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Ten New Play Translations for Finnish Theatres

The World on Stage grant model, intended for theatres, first opened for applications in August 2022. The grants that have now been awarded will be used to have ten high-quality plays from our time translated from various languages into Finnish and performed on Finnish stages for a broad culture-loving audience. The total sum awarded in the grant’s first application round was just over EUR 250,000.

“The number of applications was good, considering that this was the first time that this grant was available. I am particularly pleased about the diversity of the applicants. The selection of source languages was also broad,” explains Regional Fund Officer Antti Niskanen from the Cultural Foundation, who was in charge of handling the applications.

The plays’ source languages include Arabic, Icelandic, Catalan, French and Russian. There is also a play partly written in Pidgin English. The recipients of the grant included work groups, freelance operators and some large theatres. The first performances facilitated by the grant will appear on Finnish stages during 2023.

Among the successful grant applications were several Nordic plays: the Swedish play Heterofil by Christina Ouzounidis, the Icelandic play Græna landið by Ólafur Haukur Símonarson and the Norwegian Tid for glede by Arne Lygre. Representatives of more distant languages included the Arabic-language play Orange by Basim Kahar.

The World on Stage grant was conceived based on the observation that fewer and fewer contemporary plays from non-Anglophone language regions are being produced in Finland. Recent dramatic works from continental Europe or elsewhere in the world are rare in Finnish theatres. The Cultural Foundation hopes that the volume of applications will grow in the future, and that they will primarily pertain to plays in languages other than English.

“This funding will contribute to enriching and diversifying the programming in Finnish theatres. We hope that the translations will also live to be repeatedly performed on Finnish stages,” Niskanen says.

The Cultural Foundation’s partner for the World on Stage project for 2022–2024 is Theatre Info Finland (TINFO), which has, among other things, curated a list of recent plays suitable for translating.

“I am glad to see how many theatres and dramatic ensembles managed to take part in the first application round, taking into account how much additional work the pandemic’s aftercare, including all the production postponements, has caused for theatres. We are particularly pleased about the diversity of plays from around the world that the applications pertain to,” says TINFO’s director Linnea Stara.

The aim of the World on Stage funding is to encourage Finnish theatres to have a total of thirty new, contemporary plays from around the world translated into Finnish, and then to perform them. The Cultural Foundation’s funding for the project will total around EUR 1.2 million. The next applications for World on Stage will be accepted in August 2023.

Funding for having plays translated into Finland’s second official language, Swedish, and performed on Finland’s Swedish-language stages is provided by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland, with the next application round taking place in November 2022.

Recipients of the World on Stage grant

  • Helsinki Theatre Foundation: EUR 16,000 for translating the play Tid for glede by Arne Lygre from Norwegian into Finnish, and for covering other expenses related to the production.
  • Anu Hirsiaho (PhD Soc. Sc.) and Charles Ogu (MPhil): EUR 30,000 for the translation and production of the Nigerian play Embers by Soji Cole.
  • Jyväskylä City Theatre: EUR 10,000 for translating the play Petits crimes conjugaux by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt from French into Finnish and producing the Finnish première.
  • Central Uusimaa Theatre: EUR 30,000 for translating and producing the Catalan play Tocar Mare by Marta Barceló.
  • Koko Theatre: EUR 30,000 for translating and producing the German play WÜST or The Marquise Of O…. – Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! By Enis Maci.
  • Joel Lehtonen (BA Theatre Arts) and team: EUR 22,500 for translating and producing a play adaptation from the novel Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich.
  • Black and White Theatre: EUR 30,000 for translating and producing the play The War Has Not Yet Started by the Russian playwright Mikhail Durnenkov.
  • Rauma City Theatre: EUR 30,000 for translating and producing the Icelandic play Græna landið by Ólafur Haukur Símonarson.
  • Finnish National Theatre: EUR 27,000 for translating and producing the Arabic-language play Orange by Basim Kahar.
  • Valtimonteatteri: EUR 30,000 for translating and producing the play Heterofil, written in Swedish by Christina Ouzounidis.

Record Number of Mobility Grant Applications in August, with 39 Grants Awarded

The purpose of mobility grants is to cover expenses such as foreign residency costs, performance tours, exhibition projects and travel related to international collaborations.

The opening of international borders with the waning of the Covid pandemic may have contributed to the rise in applications this year, while another factor may have been Arts Promotion Centre Finland’s decision to stop giving out separate mobility grants.

“The Covid pandemic may also have led to our grants having become more widely known in the Finnish cultural arena. It is highly understandable that artists have an even greater desire to work abroad now, after the pandemic, which causes a greater demand for grants,” explains Senior Adviser Veli-Markus Tapio, who is in charge of handling the applications.

