2. Current cultural affairs
Finland
Last update: March, 2017
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 basic and early education providers and those providing basic art education, art and culture professionals, institutions and other actors, libraries and third-sector parties. One of the main actions so far has been a country-wide hearing on children hobby wishes. The hearing was executed in early 2016 as a questionnaire, sent to Finnish schools via email. All in all 1107 schools in 230 municipalities and 118 160 pupils participated in the survey. The survey results will be used in targeting actions in the key project of arts, culture and sport. The Finnish pupils named photography and parkour/street/showdance as the most interesting hobbies within arts and culture. For girls, photography, dance and visual arts were most important, while for boys named most often parkour, cinema, animation and video- and media arts. Accoding to the questionnaire, Finnish children wanted more hobbies, arts and culture related activities integrated within the school day. Following the hearing and questionnaire, 1 060 400 euros were granted to supporting arts and culture related hobbies in schools, with additional 800 000 euros to promote access to basic arts education.
The second of the central government cultural aims is to extend the current principle of investing up to 1% of the construction costs of public buildings in the acquisition of works of art in cooperation with the social welfare and healthcare sector in order to support the welfare impacts of the arts. A new approach linked to the current one-percent rule will be created to facilitate the acquisition of art- and culture-based wellbeing services in the social welfare and healthcare sector. The appropriation could be used for assisting municipalities in piloting the model and thereby expanding the provision of various fields of art and cultural services and improving access to art in institutions.
A cross-administrative working group will also draft a proposal to establish an operating model consistent with the one-percent rule and to improve access to art and culture in the social welfare and healthcare sector.
Strategy development
Currently, the Finnish cultural policy field is in the midst of strategic renewal. A new strategy for cultural policy is under way (as discussed in chapter 1.1. Cultural Policy Objectives), a new festival strategy was launched in December 2016, new museum policy programme is being developed (see chapter 3.1 Heritage Issues and Policies) and the man system of public funding for the arts and culture, the statutory state funding for professional museum, orchestras and theatres is going through a possibly significant renewal (for more info, see chapter 7, Financing).
In 2016 the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture started a process towards a new strategy for cultural policy. The strategy is expected to be launched in 2017. In the draft strategy, the three main priorities for cultural policy for 2025 are defined as:
- Creative labour and production: The prerequisites of artistic and creative labour are stronger and the forms of production and distribution have diversified.
- Participation in culture: Participation in culture has increased and the discrepancies in participation between different groups of people has decreased.
- Foundations and continuity of culture: the foundations of culture are strong and vital.
The strategy updates the earlier strategy from year 2009 (until 2020) and as it transcends government reign, represents civil servants’ visions for the development challenges and objectives of Finnish cultural policy. The policy areas in the strategy include arts and artists policy, cultural heritage, library, copyright and audiovisual policy, mirroring the remit of the Department for Art and Cultural Policy at the Ministry.
A working group was appointed by the Ministry of Education and Culture on 15 October 2015 to prepare a proposal for an action plan for arts and cultural events. The working group used the term arts and cultural festival, with main focus on regular events held in a certain location at a given time. While supporting arts and cultural festivals is not a new departure for the Finnish central government, a separate plan that sets targets for the long-term promotion of festivals has not been previously prepared.
The working group final report, named Arts and cultural festivals – a cultural resource growing in strength; Proposal for an action plan 2017–2025 was published in December 2016. The working group’s proposal contains seven sets of objectives. They are related to strengthening the appreciation and position of arts and cultural festivals in the arts and cultural policy, financial resources, increasing participation and inclusion in culture, promoting sustainable development, encouraging internationalisation and upskilling, research and statistical data as well as developing systematic cooperation.
According to the working group, when developing the policy of central government transfers for arts and cultural festivals, the varying support needs of the festivals should be taken into consideration. Attention should be paid to providing funding over a longer time span. Start-up support would enable the creation of festival concepts of a new type. Financial resources should also be allocated to developing new artistic contents and innovative activities.
In a separate report, the working group analysed regulation on the organisation of cultural events. Safeguarding the preconditions for voluntary activities emerged as a key issue. According to the working group, the current situation and impacts of voluntary work should be investigated, and the requisite measures should be launched on this basis.
