funding

Funding of the arts is a hot topic in public debate in Finland just now. We invited five people thoroughly familiar with music funding to sit down and talk about how the funding of art music in Finland could be maintained on a stable basis. Bureaucratic though their titles may sound, they expressed themselves with clarity and addressed issues relevant for music professionals, consumers and decision-makers alike.

My feeling is that socially active art may be both in-your-face and more subtly influencing; it may mix up meanings in brutal ways, mashing them up, exploring impossible worlds and shaking us up from unheard-of angles.

A study published by the Foundation for Cultural Policy Research Cupore in 2013 investigated the importance of central government transfers for Finnish orchestras, using as its research material the financial statements and annual reports of orchestras and a survey carried out among orchestra managers.

Festivalisation has been a trend in Finnish musical life since the 1960s. As the number of festivals increase, more and more music events receive government aid, for Finland takes equality seriously. Public funding's share of festival budgets is on the decline, however, and it is not easy to find compensation in the form of support from private companies.

"The best thing about the Finnish public grant system is the very existence of it. Even if the amount allocated for the arts in the state budget is minute, it has nevertheless been clear to the political decision makers for a long time that public funds must be invested in supporting the arts."