Cycling from Germany to Switzerland and performing contemporary circus in Europe

Kuvassa ylhäältäpäin kuvattuna kaksi pyörää ja kaksi naista soittamassa viulua.

Suvi Oskala and Emilia Lajunen. Photo: Sami Perttilä

The granted sums ranged between EUR 2,000 and EUR 8,000. Masters of Music Suvi Oskala and Emilia Lajunen received EUR 5,000 for carrying out an album release tour by bicycle from Germany to Switzerland.

“On our bicycle tours, we take a stand through concrete action on the challenges brought to the field of live music by climate change. After the pandemic, festivals are striving to operate as ecologically as possible, and encourage artists to avoid air travel. Travelling by bicycle and ferry is slower than flying but more sustainable in terms of the climate,” Oskala says. The duo Emilia Lajunen & Suvi Oskala plays chamber folk music on five-string violins and has performed internationally in countries as diverse as China, South Korea, India and the Nordics.

Kaksi naista pahvisen kyltin kanssa. Kyltissä lukee 20 years later, still here!

Circus artists Stina Kopra and Lotta Paavilainen

Circus artists Stina Kopra and Lotta Paavilainen with their team received EUR 6,000 for carrying out a residency, performance and networking trip around Europe for their contemporary circus performance 20 Years Later, Still Here!

“The performance is a peek into two woman circus artists’ joint twenty-year journey through the circus, art and friendship. In it, we counteract stereotypical prejudices and encourage everyone to be true to themselves,” Kopra says. The artists, whose shows combine balancing acrobatics, physical comedy and stand up, have been performing together since 2001, representing top-level Finnish circus artistry in locations around Europe, as well as in Israel, Japan and the Philippines.

Nainen toppatakissa seisoo betonista tehdyssä huoneessa.

Sini Tuominen. Photo: Huong Hoang

Sini Tuominen, in turn, is a dancer, dance teacher and cultural producer from the field of street and club dance. She received EUR 7,000 to take part in the Urban Artistry project in Washington, D.C. and to conduct a study trip to New York and Los Angeles.

Mobility grants open doors for international activity

Musician Samuli Majamäki intended to record a second album with Tanzanian singer-songwriter Andrew Ashimba already before the pandemic.

“Covid put the project on hold, but now we are ready to produce the record, which combines music and nature sounds in a unique way. Our objective is to produce an intimate listening experience and a journey into soul-soothing melodies, rhythms and African natural soundscapes,” says Majamäki, who received EUR 3,500 for conducting his performing and recording trip to Tanzania. Majamäki is no stranger to the country, having lived there between 2003 and 2005.

Sumuinen kuva silmälasipäisestä miehestä alhaaltapäin kuvattuna.

Kari Yli-Annala

Visual artist and researcher Kari Yli-Annala creates works whose central themes are time, intensity and change. He received a grant sum of EUR 4,000 to cover the costs of carrying out artistic work and research in Copenhagen and Berlin, as well as a photography expedition to Palestine.

“I am recording changes to the surroundings of the al-Arroub refugee camp in Hebron. The focus is on a nearby hill, which is important for the camp’s residents,” Yli-Annala explains.

Mies soittaa lyömäsoitinta syksyisessä maisemassa.

Issiaka Dembele. Photo: Era Kahyaoglu

According to traditional musician Issiaka Dembele, music belongs to its roots, where its ancestors and spirits can be found.

“I am going to travel to see my uncle and father, who are masters of traditional instruments (balafon, kora) and melodies. Some of the music is holy and spiritual and should not be played in any which way. I want to make this valuable tradition known in the West using modern platforms such as Spotify,” Dembele says. He was granted EUR 2,500 to carry out a composition, research and recording trip to West Africa in relation to Manding and African blues music.

Applications for the Cultural Foundation’s mobility grants are accepted twice a year, in March and August.

New Argumenta Projects Tackle Topical Issues in Society

Argumenta Grants fund projects that seek answers to multidisciplinary questions of major importance to society. The funded projects are topical in nature and aim far into the future. They seek to achieve extensive debate on issues of academic and social import.

The aim of Argumenta projects is to bring together researchers from various disciplines and to make the outcomes of the resulting debates available to a public broader than the scientific community. The idea is to open doors for influencing decision-making in society. This year, each of the chosen projects received EUR 150,000 in funding. They will be conducted between 2023 and 2025.

Nuri Emrah Aydinonat (PhD) and team: Role of economics in society in an era of global crises

Mies valkoisessa villapaidassa seisoo syksyisen puun edessä ja katsoo kameraan kädet puuskassa.

