cultural activities
10
finnish cultural foundation
annual report 2012–2013
T
he Designed Solutions programme
run jointly by the Finnish Cultural
Foundation and World Design
Capital Helsinki 2012 provided practical
experience of design and its potential in
the public and third sectors. In the five
applications chosen for the programme,
design methods were used to solve
problems in society in collaboration with
the end users. The projects addressed the
police van as a working environment, flex-
ible workspaces for entrepreneurs, school
meals, the approachability of cultural sites,
and a nursing home courtyard.
In winter 2013 the Cultural Founda-
tion arranged a design competition for
three newmedals. The first prize went to
Tapio Kettunen
for an entry entitledMalja
(Chalice) and
Anne Meskanen-Barman
for Aristotle. At the end of May the Foun-
dation Board decided to use Meskanen-
Barman’s Aristotle as the model for the
new set of medals. This will be produced
and released in winter 2014 as part of the
Cultural Foundation’s 75th anniversary
celebrations.
The aim of the Osallisena Suomes-
sa (Participative Integration) project
launched in 2010 by the Cultural Foun-
dation and the Swedish Cultural Founda-
tion in Finland in partnership with the
government is to intensify the teaching
of Finnish or Swedish to immigrants. The
total costs of the project are close on EUR 9
million, of which the government is putting
up about half and the foundations together
about half. Alternative ways of providing
tuition in various Finnish municipalities
were among the items tested during the
project in 2011–2013. The best practices
are to be implemented nationwide once
the project has ended, when a permanent
model may be prescribed in the Act on
set up a course blog that aroused lively
discussion in social media in autumn 2013.
Music and theatre as tools for
community in the provinces
The Kymenlaakso Regional Fund initiated a
theatre project called Kuulemua (Hear Me)
aimed at eighth-graders in the province.
Its mission was to hear these 15-year-olds’
thoughts about home, sense of home,
and the Kymenlaakso region as a home.
The youngsters will be taking part in a
workshop and, via social media, making art
and preparing a theatre performance in a
manner of which few have any experience.
The project will alsomake themaware that
theatre can be more than just a spectator
experience. Carried out in partnership
with theatre professionals, the project
will culminate in spring 2014 in a theatre
performance that will tour the province.
The South Karelia Regional Fund had
a chance to debate whether culture might
serve as a means of community building
when the Joutseno Reception Centre
moved to a former prison and became part
of a small village community. The joint
theatre visit and discussions between the
villagers and Reception Centre folk have
been encouraging.
The From Crusell to Nisula project
run by the Kainuu Regional Fund took
the region’s 14-year-olds to an orchestral
concert in Kajaani. In a province where
distances from one place to another are
long, it was an opportunity to offer a
cultural experience to youngsters who do
not often have a chance of one. The project
is getting youngsters in the remote regions
accustomed to being culture consumers
andwill hopefully encourage them to enrol
at a music college.
immigration. The project is being coordi-
nated by the Ministry of Employment and
the Economy.
The support for the revitalisation of
minority Finno-Ugric languages continues.
Covering the period 2006–2015 and total-
ling about EUR 3.7million, the programme
is still running in both Finland and Russia.
The main partners are the Finland-Russia
Society, the Juminkeko Foundation and the
Ministry of Education and Culture. Funds
are, among other things, being used to
further the language nest method in an
attempt to revitalise Russia’s minority
languages.
Masterclass for journalists
The five-month masterclass in cultural
journalism received applications from361
journalists, 20 of whomwere selected. The
training sought to produce new insight
for both experienced journalists and
beginners, and to improve their all-round
education and knowledge of different
cultural genres.
The course also tried to envisage the
cultural journalism of the future, the types
of reviews that best serve the public, and
ways of getting people interested in culture
and events that have not previously ap-
pealed to them.
The teaching consisted of lectures by
well over 100 experts on different aspects
of culture and the arts. These were held
in Helsinki, but the participants also
spent two weeks in the provinces, and
one week abroad studying European
cultural journalism. Five course mentors
provided feedback on texts written by the
participants. There were also experienced
editors leading workshops and discussions
examining the future of cultural journalism
from different angles. The participants
Service design, medals,
and cultural journalism
The year under review saw a Designed Solutions project drawing together users and
designers, and a masterclass for cultural journalists. Preparations were also made for
the Foundation’s 75th anniversary in 2014.
