The Finnish Cultural Foundation to move to one application round
The Finnish Cultural Foundation is reforming its application processes for grants and moving from the previous four application rounds per year to one. At the same time, the foundation is harmonising how applications are processed and evaluated and ensuring its regional funds are even better equipped to support the vitality of art, science, research and culture throughout Finland. The total amount of funding will remain the same.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation is a private foundation operating throughout Finland, building a pluralistic and sustainable society; promoting science, research, art and culture; and encouraging future talents towards breakthroughs. The foundation’s assets originate from decades of private donations and income from investments. In 1938, schoolchildren across the nation carried out a door-to-door fundraising campaign, collecting the foundation’s initial capital. More than 170,000 Finns donated.
The Finnish Cultural Foundation provides over €50 million in funding to science, research, art and culture each year in the form of grants, as well as promoting culture through its activities, dialogue, and advocacy work. In addition to the central fund, the foundation also has a network of 17 regional funds that support and strengthen the operating conditions for art, science and culture throughout Finland. The foundation’s organisational structure ensures its presence in every part of the country.
As of October 2026, applicants will be able to apply for grants from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s regional funds and central fund during just one joint application round. As before, the experts responsible for peer evaluating applications will come from throughout Finland and will rotate regularly. The total amount of funding the foundation awards for science, research, art and culture will remain the same.
This reform will see the October and January application round and the smaller application rounds in March and August combined, while a more flexible application round will be introduced for arts mobility grants. At the same time, the foundation is also harmonising the processing and evaluation of applications.
This reform supports the foundation’s goals of promoting the vitality of science, research, art and culture; supporting talent in making breakthroughs; and influencing the role of science and art in society.
“One of our key objectives is ensuring that science, research and art can be carried out, created and experienced throughout Finland,” states Regional Director Mika Virkkala of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. “This is why we are boosting our resources to carry out long-term and strategic development that spans the whole country through the regional funds.”
See below for grants awarded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation by region in 2021–2025
The Finnish Cultural Foundation operates throughout Finland. The map below shows the amount of grants that were awarded in each region. The map includes grants awarded by the central fund and the regional funds, based on the grantee’s place of residence. Select a region from the drop-down menu or tap directly on the map. You can also filter the data by field.
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In recent years the foundation has been receiving just over 20,000 applications a year, and this number has grown year on year. According to estimates, up to 4,000 applicants each year apply in several application rounds, meaning that the same application has been peer evaluated multiple times.
“We believe that this reform will make the grant application process smoother for applicants, referees, peer evaluators and those processing the applications. Finland is home to many gifted, creative individuals unafraid to take a bold look into the future in their work, and we encourage them to submit their applications during the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s next joint application period,” says Deputy CEO Juhana Lassila.
The reform will allow the Finnish Cultural Foundation to target its resources better, for example with faster reactions to regional needs and to other work to benefit science, research, art and culture.
Mobility grants, residency programme and the Mirjam Helin Academy
Some of the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s activities will retain their own separate application processes.
Artists and art critics can apply for a mobility grant to cover expenses from international activities. Going forward, it will be possible to apply for mobility grants on a more flexible basis all year round. Decisions on mobility grants will be made three times a year.
The residency programme will retain its own application round in August, while applications for the Mirjam Helin Academy can be submitted in spring.
Key details for applicants
- From October 2026, the Finnish Cultural Foundation will be holding one grant application round a year in October. The 2026 application round will be 15–30 October. We will inform applicants of the decisions made in February 2027.
- Going forward, applications for grants from the regional funds must also be submitted in October. The last separate application round for the regional funds was January–February 2026.
- The March and August application rounds will remain in force in 2026. After that, the grants available through the March and August rounds will be transferred to the joint national application round.
- Exceptions to this are instrumental loans, which will be transferred directly to the foundation’s joint application round in 2026, and the residency programme, which will for the time being retain its own application round in August.
- Going forward, it will be possible to apply for mobility grants all year round. Decisions will be made three times a year.
- There will be no major changes to the application system and application form.
When will more information be published?
- The new grant guidelines will be published in August–September 2026. At this point we will also provide more details on applying for grants and how applications are processed. Applicants will be able to familiarise themselves with an example form before the start of the application round.
- The first grant webinar will be held in September 2026. We will provide details about the webinar on the skr.fi website, in the grants newsletter, and via our social media channels.