According to Associate Professor Nuri Emrah Aydinonat and his team, it is necessary to reconsider the contents, procedures and communication strategies of economics and economic policy.

According to Associate Professor Nuri Emrah Aydinonat, PhD (Helsinki university, TINT – Centre for Philosophy of Social Science) and his team, economics and economic policy are currently facing novel challenges, which make it necessary to reconsider their contents, procedures and communication strategies. There is growing pressure due to extensive ongoing crises, such as the pandemic, war, climate change and the extinction wave, as well as to challenges in society such as inequality, an ageing population and the impact of artificial intelligence. The validity and social status of economics depend on how well the field can adjust to the challenges of a changing world.

Aydinonat and his team organise cross-disciplinary events, such as panel discussions and lectures, pertaining to the aforementioned challenges among others, as well as their consequences. The topics are discussed from the perspectives of decision-making, methodology, institutions and sustainability. An overarching question is how comprehensively must economics and economic policy reinvent themselves, and how, if they are to respond to current crises and future challenges in society and maintain their position of authority.

Jenni Kulmala (PhD, Gerontology and Public Health) and team: Conditions for a good life for persons with dementia

With the ageing of the population in Finland, the number of persons with dementia is expected to rise, even to triple, in the next three decades. Instead of today’s around 200,000 persons with dementia, the number is likely to exceed half a million in Finland by 2050.

“Worsening dementia affects not only the patient but also, significantly, the people close to them. Therefore the various forms of dementia are predicted to affect the majority of the population in one way or another. In coming years, ours will no longer be a welfare society if the wellbeing of persons with dementia and their family and friends is not brought more clearly into focus,” explains Jenni Kulmala, Tenure Track Professor of Gerontology at the University of Tampere, who is leading the project.

This Argumenta Project will raise broad, multidisciplinary social debates on dementia and its related themes. The project relates to fulfilling a series of multidisciplinary futures workshops, which will feature extensive cross-scientific debates. They are expected to generate new, more comprehensive understanding that can be used to make the society more dementia-friendly and to innovatively and sustainably prepare for a future in which most of us are, in one way or another, affected by progressive dementia in our daily lives.

Anna Mustonen (MSc, Social Science) and team: Margins of the Sustainability Revolution

Tummahiuksinen nainen mustassa paidassa katsoo hymyillen kameraan.

Anna Mustonen is the leader or the Margins of the Sustainability Revolution project.

The effects of global environmental crises and geopolitical turmoil reach the microlevel of individuals’ and communities’ daily lives in diverse ways. Similarly, the impact of national and regional policies, related for instance to welfare or regional development, are visible in various ways at the local level, and individuals react to them each from their own life contexts.

Ongoing trends in society include not only the rising voice of the political extreme right and conservative factions, but also movements against environmental and sustainability sciences, questioning of the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss, and the positioning of ecological sustainability as a stark antithesis to economic sustainability.

“This kind of hostile juxtaposition leads to extremist views. We want to build cross-disciplinary links between the social, cultural and ecological dimensions of sustainability in the places where conditions for conducting a controlled sustainability revolution are unfavourable but the need for such a revolution is great,” explains the project’s leader, doctoral researcher Anna Mustonen, MSc.

The project will give a voice to scientists and lay people alike, as the events will take the form of workshops that gather together people of various ages and from diverse backgrounds, who have been left in the margins (inhabitants of remote areas, as well as marginalised, vulnerable, polarised or sidelined people). They will take part in facilitated workshops, bringing their own perspectives to the table and explaining their positions in the sustainability revolution.

5 ihmistä seisoo rivissä katsoen kameraan. Taustalla patsas, sää on aurinkoinen.

From left: Professor Seppo Vainio, Coordinator Pirjo Taskinen, Research Coordinator Jouko Inkeröinen, Coordinator Riitta Kamula and Research Manager Jussi Paakkari.

Professor Seppo Vainio and team: Healthy Environment, Healthy Humans

“Nature is the foundation of humanity. Our current efficiency is, however, endangering the existence of both nature and humanity. Is our anthropocentric culture, with its technical advances, at the end of the road or at the beginning of something new?” asks Professor Seppo Vainio, who together with his team is striving to build a multidisciplinary and integrated overall picture of the relationship between nature and humans.

The Healthy Environment, Healthy Humans project is striving for a comprehensive view of the interwoven mesh created by environmental health, use of natural resources and digitalisation. The project will discuss, among other things, how human immunity against diseases is created and how it evolves, and how our relationship with nature influences the appearance of new pandemics.

