At the heart of the survey by the Cultural Foundation, conducted now for a second time, is the question of how often Finns encounter diverse forms of culture. The responses show that culture interests all kinds Finns, regardless of age, place of residence or income level. Sociodemographic factors were only visible in the results as mild gradations, and compared to the survey conducted in 2013, all these differences had decreased. Active consumers of culture can be found in all parts of Finland and in all social classes.

Differences correlating with political affiliations had also diminished. The proportion of culturally active persons among voters of the Finns Party was still smaller than that of the Green Party, but one can no longer speak of a dramatic divergence. When it comes to dance performances, for example, as many Finns Party voters attend as Left Alliance voters.

“The information provided by the survey is valuable to all those considering the functions and funding of art from the perspective of the society as a whole,” says the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Secretary General, Antti Arjava.

Books, films and museums stand out as favourites

The most popular cultural genres proved to be books, films and museums. More than four fifths of respondents read or listened to at least one book per year, with nearly one half doing so once a month or more. Libraries were visited by 70% of respondents at least once a year.

Cinema and museum visits were also popular forms of culture. Significantly fewer respondents, around 15%, visited an operatic, circus or folk music performance each year.

There were few changes in the popularity of genres compared to the 2013 survey. However, there was a significant shift in the importance of the offerings of cultural institutions: 55% of respondents now felt they were important for themselves and their well-being, up by 11 percentage points from the previous survey. “The long pandemic lockdown period may have made people more aware of the importance of culture,” Arjava suggests.

Of the functions of art, the addition of entertainment or comfort to everyday life (86%), the broadening of general education (79%), and the provision of aesthetic experiences (78%) were valued most highly. What artists most valued were guiding people to deep thought or to see things in new ways (96%) and the provision of aesthetic experiences (94%). Towards the end of the scale for both artists and the general public were provocation and disruption, and the provision of financial added value.

Extensive support for public funding of art

A clear majority (63%) of the survey’s respondents supported the provision of arts funding from tax revenue, in order that it be available to all. This proportion was even higher than those for whom the offerings of cultural institutions were personally important. Public funding for the arts was even supported by nearly one half of the most passive consumers of culture.

It was also extensively supported right across party allegiances, with the exception of the Finns Party’s supporters, of whom one half were opposed. As many as 97% of artists supported the funding of art from tax revenue. In contrast, artists were not keen on the idea of cultural institutions obtaining more funding directly from the audience: it was supported by only 22% of artists, compared to 53% of the general public.

More respondents (41%) considered the pandemic aid given to the arts to have been too small than too large (10%). One quarter considered the aid to have been suitable, while another quarter did not know. Supporters of the Left Alliance (61%) and the Greens (54%) were most likely to dismiss the aid as too small, but even 30% of Finns Party supporters agreed.

Art for the public; not for colleagues and critics

Differences could be discerned between the views of artists and their audiences, but over 70% of both groups agreed at least to some extent with the claim that artists should address their messages towards the public rather than to their colleagues or critics.  

One half of citizens hoped for a broader group of people deciding on arts funding besides professionals, while professional respondents were less sympathetic, with 64% opposed to the idea. Around one half of both the public and artists considered a service voucher funded by taxpayers a good way of letting the public influence arts funding.

A greater disagreement was found in responses to the claim that “funding should be directed at art valued by professionals and other artists, even if its audiences are small”: only one in four respondents agreed. The corresponding figure among the most active patrons of the art was around 50%, while among artists it was as much as 80%.

The survey also investigated respondents’ views on cultural journalism, their reasons for not partaking of cultural offerings, and their wishes for cultural services to be made available in their own localities. The survey was conducted by Kantar TNS Oy in February/March 2022 and received some 4,600 responses from people in Finland aged over 15. Some of the questions were also sent via artists’ organisations to professionals in the arts, of whom more than 200 responded.

The full research report may be read (in Finnish) on the Cultural Foundation’s website at skr.fi/kulttuuritutkimus.

The anniversary exhibition is curated by Mariliis Rebane, and includes newly commissioned works from artists Freja Bäckman, Shia Conlon, August Joensalo, Minjee Hwang Kim, Iona Roisin, Emmi Venna, and Bogna Luiza Wiśniewska.

Comprising site-specific works of various mediums—some of which are disguised as everyday objects—the exhibition becomes inseparable from the domesticity of the museum space. The homelike environment of the Kirpilä Art Collection thus forms a foundation for questioning time as a linear entity. The exhibition aims to challenge strict delineations between past, present, and future. The linear development of a life path, from dependent childhood into independent reproductive adulthood, is also being questioned.

By taking the idea of queer time as its starting point, the exhibition seeks to centre pleasure while suggesting a pace of existence that is measured by pulsation rather than the ticking of a clock.

“Juhani Kirpilä acquired the kind of artworks he wanted to live amongst. The collection contains various portraits and depictions of people that represent a wide spectrum of humanity. At the Kirpilä Art Collection, the dialogue between past and present is deeply tangible, and the jubilee exhibition further emphasises this,” says museum director Olli Vallinheimo. 

