Call for Applications 2026: Supplementary Artist Pension
Applications may be submitted online during the application period. Online applications must be sent to the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency no later than 23:59 on the last day of the application period. This is the absolute deadline by which time the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency must receive your application.
If you do not have access to our online services, please contact the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s customer service at [email protected] in good time before the deadline. Printed applications must be sent to the Helsinki office of the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency and received by 16:00 on the last day of the application period. This is the absolute deadline by which time the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency must receive your printed application.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that their applications arrive by the deadline. The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s customer service and Helsinki office close at 16:00 on the last day of the application period.
All applicants are required to familiarise themselves with the call for applications before filling in the application.
Data protection policies (in Finnish)
Intended recipients
A supplementary artist pension may be awarded to a professional artist who is currently living or has lived permanently in Finland.
A professional artist is one who creates, performs or interprets art as their primary or secondary occupation. A professional artist has an education in a specific field of the arts or otherwise acquired professional expertise in the arts.
This call for applications is for pensions beginning on 1 January 2027. A supplementary artist pension cannot be awarded to a person who has not turned 60 by 31 December 2026 without special reason. A permanent work disability due to poor health is considered a special reason.
Who decides
Grant Assessment Panels review the sections of the applications concerning artistic activities. Information related to financial status is processed only by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s officers. Decisions are made by the Director General of the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency based on a presentation. The presentation process is a decision-making method used in public administration, where the presenting officer prepares the decision proposals and presents them to the decision-maker.
Purpose
A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as recognition of an outstanding contribution to the creative or performing arts. The awarding of a supplementary artist pension is subject to the applicant's pension income and other regular income as confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national and guaranteed pension income.
There is no automatic right to an artist pension, as the awarding of artist pensions is discretionary in which the artistic activities of applicants are reviewed. In addition, the decision-making process takes into consideration the number of applications within each field of the arts, as well as the limited number of supplementary artist pensions that is available.
Amount
A supplementary artist pension may be awarded within the limits of the appropriations made in the State Budget for this purpose. The total
amount of supplementary artist pensions awarded in 2026 corresponded to 51 full pensions.
Supplementary artist pensions are taxable income and may be awarded as a full pension or a partial pension. In 2026, the amount of a full pension was 1 637.26 euros per month, while the amount of a partial pension was half that amount, 818.62 euros. The amount of supplementary artist pensions in 2027 will be confirmed in January.
A supplementary artist pension may be awarded as a full pension if the applicant’s pension and other regular income as confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national and guaranteed pension income, are less than the amount of the supplementary artist pension per month (1 637.26 euros in 2026).
A partial pension may be awarded if the applicant’s pension and other regular income as confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national and guaranteed pension income, are more than the amount of the supplementary artist pension but less than twice the amount of the supplementary artist pension (3 274.52 euros in 2026).
A supplementary artist pension cannot be awarded if the applicant’s pension and other regular income as confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national and guaranteed pension income, are more than twice the amount of the supplementary artist pension (3 274.52 euros in 2026).
A previously awarded partial pension may be increased to a full pension upon application by the pension recipient if the applicant’s pension and other regular income as confirmed in taxation, with the exception of national and guaranteed pension income, are less than the amount of the supplementary artist pension per month (1 637.26 euros in 2026).
Awarding and payment of pension
Supplementary artist pensions are awarded by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency and paid by Keva monthly from the start of the year for which the pension was awarded. The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency processes applications for supplementary artist pensions once a year.
The number of new pensions that can be awarded and partial pensions that can be increased to full pensions is confirmed annually in the State Budget. Supplementary artist pensions are awarded on condition that Parliament allocates the required appropriations in the State Budget for 2027.
Grounds for not awarding a supplementary artist pension:
- If the online application has not been received by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency by 23:59 (11:59pm) on the last day of the application period.
- If the printed application has not been received by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency by 16:00 (4:00pm) on the last day of the application period. Printed applications must be sent only to the Registry of the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency, Kaikukatu 2 C, 00530 Helsinki. The agency’s other offices cannot accept applications for supplementary artist pensions. Note: If you do not have access to our online services, please contact the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s customer service at [email protected] in good time before the deadline. The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s customer service and Helsinki office close at 16:00 on the last day of the application period.
- If the application is incomplete (if the required information has not been delivered to the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency following a request for such information).
Decisions about supplementary artist pensions are based on the Act on Supplementary Artist Pensions (194/2016) and the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Decree on Supplementary Artist Pensions (207/2016) and subject to the Act on the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency (511/2025) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).
Additional terms and conditions
The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency can, by its decision, order the payment of the pension to be stopped and the already paid pension to be recovered if the pension applicant has given false or misleading information in the pension application about a matter that has substantially affected the awarding of the pension.
What to include with your application
Please supply copies of the requested attachments and not the originals. Applications and attachments will not be returned. The maximum file size for each attachment is 4 Mt.
Mandatory attachments:
1. Your CV (do not include your personal ID number)
2. Pension decision or proof of current amount of pension
- If you are already on a pension, attach to your application up-to-date information about the amount of your pension each month.
- If you are not yet on a pension, attach your up-to-date pension record with an estimate of your future pension.
- Information about your current or future pension income is mandatory, and failure to supply this information will prevent your application from being processed.
Supply the following attachments only if they apply to you:
- Decision or clarification of foreign pension income
- If you are under the age of 60 and are applying on the basis of a permanent work disability, attach the relevant medical certificate (Medical Certificate B).
- The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency will request your tax decision directly from the Tax Administration if you have given your consent to this in the application form. If you do not provide consent for this, attach a tax certificate from your most recently submitted tax return.
Attachments related to your artistic work:
- Applicants in the visual arts (including visual arts, design, illustrations and comics, and photographic art) must also include 3 to 5 images of their works or similar work sample as a single pdf file, including details about the name, technique, size and year of each work.
- The maximum file size is 4 Mt.
- For videos (for cinema and media art, for example), a link to the publishing platform with any passwords should be included. Remember to check the link to make sure it works.
In addition, you may also include two more attachments that are relevant to your application. The file names should describe the content.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the attachments include all the required information and samples of their work as specified in the call for applications.
How to apply
The application form will be available on our online services at the start of the application period on 1 October.
LOG IN AND FILL IN THE APPLICATION ONLINE
To log in you will need eBanking identifiers or a mobile certificate.
If you are unable to use our online services, please contact the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency’s customer service for grants.
Notification of decision
All applicants will be notified of the decision in writing by 30 April 2027. Applicants will be informed by e-mail when the decision can be accessed from our online services. If you do not receive the e-mail to your inbox, remember to check also your junk mail folder. Applicants are responsible for checking their e-mail messages on the address supplied in the application.
If you apply for a supplementary artist pension using a paper application form, you will receive the decision and attachments by post according to the delivery schedule once the decisions are ready.
Applications submitted to the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency are public documents, about which everyone is entitled to receive information according to Finnish law (Act on the Openness of Government Activities 621/1999). For example, the media can request to view applications. The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency does not disclose confidential information. Matters related to a person's privacy, for example contact information and matters related to health and financial situation, are always confidential.
The Finnish Arts and Culture Agency does not publish the names of pension recipients on its own website for data protection reasons, as pension decisions involve information related to the applicant's financial situation. However, the media has the right to obtain and publish a list of names of pension recipients for journalistic reasons. A list of those who have received a positive decision will be sent to all applicants as an attachment to the decision.
Further information
Customer service
t. 0295 249 100
[email protected]