The second part of the project considers the role of regions in the sustainability revolution, and their effects on wellbeing. How does the shift in our relationship with nature influence the kinds of societies in which we want to live? The third part relates to the digital revolution in our connections with nature. Has our urbanised, IT-enabled interaction distanced us from our natural roots? What about the new opportunities brought by digital solutions? Will our leap across the digital gap also help us to overcome other chasms and to restore our connections with nature, with each other, with ourselves and our experiences?

History of Interest in Reading

Text: Reeta Holma
Photos: Petri Summanen

Tuija Laine (PhD, Theology) is researching Finnish people’s motivation for reading from the 1600s to the early 1900s. Even in those centuries, some people were more motivated to read than others. “I am interested in the factors that have influenced this,” Laine explains.

In her research, she is using some of the concepts of modern motivation studies. How have the needs for competence, autonomy and fellowship been fulfilled by reading and writing at various times, and what roles have these played in individuals’ motivations to read or write?

Even the peasantry were required to learn to read; it was a civic duty and a prerequisite for marriage.

Mustavalkoinen kuva naisesta nojaamassa kaiteeseen

The research subjects include some learned people, but the main emphasis is on common folk and children. Even the peasantry were required to learn to read; it was a civic duty and a prerequisite for marriage.

Being allowed to get married was a strong external motivator for literacy, but many other factors have also influenced people’s appetites for reading. Motivation increases if one is able to influence the content of one’s reading and if one feels capable. Community support is also important.

“References to disorders such as dyslexia can be found from earlier centuries, and even though they were not recognised as such, my materials indicate that they may have been linked to reading motivation.”

Laine’s background is in church history, specialising in the history of books. She wrote her thesis on the reception and translation of devotional literature, and has also researched bookselling and worked as a professor of book history. Laine was involved in the Finnish National Bibliography project.  

Church record books as histories of reading culture

How is it possible to obtain information on people’s reading customs in history, when interviews are not an option?

“Church record books are an important source of information in Finland. They provide details on the development of literacy among individuals and their family members, and allow us to theorise on the factors that might have encouraged or discouraged people from reading,” Laine says.

The development of someone’s literacy may have been strongly impacted by life events, such as the death of their spouse.

Church records included information on who had attended literacy examinations and with what degree of success. Very personal, even tragic stories can be found therein; the development of someone’s literacy may have been strongly impacted by life events, such as the death of their spouse, for example.  

Mustapaitainen nainen nojaa valkoiseen pylvääseen.

Laine also has other sources. Some people were so well versed in reading and writing that they were able to tackle autobiographical writing. We also know about certain literacy-related practices, such as lessons given by the clergy and travelling schools. Textbooks provided guidance as to the most important factors in learning to read.

“Many of the things we now consider important aspects of literacy were already recognised centuries ago,” Laine says. Our understanding of them has only increased through modern-day research. The usefulness of music in learning was understood already in the Middle Ages, when texts and reading were taught through song. “Reading aloud has also long been known to further literacy and comprehension.”

History also opens perspectives into today’s debates on reading motivation – for instance concerns over boys’ lack of enthusiasm towards reading. “Reading has not disappeared from the world. We just have to find the right methods and means. When people find interesting texts and the right, encouraging social environment, they will read,” Laine says. 

Associate Professor Tuija Laine (PhD, Theology) received a grant from the Eija and Yrjö Wirla Fund  in 2020 for her postdoctoral research on Finns’ motivation for reading between the 1600s and 1900s.

Early childhood experiences of stress increase susceptibility to mood symptoms

Text: Essi Kähkönen
Photos: Sami Mannerheimo

Early childhood experiences of stress have a significant impact on the later development of the brain’s neural networks. The roots of many neuropsychiatric disorders, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), appear to lie in early childhood and experiences of high stress at that time.

Stress and negative emotional experiences affect the brain’s limbic system and especially the amygdala – the parts of the brain that regulate our emotions, social behaviour and emotional learning.

“Strong experiences of stress can make the person susceptible to symptoms at a later age.”

“Strong experiences of stress can leave a memory trace in the brain’s limbic neural networks and make the person susceptible to symptoms at a later age,” explains research director Sari Lauri of the University of Helsinki.

Mustapaitainen nainen istuu penkillä viherkasvien edessä kameraan katsoen.

Early stress can make you ill

Young people who have previously experienced an early high level of stress, caused by events such as domestic violence, have been found to suffer from depression, diverse phobias, generalised anxiety and anger management issues, for example.

According to Lauri, childhood stress alone is not likely to cause later symptoms, but early negative experiences are a risk factor.

“The development of the brain’s limbic system and amygdala continues after birth, through childhood and into adolescence. This is why these parts of the brain are more vulnerable than others to early negative emotional experiences.”