In addition to the artworks exhibited at Kirpilä Art Collection for the duration of the exhibition, a video by August Joensalo will be later published online. The exhibition also includes vinyl listening sessions by Freja Bäckman, and works choreographed by Emmi Venna.

The Kirpilä Art Collection is open to the public on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m., and for group visits by special request. During the first week of the exhibition, the museum will be open exceptionally on Friday 3 June from 2–8p.m. and Saturday 4 June from noon to 4 p.m.

The aim of this grant, which opened for applications for the first time in March 2022, is to allow publishers to translate into Finnish and publish contemporary masterpieces of world literature. The works to be translated may consist of prose, poetry or essays, directed at adult readers.

Nearly fifty applications were received from more than 20 publishing houses.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the number of applications, and by the fact that, geographically, the works reached across the world from South America to Japan,” says author Karo Hämäläinen, a member of the Cultural Foundation’s Board of Trustees.

The work facilitated by the funding includes a translation of the Ukrainian author Andrei Kurkov’s novel Serye pchely (Grey Bees) and a retranslation of the Belarusian author Svetlana Alexievich’s novel Cinkovye malchiki (Zinky Boys). Kurkov is one of Ukraine’s most popular and internationally renowned authors, while Nobel laureate Alexievich is one of the leading lights of the opposition movement in Belarus, who is currently exiled in Berlin.

Also receiving the funding is the Finnish translation of La Malnata by the Italian author Beatrice Salvioni, which is scheduled to appear in the spring of 2023 at the same time as the original in Italy. Lovers of French literature will be able to enjoy Emmanuel Carrère’s novel Yoga and Prix Goncourt winner Hervé Le Tellier’s L’Anomalie in Finnish by spring 2023 at the latest.

“The objective of the Translating World Literature into Finnish grant is to allow the Finnish culture-loving public more opportunities to access high-quality world literature in their mother tongue,” explains Juhana Lassila, Director of Grants and Cultural Affairs at the foundation.

“Publishers have been encouraged to include expenses related to marketing, book tours and so on to their grant applications, to ensure that the translated works also receive the publicity they deserve,” Lassila says.

“In future application rounds, we would be interested in receiving more applications related to contemporary African and Asian works, among others. Many fine works by Nobel laureates and other older writings by classic authors remain untranslated into Finnish, but this grant only pertains to contemporary literature. We would encourage publishers to apply with even more twenty-first-century literature,” Hämäläinen says.

The next applications for the grant will be accepted in the foundation’s March 2023 round of applications. The size of the grant is EUR 5,000–15,000 per work to be translated, for a sum total of one million euros over ten years. The grant must always lead to the publication of a printed book; audiobooks are an additional option for the publisher to consider.

Recipients of the Translating World Literature into Finnish grant:

• Aviador Publishing: EUR 11,000 for translating and publishing work by Cristóvão Tezza
• Gummerus Publishers: EUR 8,000 for translating and publishing work by Beatrice Salvioni
• Kirjallisuus- ja kulttuuriyhdistys Särö ry: EUR 10,000 for translating and publishing work by Andrei Kurkov
• Aula & Co Publishing: EUR 15,000 for translating and publishing work by Nino Haratischwili
• Otava Publishing Company: EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Olga Tokarczuk
• Otava Publishing Company: EUR 6,000 for translating and publishing work by Oksana Vasyakina
• Kustannusosakeyhtiö Sammakko: EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Emmanuel Carrère
• Siltala Publishing Ltd: EUR 8,000 for translating and publishing work by Elisa Shua Dusapin
• Kustannusyhtiö Kosmos: EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Olga Ravn
• Oy Enostone Ltd: EUR 7,000 for translating and publishing work by Made Luiga (Mudlum)
• Schildts & Söderströms / Kustantamo S&S: EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld
• Tammi (Werner Söderström Ltd): EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Svetlana Alexievich
• Tammi (Werner Söderström Ltd): EUR 5,000 for translating and publishing work by Benjamín Labatut

Grants awarded: 14
Grant total: EUR 102,000

Impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s grant rules 

The coronavirus pandemic has impacted the lives of grantees in a variety of ways, and the Cultural Foundation has responded with even more flexibility than usual. First and foremost, the grant recipients have been requested to check the three- and five-year rules related to the use of grants in the grantee guidelines, as well as the instructions concerning the grant report submission schedule.  If these clauses have not been applicable to or have not provided sufficient flexibility in the situation, the recipients have been asked to comply with the following additional instructions:

