News

Alexander Stubb, President of the Republic of Finland, has awarded the title of Art Academic to architect Mona Schalin. Schalin is an expert in building conservation, renovation and the protection of the built cultural environment. Her most notable restoration and renovation projects include the National Pensions Institute apartment building area, the Urho Kekkonen Museum Tamminiemi, the Serpentine House in Helsinki, and several of the buildings at the Suomenlinna Sea Fortress.

On Tuesday 7 October 2025, arts and culture professionals from the Nordic region, the Baltics and across Europe gathered at Oulu City Hall to attend the Nordic Diversity Connections in Arts and Culture Seminar. The event addressed contemporary issues of cultural diversity, inclusion and equality in the arts and culture sector.

Funding for communities awarded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) can be applied for from 1 October to 4 November 2025. Several changes have been made this year, including to the names of the calls for applications and the agency itself. New forms of support have been introduced, while others have been discontinued. All calls for applications this autumn can be found on the Applyforgrants.fi service under the new Finnish Arts and Culture Agency name.

According to the Government’s 2026 budget proposal, government grants awarded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) would be cut by EUR 1.3 million. Taike’s appropriations for discretionary government grants would decrease for the third year in a row. The cut is targeted at discretionary non-statutory government grants, which would be cut by approximately 5 percent.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) supported the arts and culture in 2024 by awarding 46 million euros in the form of grants, subsidies and prizes. The amount awarded decreased by 3.4 million euros compared to 2023.

The national arts councils of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) have awarded artist grants beginning at the start of 2026. The length of grant terms varies from half a year to five years. A total of 3766 applications were received, and eight percent of applicants were awarded a grant. The number of applications decreased slightly for the second year in a row.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and the Foundation for Cultural Policy Research (Cupore) are gathering information this autumn about the international activities of professional artists in different fields of the arts.

Calls for applications for artist grants and regional grants were open in March 2025. These grant decisions will be sent to applicants in the order that the arts councils make their decisions.

The government proposal on legislation on the reform of the administrative branch of the Ministry of Education and Culture has been approved today by Parliament. According to the draft legislation, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI) will merge to form the Arts and Culture Agency Finland at the beginning of 2026. At the same time, the peer review structure will change.

The new strategic overview outlines the themes and measures through which internationalisation is reflected in Taike’s operations.

The organisational structure of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) will be renewed as of 1 August 2025. The aim is to respond more strongly to the tasks defined in Taike’s strategy guidelines and legislation. The current area of responsibility for arts promotion will be divided into two units: Arts and Culture Funding, and Arts and Culture Networks.

The theme of the latest Arts and Culture Barometer was funding and support for artistic work. The results of the barometer indicate uncertainties related to funding the work of professional artists. According to the respondents, income generation for artists is often fragmented among several different sources, and funding for artistic work does not correspond to actual needs. As changes and cuts are being made simultaneously to several factors related to funding and income levels, the impacts on making art and the livelihoods of artists can be profound and unpredictable, according to the results of the barometer.