Finland 100
The centenary of Finland’s independence in 2017 is a centrally important chain of events in 2017, where arts and culture are in the very center of the programme. The theme of the centenary celebration year is "Together". The "Finland 100 Years" project organization, established in the Prime Minister's Office, is responsible for the centenary year. The outlines for the year are approved by a broad-based Centenary Commission that represents 70 key organisations and convenes once a year. The Commission is chaired by the Prime Minister and co-chaired by the Minister of Finance.
The project secretariat at the Prime Minister’s Office is in charge of creating the programme as a whole under the supervision of the General Secretary. Responsibility for the regional arrangements across Finland rests with the Finland 100 regional network that comprises the regional councils and Finland's six largest cities (http://suomifinland100.fi/?lang=en).
This information will be published as soon as possible.
This information will be published as soon as possible.
Last update: March, 2017
Since the late 1990s, the Finnish government has emphasised the central role of the new ICT in economic and social development. In the early 2000s, new information policy programmes were outlined and strategic plans written by governments and ministries, but most of them were concerned either with instruments (the techniques of distribution and reception) or contents (knowledge, educative material). This division corresponded by and large with the division of jurisdictions between the Ministry of Employment and Economy and the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The National Digital Library (NDL) is a project of the Ministry of Education and Culture which aims to ensure that electronic materials of Finnish culture and science are managed with a high standard, are easily accessed and securely preserved into the future. One objective of the National Digital Library project is to promote libraries, archives and museums to digitize their materials and by so doing improve their accessibility. It is one of the key electronic research and culture infrastructures currently under construction in Finland. The NDL includes:
- Common user interface Finna for the information resources of libraries, archives and museums (+ 100 organisations);
- Development of a digital preservation solution for digital cultural heritage; and
- Promotion of interoperability of information, processes and IT systems in Finnish memory organizations
The public interface Finna was published in October 2013. The Finna search service is the first to bring together the collections of Finnish archives, libraries and museums. Finna provides direct access to some digital content and information about available material. For more information on digital cultural heritage, see chapter 3.1.
The National Digital Library project is a part of the development of national electronic services and infrastructures. The joint use of information has been addressed in policy outlines on public sector information management and the development of the information society in Finland in the following policy documents:
- 2007: The National Information Society Strategy 2007–2015 + Government Resolution on its objectives
- 2011: The Government's report to the Parliament "A productive and innovative Finland – A digital agenda for 2011–2020"
- 2011: the Government Resolution on better accessibility to and improved reuse of the digital materials of the public sector – the National Digital Library one of the few flagships in Finland.
- 2013: Finnish Open Data Programme 2013–2015
Last update: March, 2017
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, with a series of sessions and panels to be held in Finland, Norway and Russia. The Academy has been organised practically every year since 1991 in research and development centres of the North Calotte Region, most often in Salla and Inari (Finland); in Apatity and Murmansk (Russia) and Kirkenes, Norway. The main themes of most recent (2014-2016) Academy sessions are:
- Resilience related to Sustainable Development in Globalization (2016);
- Resources and Security in the Globalized Arctic (2015); and
- ‘Resource geopolitics - Sovereignty’ in the Arctic region (2014).
Youth organisations have also been active in offering opportunities to their members and youth in general to get involved in international activities. Their umbrella organisation "Allianssi" works in co-operation with the Youth Division of the Ministry of Education and Culture to activate young people in general and enhance their international interests in particular. The initiation of the international programme AVARTTI –Youth in Action programme - is a good example. The programme is internationally known as The International Award for Young People. The programme was first launched in Great Britain in 1956 and is now in operation in 122 countries. The international license was obtained by the Youth Division, but the programme is managed by the Avartti Office, operated by Allianssi. The idea of AVARTTI is that young people can select for themselves an activity programme consisting of components from three activity domains: service, skills, sports and expedition, and earn a medal on three levels (bronze, silver and gold). Although most activities are carried out in Finland, the Finnish AVARTTI is a member of the International Award Association and its activity planning and many of its meetings are international.
In addition to Allianssi, there is another important umbrella NGO, the Service Centre for Development Cooperation KEPA. This centre is a service base for Finnish NGOs interested in development work and global issues and over 250 such organisations work under its umbrella. It acts as a trustee and representative of its member organisations and assists them in enhancing their activities through training and expert advice. In the field of cultural co-operation, it organises annually the "World Village Festival" in Helsinki. The Festival is at the same time a cultural event and a meeting point for different areas of development work.