• The Finnish Cultural Foundation has accepted, without separate notification, a twelve-month extension to the completion of the purpose of the grant and to the submission of the report on the use of the grant, for those grantees whose work plans have been affected by the pandemic. If, for example, an event scheduled to be held in 2020-21 has been cancelled, but it has been possible to organise it one year later, everything is in order.
• If a grant has been drawn in full, but its use delayed due to the pandemic, the Cultural Foundation has accepted a six-month extension to the submission of the grant report without separate notification. From July 2022 onwards, this extension for the submission of the grant report will no longer be automatically granted. Submit a report on the use of the grant on the Online Service for Grantees before its deadline.
• If the use of the grant for its original purpose cannot be delayed and the grantee wishes to change the purpose of use of the grant, this must have been agreed in advance with the Cultural Foundation.
• If a grantee has been unable to organise a planned event or a similar arrangement due to the coronavirus, the Finnish Cultural Foundation will not ask for the reimbursement of grant money already spent. However, the unused portion of the grant must either be returned, or a change in its purpose of use must be negotiated (in advance) with the Foundation.
• It has not been necessary to interrupt or postpone the use of a personal working grant even if implementing the work or research plan has not been possible according to the original plan when it has been possible to further the implementation of the plan with minor adjustments. In this case, the Cultural Foundation does not need to be separately contacted. Submit a report on the use of the grant on the Online Service for Grantees within a year of receiving the final instalment of the grant money.
• For mobility grants, the aim has been to postpone them to a later date.
• Critic course grants related visits abroad will take place when the Coronavirus situation allows for them.

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Text: Antti Kivimäki
Photopraphy: Heikki Tuuli

Climate change does not treat the world’s regions equally. The Arctic region is warming at three times the rate of the global average. Glaciers are retreating and opening up shipping lanes and access to natural resources, and this is arousing commercial interests.

– The Arctic’s living organisms are experiencing a dramatic change caused by pollution, climate change, mining, the global economy, and politics. The experiences of each community are of course unique, but simultaneously they are all experiencing this change collectively, in the larger context, says the visual artist Pia Lindman.

She has been building the Chill Survive network together with the Icelandic anthropologist Tinna Grétarsdóttir since 2016.  

Lindman ja Grétarsdóttir have travelled around the Arctic from Greenland to Siberia, become acquainted with local communities, and organised residencies where researchers, artists, and local communities have become acquainted.

– We try to convey information about what these changes mean in the everyday experiences of people. We want to convey what can’t be expressed in words, and this experience comprises the relationships created by people as well as all other living nature.

Lindman ja Grétarsdóttir have collected around them a network of about fifty artists, researchers, and activists, and its core activities have consisted of networking and collecting information. 

Now the hard work is beginning to bear artistic fruits.

Chill Survive will organise its first large exhibition, called Chewing the Tundra, in the centre of Vienna in the WUK art centre from November to July of this year. Fifteen artists from the Chill Survive network from Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark, and Finland will bring their art – videos, performances, paintings, sound art – into the 400 square metres of the Exnergasse exhibition hall.

One of them is Lauri Linna. He is building a documentary installation for the hall called Juomasuo – suo, jossa oli juotavaa vettä, in English “Juomasuo – a bog that had drinkable water”, about a bog whose Finnish name means “Drinking Bog”.

This bog in the municipality of Kuusamo is where a mining company is planning a cobalt and gold mine. For Linna, the surroundings are dear childhood landscapes where he spent time with his granddad, who lived from nature conservation, fishing, hunting, and hiking.

In the Exnergasse, Linna will create a scale model of the planned mining area with used smartphones and plant seeds and plants he has collected from the area in a herbarium. Last summer, Linna filmed the bog, its vegetation, and human activities in the environs with a video camera. He will continue filming and collecting this summer.

– I asked the Finnish Museum of Natural History how to preserve the plants in the herbarium so their DNA remains intact so they can be cloned in the future if necessary. When the mining ends someday, these seeds and other plant material can be used to replant the vegetation destroyed by the mine, Linna explains.

After the exhibition, the seeds and plant material will be donated to Kuusamo’s municipal archive.

In the Exnergasse installation, Linna’s video documentary will run on the screens of used smartphones. Linna collects them from people in Kuusamo.   

– The percentage of cobalt and gold in used phones is higher than in the planned mine’s bedrock. If all Finns donated one used mobile phone, we would get close to the amount of ore that can be extracted from the mine, Linna says.

He says that he has understanding for mining as such: People need work, and cobalt is important for climate change mitigation because it’s necessary for batteries in electric cars and for storing electricity.

– I also like discussing with people who have a different opinion. The nature of that area, however, is such that it’s hard to imagine a kind of mining there that wouldn’t produce pollution and spoil the environment. The lake Kitkajärvi, which is called Finland’s biggest spring, is nearby. The river Kitkajoki is 800 metres away and continues on to the Oulanka National Park and Finland’s most popular hiking trail and on to the historically important Karelian village of Paanajärvi/Panozero in Russia.

Other participants from Finland in the Chewing the Tundra exhibition are the artist Leena Valkeapää; the reindeer herder Oula A. Valkeapää; the geneticist and artist Anu Osva, who has studied Northern Finncattle and the horses of the Yakuts; the dancer and visual artist Anra Naw, who belongs to the East Siberian indigenous Chukchi people and now lives in the Finnish municipality of Inari; and the visual artist Pauliina Jokela, who lives in Iceland.

Lindman has asked Austrian museums and universities to send to the exhibition objects in their possession that come from the Arctic. The artists participating in the exhibition will bring recordings, microbes, lichen, and other material they have collected on their expeditions.

Lauri Linna, M.A., received a grant of €13,000 for artistic work in 2022, and Pia Lindman, M.F.A., received a grant of €6,000 for development of the Chill Survive network’s activities.