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During the spring, it has been possible to apply for artist grants and regional grants from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike). Grant decisions will be sent to applicants at slightly different times depending on the processing schedules of the different arts councils.

The Finnish Government has submitted its proposal for the 2025 Budget to Parliament. Appropriations for discretionary government grants awarded by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) will be cut by approximately EUR 1.9 million. In addition, the previously budgeted EUR 3 million for the performing arts related to the reform of government transfers is no longer included in the State Budget. In total, Taike’s appropriations will be approximately EUR 4.9 million less than in 2024.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) supported the arts and culture in 2023 by awarding 49.7 million euros in the form of grants, subsidies and prizes. According to the latest statistics, which have just been published, the number of applicants and applications continued to grow, while the number of positive decisions decreased compared to the previous year.

Appropriations from the state budget to the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) have been cut by a total of 1.3 million euros for 2024. When deciding on the distribution of appropriations, Taike has evaluated the situation in different fields of the arts and forms of support based on changes to the number of applications and an overall assessment of the need for state support.

The change has been made in order to harmonise the application periods for special subsidies and clarify application practices.

The purpose of the latest cultural policy report is to create an ambitious vision for the long-term development of Finland's arts and cultural policy. The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) and the Ministry of Education and Culture are organising six regional events this spring to discuss the arts, cultural policy and the recently published report. These events will offer an opportunity to hear the thoughts of experts and professionals representing different sectors of society about the current state and future of the arts and culture in Finland.

The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) has appointed Maria Pirkkalainen-Barber as Internationalisation Expert. Her job is to coordinate and prepare the agency’s strategy for international activities. The position is new and continues until the end of June 2025.

The amount of state appropriations allocated for Taike grants and subsidies in 2024 has been cut by 5 percent compared to 2023. Nevertheless, the renewal of all fields of the arts will continue to be supported. Decisions for this autumn’s calls for applications will be made in stages by the end of March 2024.

Suomen Yrittäjät – the Federation of Finnish Enterprises and the Creative Net project of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) are organising the Eloon! tour, which brings together actors from traditional business sectors with representatives of the arts, culture and the creative industries. The goal is to come up with new solutions to the challenges of regional vitality. The tour will take place this autumn and visit Lappeenranta, Jyväskylä, Rovaniemi and Rauma.

In spring 2024, Taike is organising a series of workshops in Kemiönsaari aimed at increasing the production skills of artists. These free-of-charge workshops will be held at Kulturhus Björkboda and are primarily intended for local artists. In addition, artists will have the opportunity to participate in the pitching webinar in April.

Taike’s arts councils are being restructured, and the current arts councils be discontinued as of 1 July 2026. The new structure will have a Council of Arts and Culture utilising a pool of experts and rotating grant assessment panels to assess applications. The principles of peer reviews and the autonomy of art will be maintained in decision-making. Stakeholders and the entire arts sector are being consulted extensively in the restructuring work.

On 14 May, the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) organised an info briefing on the priorities and future development needs of subsidies for communities. The key takeaways from the info briefing are summarised below.