Intercultural dialogue: actors, strategies, programmes
The demographic, legal and administrative conditions for intra-country intercultural dialogue are outlined in chapter 1.1, chapter 2.6, chapter 4.1.1, and chapter 4.1.8.
Among the traditional minorities, the Swedish-speaking Finns and the Sami have a special position which is reflected in their interaction and dialogue with the dominant Finnish-speaking culture. This dialogue concerns mainly the maintenance and fortification of their constitutional positions, which, in the case of the Swedish-speaking population, is the "second national culture" and, in the case of the Sami, their position as a constitutionally recognised indigenous people. These positions have been, every now and then, challenged by some groups and political factions of the Finnish speaking population, which have considered the minority rights unjust from the point of view of the Finnish speaking population. This type of intercultural dialogue is reflected in two recent issues.
In the case of the Swedish speaking culture, the main issue for some years now has been the special position of the Swedish language in the school curricula. As the second native language, Swedish has been a compulsory language both in primary education and at secondary level. This has been seen by some groups as a limitation to free choice in language learning and as a hindrance for broadening the language skills of the Finns. The long-drawn debate led finally to new legislation in 2004, which removed Swedish from the position of a compulsory subject in the high school final matriculation exam.
The issue concerning the position of the Sami people had broader ramifications. The logging in the old forests of reindeer herding regions has been seen by the reindeer herders to endanger the growth of both ground and tree-growing lichen, which are the winter fodder of reindeers. The three additional – and in some sense actually main – battling parties have been the environmental NGOs (WWF Finland and FANC, the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation) and the forest company Metsähallitus, and the main wood processing Finnish enterprises. The main respondent in the debate was Metsähallitus, which has a legislative right to governing the use – i.e. logging – of the state-owned forests (12 million hectares of state land and water areas) and planning of their protection. The conflict led first to a field confrontation in Lapland where Green Peace was the organiser of active resistance to logging; and since 2005 there have been lawsuits at various courts of law and requests of decisions from the UN Human Rights Committee. It seems that the year 2011 will be a milestone in these conflicts, because already two major agreements were reached about the forest protection areas and protection time periods before Midsummer, one agreement between Green Peace and Metsähallitus and another between reindeer herders and Metsähallitus.
The monitoring and protection of the rights of the Roma and the Finnish sign language users have been carried out mainly within the framework of international human rights agreements and conventions. As in most of the host countries in Europe, improving the educational and labour market position and the social equality of the Roma people has been an "eternal issue", although the intensity of discrimination has been waning. The European Roma and Travellers Forum was established by the Council of Europe with the support of the former Finnish President, Mrs. Tarja Halonen.
Intercultural dialogue concerning "newcomers'", their cultural rights and initiatives to support their projects and cultural activities has been carried out within the context of local and regional authorities, NGOs and cultural institutions and the media. However, recently, national cultural institutions have also initiated interesting programmes and projects to increase intercultural dialogue. In 2005, The Finnish National Art Gallery nominated a cultural diversity coordinator for the museum for a period of two years to improve intercultural dialogue between the Finns and immigrants living in Finland.
Several cultural centres, particularly in the metropolitan area have programmes to promote cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue and the Finnish Broadcasting Company used to run a programme called "Basaari" (Bazaar) until the end of year 2008 which aimed at deeper understanding of foreign cultures. Central government educational and anti-discrimination efforts are presented in chapter 1.4.1.
Additional Resources:
Government's overall approach to intercultural dialogue
Last update: March, 2017
There are no standard programmes for intercultural education in the curricula of the main Finnish education system. In practice, "internationalisation" means student exchange or transversal introduction of special international themes, courses and teaching material to regular study programmes. University education in general and in the social sciences and humanities (including art universities) in particular is unavoidably international both in terms of content and international contacts. Also, the business schools on all levels and public and private schools alike organise special courses on learning about foreign cultures as part and parcel of modern global business strategies. Art schools, universities and cultural programmes of the polytechnics are in the forefront of development on all these fronts.
In the educational system as a whole, there are courses and campaigns to combat ethnic discrimination that cover most educational institutions. The National Board of Education has been active in planning, providing teaching material and in the follow-up of these activities.