If powerful negative emotional experiences take place in early childhood, they affect the development of the brain’s neural networks.

“The development of emotional skills, such as social skills and interaction with others, may also be disrupted.”  

Basic research provides keys for prevention and treatment

Lauri’s research group is focusing on the amygdala and the ways in which stress experiences in early childhood mould the related neural networks.

“It appears that the stress effect is directed particularly at GABAergic neurotransmission, and especially one specific cell type,” Lauri explains.

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is one of the most common neurotransmitters in our brains.

“Early negative experiences are a risk factor for later symptoms.”

“It is important to explore how changes in the functioning of cells affect the development of neural networks in the long term, and how they guide our behaviour not only in childhood and youth but also adulthood. Even if the exposure to high stress takes place at an early stage, symptoms may not develop until after a long delay.”

Lauri believes that concerted basic research will lead to neuropsychiatric disorders, depression and anxiety among children and adolescents being treated more effectively – or even prevented – in the future.

“The research that is currently being conducted here and elsewhere will hopefully make it possible to manage symptoms in the future, and to treat them with new medicines that are more specifically targeted to nerve cells, in combination with therapy.”

Substantive leadership

Sari Lauri leads a team of seven researchers at the Neuroscience Centre of the University of Helsinki.

“For me, research optimally consists of gaining insight, finding new perspectives and learning. It is great to examine a hypothesis and test it to find out its validity. It always motivates me to go on,” she says.

Lauri says that the grant from the Cultural Foundation was received at an important point. It has helped to fund the work of visiting researchers, for example.

“My approach as a research director is fairly substantive and I want to ensure that my team members have the best possible working conditions. That allows us all to focus on essentials.”

The research group led by Sari Lauri received a EUR 39,000 grant from the Children’s Castle Foundation Fund for researching the neurobiological mechanisms of psychiatric syndromes related to early childhood stress.

Cultural Foundation grants EUR 400,000 to support Ukrainian children’s art activities

Ukrainian families who have fled the war to Finland will be able to carry out creative and emotionally cathartic activities in nationwide operations coordinated by the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, in which groups of children or families will meet weekly to try various forms of art. At the same time it will be an opportunity to create connections between Ukrainians and Finns.

3 tyttöä katsoo kameraan

The Cultural Centre PiiPoo in Lempäälä has offered Ukrainian children directed and freeform playing, exercise, circus and other activities. Photo: Cultural Centre PiiPoo

Thanks to a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation totalling EUR 400,000, this initiative will reach refugee families around Finland until the summer of 2023. Children’s cultural centres around the country will run free art groups in various parts of the country, either in their own facilities or where the refugee families can be found, reception centres, for example. 

Weekly meetings in an artistic context provide a welcome break from everyday worries. There are fun activities for children amid various art forms. The weekly content will be adapted to the wishes and circumstances of the participating children and adults. “The activities will be different in each locality. Some families wish for exclusively Ukrainian groups, while others want to connect with Finnish families. The common denominator will be art,” explains the executive director of the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, Aleksi Valta.

The project will make use of the experiences gained from group activities directed at Ukrainian families, run by the children’s cultural centres in the spring and summer of 2022. Cultural Centre PiiPoo in Lempäälä, for example, has offered directed and freeform playing, exercise, circus activities, painting, drawing, music and crafts. 

“Many Ukrainian refugee children have been engaged in target-oriented art activities in their homeland and miss it. One of the objectives of this project is to direct children who studied art in Ukraine to take art studies in Finland. Non-Ukrainians will be welcomed by any groups which have space,” says the Cultural Foundation’s secretary general, Antti Arjava.

For further information, please contact:

Secretary General Antti Arjava
Finnish Cultural Foundation
antti.arjava@skr.fi
tel. +358 50 385 7600

Executive Director Aleksi Valta
Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers
aleksi.valta@lastenkulttuuri.fi
tel. +358 40 820 5425

EUR 30 million for science and the arts in October

In 2023, The Finnish Cultural Foundation will pay out approximately EUR 50 million in grants, of which EUR 30 million is open for applications this October. There has been a moderate rise in the total sum compared to previous years. Each October, the Foundation receives around 9,000 applications, of which some 10 per cent are successful.

Grant applications are welcomed from any field of science or the arts, either for the work itself or to cover expenses. Academic grants are directed particularly at doctoral theses and postdoctoral academic work. Artists may apply for grants for work or projects, while artistic communities may apply for the completion of cultural projects. The Finnish Cultural Foundation is also happy to accept applications for large-scale, multi-year projects.

