art Collection Research Grant from the Juhani Kirpilä fund is available for application for the first time in the Finnish Culture Foundation’s October 2023 application round. The application is open to PhDs for research, the topic of which may be related to collecting art, collectors' collections, memorial houses or artists in the collection of the Kirpilä Art Collection.