Finland has a network of cultural workshops for young people and some of these have taken internationalism transversally into their activity programmes. Multiculturalism is also promoted by the Finnish Film Archive and the network of Finnish Film Clubs.
Last update: March, 2017
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 use of the old stock of artistic and cultural assets of the FBC and better provision of new cultural programmes. The FBC has recently opened up an extensive part of its "programme heritage" to audiences via the Internet; and it has been diversifying its cultural and art programmes with the channels made possible by digitalisation. The adding of "cultural news" to the standard programmes of YLE's television and radio programmes was the first step in this development.
Otherwise, the concentration of the media seems to continue. SanomaWSOY, by far the largest Finnish media company, increased its turnover through international acquisition to 2.9 billion EUR in 2007; the Swedish media giant Bonnier has increased its ownership in the Finnish media (acquisition of the commercial channel MTV3) and in book publishing (acquisition of one of the major Finnish publishing houses). The counterbalance in the public sector is still the Finnish Broadcasting Company, but its turnover in 2006 was only 384 million EUR. The second largest media company Alma Media has a turnover of about 300 million EUR after having sold its television activities to Swedish companies Bonnier and Proventus. There are also some further signs of concentration taking place in the wholesale and retail of books and in cinema and video distribution.
These concentration processes have been monitored by the Finnish competition authorities, of which the executive authority, the Finnish Competition Authority, operates under the Ministry of Employment and the Economy. Its objective is to protect sound and effective economic competition and to increase economic efficiency by promoting competition and abolishing competition restraints. The Market Court is the higher legal instant in competition cases. The Competition Authority has investigated several merges and potential monopoly / trust cases in different sectors of the media and culture industries.
It is difficult to assess how media concentration will affect the quality and diversity of cultural contents. It is assumed that media concentration, commercialisation and homogenisation of content supply go hand in hand. Afternoon papers (or more generally the "yellow press") and commercial radio have been identified in Finland as examples of this development. On the other hand, e.g. in book production, concentration and the birth of new vigorous small publishing companies have gone hand-in-hand.
Some studies have opened up a new perspective in the issue of media pluralism and content diversity. They have pointed out that in the case of publicly supported media the diminishing public support leads to "mainstreaming" of production, that is, maintaining good standard quality, but at the same time optimising audience appeal without risk taking. This trend has been observed in theatre repertoires, but it has been argued that it also prevails in feature film production.
If the share of domestic products in the media and culture industries is considered as a measure of content diversity, Finland can display a reasonably good account, as the following figures demonstrate:
Table 6: Share (%) of domestic products in different sectors of culture industries in 2007/2008
| SECTOR | Share in % |
|---|---|
| Newspapers (share of domestic single / subscribed copies sold) | 99.9 |
| Journals (share of domestic single / subscribed copies sold) | 98 |
| Literature (share of domestic literature of total titles published) | 82 |
| Television (share of domestic titles of total programmed broadcasts) | 50 |
| Phonograms (share of domestic phonograms of total phonogram sales) | 59 |
| Cinema (share of domestic film audiences of total cinema audiences) | 23 |
| Video (share of domestic units of sales / rental on distribution level ) | 15 |
Source: Statistics Finland, Kulttuuritilastot / Cultural Statistics 2009.
Last update: March, 2017
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 language in primary and secondary education. The Language Act, as well as the Sami Language Act – providing for the right to use Sami as an official language in the Sami homeland area, were revised in 2003 and enacted in 2004. Sami is the only recognised indigenous culture in Finland. In the Parliamentary elections of April 2011, the issue of compulsory Swedish language learning at schools was again brought to the fore.
Besides the Sami, the Constitution gives a special position also to the Roma people and to the users of sign language, and guarantees all three groups the right "…to maintain and develop a language and culture of their own". The rights of these minority groups are also enshrined by the international conventions, especially by the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the European Charter for the Protection of Regional or Minority Languages.
Last update: March, 2017
Gender equality has not been explicitly stated as an objective in Finnish cultural policy. Thus its development must be seen as a part of the general development of gender representation and legislative and administrative efforts to make gender representation more equal in all fields of society.
