Restructuring of Taike and arts councils approved by Parliament
The new Arts and Culture Agency Finland will begin operations on 1 January 2026. The new agency will be formed by the merger of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI).
The changes affecting the arts councils would take place after a transition period, starting on 1 July 2026. According to the transitional regulation, the current arts councils will continue until then, and grant decisions will be made in accordance with the old legislation.
Changes will be evident already In the next round of funding in autumn 2025, when the calls for applications will be published on the Applyforgrants.fi online service under the new name of the Arts and Culture Agency Finland.
From arts councils to grant assessment panels
The restructuring will dismantle the system of arts councils that has existed since 1968 of separate national arts councils and regional arts councils. In future, all decisions based on peer review will be made by the Council of Arts and Culture. These decisions include grants for artists and working groups and prizes for artists. The decisions will be prepared by grant assessment panels appointed for each call for applications.
The Government will appoint a chairperson, a minimum of eight and a maximum of 12 members, and a maximum of seven deputy members to the Council of Arts and Culture for a term of three years. The appointments will be preceded by a consultation with key actors in the arts and culture sector. According to the legislation, the members of the Council of Arts and Culture shall represent a broad range of expertise in the arts and culture sector.
The grant assessment work for peer reviews will be carried out within separate panels. For this purpose, the Council of Arts and Culture will appoint a pool of experts for the new Arts and Culture Agency Finland, from which application-specific grant assessment panels will be appointed. The panels will prepare grant decisions for the Council of Arts and Culture.
Preparations underway
The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has begun preparations for the new peer review model. Key issues include the size and appointment of the pools of experts, the composition and terms of the grant assessment panels, and various solutions related to the transparency of decision-making, equality, and presentation of decisions. The restructuring will not yet affect grants that can be applied for in spring 2026.
Taike has identified concerns about maintaining the regional structure. As regional arts councils are discontinued, the new Arts and Culture Agency Finland should have other means to ensure a balanced distribution of resources for promoting the arts across Finland. Regional equality should be taken into account in the composition of the grant assessment panels. Changes related to regionality should also be closely monitored.
Taike will hold an open info briefing on the ongoing preparations on 18 August at 11am. In addition, Taike is organising stakeholder meetings and interviews as part of the preparations. Internal work has been organised so that the new peer review structure will be broadly planned by the end of 2025.
Further information
Henri Terho, Head of Arts Support, t. +358 295 330 901, [email protected]
