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Although the media sector (and also the telecommunications sector) has been liberalised in Finland in the same manner as in the other EU member states, the public broadcasting company (YLE, the Finnish Broadcasting Company, FBC) has maintained its position as the bastion of "public service". The organisational reforms both of the television channels and radio channels have aimed at better division of labour that also allows the production and diffusion of high quality cultural programmes. Organisational reforms have also been made to accommodate digital radio programmes and the imminent switch to digital TV broadcasts. These reforms will favour more efficient... read more →

It is customary to speak about the Swedish-speaking Finns as a minority, although the basic ideology of nation building was that Finland has two parallel Finnish cultures, one based on the Finnish-language and the other on Swedish. The rights of the Swedish-speaking population are guaranteed in the newly (1999) re-codified Finnish Constitution and further enacted by a special Language Act, which, together with some special laws, provides for equality in the official (administrative, court) use of the native language and access to education and public careers. A special issue has been the "compulsory" teaching of Swedish as a second native... read more →

Constitutionally protected and historical minorities in Finland consist of the following categories: Constitutionally protected minorities and indigenous people (see chapter 4.1.1): Swedish-speaking Finns ("second national culture"); 290 000 persons;The Sámi-people as a conglomerate of cultural communities 7 000 persons(of this: speakers of the Sámi languages 1 700 persons). Historical minorities: Roma 13 000 persons;Russians of "old origin", whose families settled in Finland during the Czarist rule 5 000 persons;Tatars 850 persons; andJews 1 500 persons. These figures indicate that Finland has been a relatively homogeneous country; especially as Swedish-speaking Finns are not constitutionally considered a minority but innate Finns having a second national culture, which is... read more →

The "culture industries" were not, until late 1990s, been a central concept in Finnish cultural policies, which have, by and large, focused on the arts, heritage issues, cultural services, cultural participation and access to culture. This is reflected in the financing figures: only the press, radio- and television, film production and distribution and, to a minor extent, also book publishing, have special outlays in the state budget and their appropriations are close to nil in the municipal / city budgets. Architecture and design have been subsidised as artforms, and the performing arts are considered a part of cultural services and... read more →

The main focus in the last few years in the Finnish heritage field and national cultural heritage policies has been the ratification processes and the implementation of international heritage conventions, namely Unesco Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Council of Europe Faro Convention on the Value of Heritage for Society and the Unesco World Heritage Convention. The other main issue has to do with the digitalisation of cultural heritage, with great leaps happening in 2016. The last three years have also been a time of strategic policy development in the field of cultural heritage and cultural environment,... read more →

As was discussed in chapter 1.2.6, the current government (2015-2019) programme’s main cultural policy priority (so called key project) addresses facilitating access to and participation in arts and culture, especially for children and young people. The two main strands of policy are children’s culture and the basic arts education and expanding the one percent rule to the social welfare and healthcare sector. The objective of supporting children’s access to culture is to incorporate it into children’s daily lives, support the creativity of children and young people, and make art and culture easily accessible to all. Cooperation will be expanded between... read more →

There are no general programmes, strategies or debate forums aimed at enhancing intercultural dialogue. Ethnic cultural relations and the establishment and maintenance of intercultural dialogue have been left, by and large, to cities, educational planners and schools. The Finnish case studies illustrate how Helsinki has enhanced multicultural dialogue. The importance of the EU Structural Funds and INTERREG programmes are mentioned in chapter 1.4.3. The following cases provide further evidence of their importance in developing cross-border intercultural dialogue. The case of the Calotte Academy illustrates the participation of Finnish researchers in cross-border intercultural dialogue. The Calotte Academy is a travelling symposium,... read more →

Professional cultural co-operation has at least four different levels: 1) government-mediated, 2) national associations-mediated 3) cultural and art institutions mediated, and 4) informal individual networking. The "indirect" government-mediated, and often also government financed co-operation, is described in chapter 1.4.2. The membership of the municipalities to European associations and the links of the main cities to European city networks were also indicated in chapter 1.4.1. Also of interest here is the extensive cross-country project activities carried out by regional councils, municipalities and voluntary associations within the framework of the EU INTERREG-Programmes. All Finnish national cultural and art associations have their own... read more →

Finland has been active in most of the main cultural programmes of UNESCO, the Council of Europe and the EU (see also chapter 1.4.1). Of particular importance is the participation in the UNESCO ASPnet (Associated Schools Project Network / international education) activities, the cultural policy monitoring and development programmes of the Council of Europe, and the EU Kolarctic Neighbourhood activities. The current INTERREG Nord is a EU-program that supports cross-border cooperation in order to strengthen the economic and social development. Geographical areas included in the program are north Norway, north Finland, north Sweden and Sápmi (which spreads over all three... read more →

The main ministries responsible for international cultural co-operation are the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs controls and guides the overall "diplomacy aspects" of cultural co-operation, the Ministry of Education and Culture and more particularly, its Department of Cultural, Sports and Youth Policy is responsible for the substantive "exchange of the arts and culture"-activities. Cultural and art institutes, institutes of art education and many expert bodies ("quangos" like the Finnish Film Foundation) maintain, in addition to "content co-operation and exchange", professional co-operation in managerial and technological aspects in their fields... read more →