Decision making process for grants (communities)

Arts councils and expert panels evaluate applications. As of 1 January 2026, decisions on grants will be made by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency.

The fair and equal treatment of applicants and the amount of funding available are taking into consideration in the processing and evaluation of applications and decision-making. Specific evaluation criteria are used for evaluating applications.

The evaluation criteria are listed on the call for applications for each grant.

• All Taike grants are discretionary.
• Decisions for applications in autumn cannot be taken before the annual state budget is approved in January.
• Decisions are not explained on a case-by-case basis 

Taike informs all applicants in writing about the decision. You will receive notification by e-mail once the decision is available online on the Applyforgrants.fi service. There may be a delay in e-mails from time to time, so you can check whether the decision has arrived directly from the Applyforgrants.fi service.

Grant decisions may be appealed. Instructions for how to appeal are delivered to the applicant together with the grant decision.

When processing appeals, the legality of the decision is evaluated, but the application itself is not evaluated again. Appeals must be applied for within 30 days of notification of the decision, and more detailed instructions are provided in the decision letter. The appeal decision is made by the same arts council or decision-maker who also made the original decision.

The processing time for appeals is 2–3 months on average. A person who is not satisfied with the appeal decision can appeal to the administrative court. As a rule, handling the case in the administrative court is subject to a fee.

Instructions for submitting an appeal are included with the grant decision.

The grant process begins when Taike publishes an call for applications on the Applyforgrants.fi service. The application period is usually four weeks, during which the applicant community submits an application. After that, an arts council or expert panel evaluates the applications. As of 1 January 2026, decisions on grants will be made by the Finnish Arts and Culture Agency, after which the grant will be paid. The decision-making phase takes approximately 15 weeks. After receiving the decision, the applicant community can appeal the decision within 30 days. Once the applicant community has received and used the grant, it must submit a final report on the use of the grant before the given deadline. Taike then reviews the final report.