cultural activities
16
finnish cultural foundation
annual report 2012–2013
C
ultural journalism is in a state of
crisis. The number of reviews on
newspapers’ arts pages is dwindling
and the standard of the articles dealing
with culture varies. According to
Riitta
Raatikainen
, chairman of the Board of the
Finnish Cultural Foundation Association
Committee, the masterclass was prompted
by concern for the future of cultural
journalism.
“Their ordinary daily routines make
such heavy demands on journalists that
they have no time for the delving deep into
broader issues that is so vital in writing
about the arts,” she says.
The masterclass students were paid
a monthly grant so they could be absent
from their jobs for the duration of the
course and get immersed in subjects
without their daily news reporting.
Their ability to critically discuss their
intended readership was, reports the
Cultural Foundation’s Secretary General
Antti Arjava
, the main criterion in select-
ing the participants from among the 361
applicants. The core question is, he says,
how to write articles about the arts in a
way that speaks not only to active culture
consumers but to others, too.
“This means aiming higher rather than
lower. It should be possible to write about
the arts in a way that is both intelligent
and easy to grasp.”
Another important skill is, in Arjava’s
opinion, the ability to look beyond one’s
own horizon – to shake off the idea that
one’s own view represents themainstream
and everything else is marginal.
The participants were expected to
be in command of the basic journalistic
skills. The Foundation was also keen to
have participants from not only Helsinki
were also addressed. The course pro-
gramme naturally reflected the Cultural
Foundation’s view of what is important
in cultural journalism.
“In our opinion it’s worth continuing
to invest in high culture,” says Secretary
General Arjava. “We wanted the main em-
phasis to be on substance, even though the
course did include journalistic modules
and the development of new concepts.”
Themasterclass programme took in nu-
merous visits to cultural events, followed
up by exercises at home. These were then
discussed in small groups led by mentors.
One of thementors,
Paula Holmila
, sought
to encourage the participants to use their
power of association. Many experimented
with writing new types of articles dur-
ing the course. The students also had to
address areas previously unfamiliar to
them, because they all wrote about all the
subjects. This, Holmila thinks, was good.
“Cultural journalists need a good all-
round education, because they have to deal
with texts and news about various arts.
Admittedly specialising is useful, but there
aren’t many special editors in the media
at the moment.”
More with less
So what did the masterclass students come
away with?
Kaisa Viljanen
describes the
autumn as a brainstorm. “A crazy deluge of
but the provinces as well, and for the group
to include both beginners and experienced
journalists.
Unforgettable encounters
The autumn masterclass thus had 20 stu-
dents – both general and special editors,
students and freelancers – ranging in age
from approximately 20 to 50 and cover-
ing all the media, from daily newspapers
to television. It began in mid-August and
from then until Christmas contact teaching
alternated with weeks spent working at
home. The participants also took a look at
the arts outside the Helsinki region dur-
ing two weeks in the provinces and one
abroad. The teaching consisted of lectures
by over 100 experts in specific arts, panel
discussions, and visits. Some of these visits
turned out to be unforgettable encounters
and enhanced the participants’ under-
standing of and interest in a particular
genre. Or a lecture was a good opportunity
to practise basic journalistic skills – to dig
deeper than the jargon, press releases or
technical terminology.
The course schedule was extremely
tight, since the aim was to provide a
comprehensive and deep-going picture
of many genres. The main headings were
music, literature, visual art, theatre and
journalism, but such subjects as photog-
raphy, architecture, dance and design
Cultural journalism
faces crisis
The masterclass in cultural journalism held by the Finnish Cultural Foundation in
autumn 2013 was a major investment aiming at better media writing about the arts:
20 journalists, 5 months and EUR 500,000.
“A command of content is not alone enough;
we must be able to tell people things in a way
that fires their imagination.”
