cultural activities
9
finnish cultural foundation
annual report 2013–2014
he jubilee year beganwith an exceptionally broad survey, commissioned
by the Foundation, of Finnish attitudes to the arts and culture. On
Christmas Day 2013 the FinnishMTV3 channel showed a documentary
produced by Franck Media called A Brainchild of the Fennoman movement
– The Story of the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The film was part of a series
by the same producer telling the history of private Finnish foundations and
their significance to the Finnish arts, science and identity. It mirrored the
story of the Cultural Foundation in its social context from the years before
its establishment right up to the present day.
Campaign and meetings
A large-scale PR campaign was prepared in honour of the jubilee year. The first
manifestations of this were whole-page advertisements in the major national
and regional newspapers on February 27 – the Foundation’s birthday – and
region-specific advertisements in the same papers within the next fortnight.
In the late 1930s, nearly 200,000 Finns from all sectors of society
contributed to the Foundation’s charter collection. Hence, the purpose of
the campaign was to present the Cultural Foundation and its achievements to
the public at large. Special prominence was given to the donors and testators
of bequests, and to culture makers. As the campaign had such a broad target
group, the Foundation was highlighted in the digital media in addition to the
press, and by outdoor advertising in five cities.
The Regional Funds arranged meetings for local members. These events
featured some grant-assisted project and discussed topical Fund issues. All
the members of the Patrons’ Association were also invited to a joint national
meeting in connection with the Semifinals of the MirjamHelin International
Singing Competition. This event was attended by some 600 members and
their spouses.
GROWING AWARENESS
Surveys of public awareness of the grant-awarding foundations revealed that
people became more aware of the Cultural Foundation during the campaign
and that it is still the grant-awarding foundation best known in Finland.
The Franck Media TV documentary attracted some 117,000 viewers on
Christmas Day. It was shown again in conjunction with the Mirjam Helin
International Singing Competition and was also viewable online.
The Cultural Foundation authorised an outside media agency to investigate
the reception of the press campaign. According to the results, the overall
attention value was good, and best in the 40–59 age-group. Persons with a
more active interest in the arts and culture were more aware of the campaign
than others. To some extent the advertising fostered a more positive image
of the Cultural Foundation.
The charter collection documents complete with digital signatures that
have been displayed on the Cultural Foundation’s own website since 2007
proved to be the most popular element of the jubilee campaign thanks to
social media. Nearly 300,000 searches were made on the website and details
of persons – relatives, friends and acquaintances – whose names appeared
on the lists were shared on Facebook thousands of times. Towards the end
of the year the Foundation’s big new project, All Finland Plays, received wide
coverage in the regional media.
Donor biographies
One of the themes of the jubilee year was highlighting the importance of
donors to the work of the Foundation. For this reason, short biographies of
the founders of the donor funds were posted on the Foundation’s website.
Each recipient of a donor-fund grant is given a brochure about that fund
along with the grant document.
In honour of the jubilee year the Foundation slightly updated its visual
image and printing matter and gave its website a new look. The Foundation
Twitter account created in April posts information about grants and other
activities.