Updates have recently been made to the Application Guidelines and the application form, so we recommend careful familiarisation with these. “Primarily the Cultural Foundation still aims to give out full-time working grants, but we have made our part-time grants easier to use in both academia and art. Additionally, we have tried to ease the transition between doctoral and postdoctoral research, for example,” explains Juhana Lassila, the Foundation’s representative for grants and culture.

The Foundation is also looking to increase the number of multi-year working grants. Applications may be made for as many as four years at a time. The annual grant sum has been raised to EUR 28,000 (EUR 32,000 for the postdoc stage).

Various special-purpose grants available for application in October

Besides working and expenditure grants, diverse special-purpose grants are available for specific themes and areas.

Additional million for science: new materials and technologies for green transition

The theme of the Additional Million-Euro Funding to Science is “New materials and technologies for  green transition”. The green transition supports the construction of a carbon-neutral welfare society, while sustainable growth will accelerate solutions for reducing emissions in Finland and globally. Applications for the additional million are welcomed from the fields of natural sciences, technical sciences, agriculture and forestry, including cross-disciplinary projects. Read more about the Additional Million-Euro Funding

DNA in Time and Space

The October round includes approximately two million euros earmarked for research projects related to ancient, environmental and sedimentary ancient DNA. “The use of DNA material collected from earth, water and air in researching population history and the environment is developing quickly around the world, with interesting results. We want to promote the field in Finland by granting significant funding and bringing together research groups from diverse disciplines,” explains Secretary General Antti Arjava. Read more about DNA in Time and Space grants

Science Education

The Finnish Cultural Foundation wants to encourage the interest of children and adolescents in science, and fosters science education for all pupils, regardless of their place of residence and background. Around half a million euros is available for applications related to the subject. Science Education grants can be up to EUR 150,000 in size, and Päivikki Eskelinen-Rönkä, who is in charge of these grants, would like to remind applicants that applications may also be made for multi-year projects. Read more about Science Education grants

Art for Everyone

The Art for Everyone grant is aimed at increasing the opportunities of people in need of care or support to experience high-quality art and, in this manner, promoting cultural equality. The grant is available to artists, work groups and professional, registered art associations.  Read more about Art for Everyone grants

Eminentia

Each year, the Cultural Foundation gives out one or more Eminentia grants to scientific researchers and artists who are approaching the end of their careers. This is done based on applications. A prerequisite for the Eminentia grant is that the resulting work be published in writing as a standalone book, online publication or a series of articles. The grant size EUR 25,000. Read more about Eminentia grants

Ask about applications in our webinar

Information webinars on the October round of applications will be held via Zoom, in Finnish on Tuesday 11 October between 2pm and 3:30 pm and in English on Wednesday 12 October between 2pm and 3:30 pm. Experts from the Cultural Foundation will present the different grant types and give tips on making a good application. The webinars are open to all and attendees will be able to ask questions from the speakers.

Join the webinar here.

Recordings of the webinars will be released later on the Cultural Foundation’s YouTube channel.

Useful links

Subscribe to the Cultural Foundation’s grants newsletter for application tips and reminders of important dates.

Aiming for safe cholesterol medication

Text: Essi Kähkönen
Photography: Petri Summanen

Statins are known to tens of thousands Finnish patients as cholesterol-lowering medicines. They especially reduce the amount of so-called bad cholesterol in the blood, helping many patients avoid coronary heart disease, heart failure and strokes.

Many are still cautious about taking cholesterol medication, because statins are reputed to have tricky side effects.

“Statins have been burdened with a somewhat undeserved image related to adverse effects, of which muscle and joint pain are perhaps the best known. Many patients who detect these effects stop taking statins without consulting their doctor,” says doctoral researcher, pharmacist Wilma Kiander from the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Helsinki.

Kiander would like to remind people that statins are usually safe. A small proportion of users experience ill effects, however.

“Statins have been burdened with a somewhat undeserved image related to adverse effects, although they are usually safe.”

“Therefore it is important to figure out how the side effects of statins could be reduced,” she explains.

Some have a hereditary risk of adverse reactions

Vaalea nainen harmaassa villapaidassa istuu penkillä ja katsoo kameraan.

Kiander is researching the passage of statins through the body using specific carrier proteins, as well as how hereditary factors may influence this by impeding the functioning of these proteins. Carrier proteins ensure that the statins go from the circulation into the liver, through which they pass out of the body.

A small proportion of Finns have inherited a poorly functioning or even non-functioning version of a carrier protein. It is these protein variants that place this group of people at a higher risk of suffering adverse effects from statins.

According to Kiander, in persons with this kind of hereditary predisposition, the content of cholesterol medicines such as rosuvastatin and simvastatin in the blood may be as much as 60–200 per cent higher than that of other statin users.

“In this case the detrimental effects of the medication are also more likely to arise. The higher the statin content, the higher the risk of adverse side effects.”

Kiander says it is important to figure out the role of rare carrier protein variants in the success of statin treatments.

“It would allow doctors to be more cautious in prescribing statins.”

Many stories from the pharmacy counter

Kiander is a qualified pharmacist and in her work she has found that many patients who have been prescribed statins will hesitate before taking the medication. Similarly, many who have detected muscular or joint symptoms consider stopping the medication.

“Stopping the medication may carry higher risks than those of the mild muscle aches caused by the statin.”

“I have come across pharmacy customers who have tried several cholesterol medications without finding a suitable one. Often their level of commitment to taking the medication will be low, so they may stop taking it.”

However, Kiander says that stopping the medication may carry higher risks than those of the mild muscle aches caused by the statin.

“Remember that for many people statins are life-saving medicines.”

Personalised medical care is on the way

Once Wilma Kiander’s thesis is approved, it will join an important series of studies that aim to make medical care safer and more suitable for everyone.

Kiander hopes that in the future medications will be possible to tailor personally for each patient.

“Personalised medical care is already the norm in certain branches of medicine, but on a broader scale it is in its early stages. If we found a reliable and easy way to determine a person’s genotype and to check whether it includes factors that are adverse in terms of cholesterol medication, statins could also be prescribed more accurately,” says Kiander.

“Hopefully that would improve patients’ confidence in using these important drugs.”

Pharmacist Wilma Kiander received a two-year, EUR 52,000 grant from the Elli Turunen Fund in 2020 for her thesis research on the impact of heredity on the safety of cholesterol medication.

New patriotic song traditions

Mustapaitainen ja tummatukkainen nainen seisoo vihreän pensaan edessä hymyillen.

Text: Reeta Holma
Photos: JP Manninen

Patriotic songs are used in many established situations in Finland, without particularly exploring or questioning their use. Hearing the national anthem at a sporting event or a patriotic song at the President’s Independence Day celebrations may seem self-evident, but if listeners paused to consider their lyrics and origins, they might be surprised. 

Patriotic songs are a topic of interest for cultural anthropologist Aila Mustamo, who is writing a book on the subject. Mustamo is researching where patriotic songs have historically been sung and what they have meant for people at various stages and in diverse contexts.

She is exploring song traditions during the period between the Jaeger movement (1914), Finland’s independence (1917) and the Finnish Civil War (1918) up until the end of the Cold War and the Internet Age.

Mustamo is currently at the data collection stage; in the autumn of 2022 she will be gathering retrospective information and conducting interviews, which she hopes will provide more detailed information, especially on the attitudes of social minorities towards the music.

“Patriotic songs are an element of bourgeois tradition in Finland, but how did groups such as the blue-collar population relate to them,” Mustamo ponders? “Coming into the modern day, many ordinary Finns – not to mention people of immigrant origin – are fairly far removed from the cultural background of the songs.”

“Coming into the modern day, many ordinary Finns are fairly far removed from the cultural background of the songs.”

One of Mustamo’s sources of information are YouTube videos and their comments.

“The use of online data sources is fairly new in scientific research, and you have to come up with your own practices to some extent,” Mustamo says. She aims to be systematic in collecting and analysing data, which implies, for instance, seeking out and analysing all the existing versions of a specific song. On the other hand, new content is appearing all the time and their sources are never completely certain.

Ethical questions take on an important role. The researcher must consider questions such as whether direct quotations can be used. “I cannot ask thousands of internet users whether I can use their comments in my research. I strive to be considerate and to ensure that nobody can be identified based on the data, even if it is in the public domain.”

Finnish songs in the international context

Mustapaitainen ja tummatukkainen nainen seisoo vihreän hautakivien edustalla ja nojaa aitaan.

“For many songs, the connection to their origins has been lost and new meanings are built in highly creative ways,” Mustamo says. Some Finnish songs can be adopted abroad; current examples can be found for example in Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia. The Ukrainians have made their own version of the Finnish WWII-era cuplé Niet Molotoff. “It has a similar level of black humour as the Finnish original, which indicates a very creative use of our cultural heritage,” Mustamo points out. A new patriotic song patrimony is also being created in Ukraine, an example being a popular song about the highly regarded Bayraktar drone.

Mustamo also mentions a YouTube video of a song about the Finnish Guards’ participation in the Russo-Turkish War. Its lyrics begin with a reference to cold and hunger during battles in the Balkan Mountains.

Few Finns will probably recognise the setting for the song, which is not mentioned very often in history books. In contrast, hundreds of Bulgarian commenters on the video can be found praising the Finns who took part in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877. “Finns, meanwhile, have no idea what it’s about,” Mustamo laughs. “In this way, elements of heritage that we consider purely Finnish are internationalised.”

Mustamo is excited to complete the retrospective data collection and interviews in order to start investigating the feelings evoked by patriotic songs outside of the internet. “It will be interesting to see how memories of patriotic songs have been provided with significance outside of the online world. There may be some surprises in store,” she says.

Aila Mustamo, PhD, received a EUR 32,000 grant from the Ulla and Eino Karosuo Fund in 2022 for her work researching and writing a book on Finnish patriotic songs.

Depression is not just one but many illnesses

Text: Essi Kähkönen
Photography: Kiri Halttunen

Depression is one of Finland’s biggest public health threats. Besides causing suffering and anguish for the persons affected and their friends and family, depression leads to thousands of people each year being disabled out of work.

From time to time, public discourse will wonder at the society’s inability to tackle depression and question whether Finland’s health care system has what it takes to help depression patients.

“Depression is probably not a single, cohesive illness but many different ones.”

“To some extent my doctoral thesis research, which looks at the neurological basis of depression, considers these same issues. Depression is probably not a single, cohesive illness but many different ones, and yet it is often treated as if its sufferers were a homogeneous group with similar symptoms,” says doctoral researcher Elina Kangas from the Department of Psychology at the University of Jyväskylä.

Wide range of symptoms

Nainen katsoo kameraan vihreiden lehtien keskellä.

Let’s imagine we have two research subjects with depression. One has symptoms that could be described as affective and cognitive: lowered self-esteem, unreasonable feelings of guilt, urges to self-harm and difficulty focusing.

The other patient’s symptoms, in contrast, are mostly vegetative: frequent extreme tiredness, actions marked by agitation or, alternatively, sluggishness, and significant changes in appetite.

“What both patients share is the inability to feel pleasure in relation to almost anything, as well as a low, despondent mood.”

The factor that demands attention is the diversity, rather than the similarity of symptoms.

“There are no two identical depression patients or sets of symptoms. The potential symptoms are diverse and their weightings vary among patients,” Kangas explains.

What happens in a depressed person’s brain?

In her thesis research, Kangas is focusing on changes in early information processing faculties among depression sufferers. She is mostly doing this using electroencephalogram (EEG) readings.

Kangas is exploring the brain responses of depressed research subjects to things such as neutral aural and tactile stimuli, as well as to facial expressions denoting various emotions. She compares their results to a control group with no depression.

“These measurements provide valuable data on whether the early information processing faculties of depressed people differ from those of their non-depressed peers.”

“By early information processing I mean the stage of information processing that takes place automatically in our brains, before we become conscious of the stimulus,” Kangas explains.

“EEG allows us to measure electrical activity in the brain’s neurons to an accuracy level of a millisecond, and therefore these measurements provide valuable data on whether the early information processing faculties of depressed people differ from those of their non-depressed peers.”

Encounters with test subjects delayed by Covid

Nainen katsoo kauas pilvisen taivaan alla.

Kangas’s research setting of measuring differences in brain responses between depressed and non-depressed subjects suffered a setback right at the start, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I have to carry out my research in a laboratory and it entails encounters between the researcher and subject. We had to avoid the risk of spreading Covid, so in the meantime I have focused on other aspects of my research. The outcomes of my brain response measurements are not yet ready for publication.”

There has been plenty to work on. Kangas feels it is important to figure out how the various symptom profiles and subtypes of depression could more accurately be classified.

“It would facilitate more individualistic treatment of depressive syndrome, making it possible to tailor medical care and therapy to the patient’s needs.”

Looking for depression biomarkers

According to Kangas, clinical interviews between doctor and patient will continue to be the most essential tool in diagnosing depression.

However, it would be useful to support these diagnoses by finding biomarkers that are typical of depression. A biomarker is any property that can reliably be used to measure and determine an individual’s state of health.

“Biomarkers for depression could be used for distinguishing more accurately between the various subtypes of the illness. Such biomarkers may in the future be found for instance in the brain responses I am researching,” Kangas says.

She emphasises the fact that a lot of basic research is still needed on depression as a many-sided syndrome.

“Basic research is what I am carrying out. The significance of this kind of fundamental work is that it can create a basis for applied research, for example on clinical depression biomarkers and individually tailored treatment models.”

Elina Kangas received a EUR 26,000 grant from the E. J. Längman Fund in 2022 for her doctoral research on the neurological basis of depression.