Since the 1970s, Finnish gender policies have converged into a Nordic version of "state feminism", where the main means used have been legal measures, official monitoring and positive action, including parity clauses and quotas in the representation and employment of women in the labour market. Since the Beijing Conference (Fourth World Conference on Women), government policy has been reformulated increasingly in terms of mainstreaming and along the lines expressed in the main EU documents addressing gender equality in representation, employment, career advancement and salaries. This new approach was crystallised in the revised Equality Act of 1995, the 1997 Government Programme on Equality (subtitled "From Beijing to Finland") and the further revision of the Equality Act in 2005.
As the government 1995 Bill for the Amendment of 1986 Equality Act was presented to Parliament, the need for new legislation was justified in terms that "…in many respects the goals (of the previous legislation) have not been achieved. Despite changes in legislation the position of women is still distinctly lower than that of men in working life, in the family and in the decision-making mechanisms of society. Especially in working life the objectives of equality have not been achieved. The new law aims at recognising these problems and solving them".
Despite these general arguments, the main practical consequence of the 1995 revision of the Equality Act was the centralisation of responsibilities for monitoring gender equality and the enforcement of a quotarequirement for equal representation of men and women (min. 40% of both genders) in state and municipal executive and expert bodies. The latter stipulation has altered the "gate-keeping system" in the arts and culture, because e.g. the arts councils and municipal boards responsible for cultural affairs must comply with its quota requirement. The 1997 government programme for equality and the equality provisions in the programmes of the subsequent governments in 1999 and 2003 have underlined the need to mainstream all public programmes and legislation pertaining to central government and municipal administration activities. Extensive research and development activities have been initiated and they have also covered the arts and culture.
Despite these legislative and research and development activities, the issues of equal pay and the modes of monitoring gender differences in wages, salaries, recruitment procedures and promotion have remained controversial from a gender equality point of view. The new 2005 revision of the Equality Act aims at solving these controversies by expanding the obligation of public agencies and private enterprises to present annual (or at least triennial) equality plans with detailed gender equality accounts. This obligation was also expanded to cover secondary and higher level educational institutions, including the art universities.
The latest figures from 2009 (Statistics Finland) indicate that women's share in the Finnish cultural professions is 53%. Their share in the dance sector is as high as 73% and in cultural administration, museums, libraries and archives is even higher at 77%. There are, however, some artistic and cultural professions where the share of women is very low, such as composing, circus, press photography etc.
This information will be published as soon as possible.
Last update: March, 2017
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; and
- Jews 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 parallel and equal to that of the Finnish-speaking population. Constitutional and legislative responses to the claims of the "old" minorities have concentrated, by and large, on two groups: Swedish-speaking Finns and the Sámi. Due to their special historical position, they have a high degree of cultural autonomy with cultural institutions of their own, special linguistic and educational rights and special budget considerations in the state and local government budgets. The Roma people have been the target of special educational, cultural and social welfare measures, while the three other small ethnic minority groups have their own small communities and institutions (associations, churches, kindergartens). Some 23% of Swedish speaking Finns live in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area; the Sámi-people live mainly in Finnish Lapland (although there is also a City-Sámi Association). The "old" Russians, Tatars and Jews are concentrated mainly in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
Formation of immigrant communities
From the international comparative perspective, the recent inflow of foreign citizens, immigrants and refugees into Finland started late, in the first half of the 1990s. The acceleration of inflow was due to two factors: firstly to the increase in the number of refugees allowed to enter Finland, especially so-called "quota refugees" from Somalia; and secondly, to the "repatriation" policies which allowed Ingrians of Finnish origin from the former Soviet Union to enter as "returning nationals". The first "official" refugees from Chile and Vietnam were accepted at the request of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the 1970s and 1980s; the system of "quota refugees" was adopted in 1988, and the first wave of Somali refugees arrived in Finland in 1992. This was followed by an influx of "quota refugees" from Southeast Europe, Iraq and Turkey, and migrants from Asia, e.g. from China and Thailand. The Ingrians were officially recognised as "returning nationals" by President Maunu Koivisto in 1990, and they contributed to about one-third of the close to 62 000 immigrants entering Finland in the 1990s. This wave was paralleled by a steady escalation of individual immigration from the Russian Federation and Estonia.
The following Tables provide information about the immigration flows into Finland.
Table 4: Foreign citizens in Finland in 2012 and 2013
| Country of citizenship | 2012 | % | 2013 | % | Annual change % (2012-2013) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Estonia | 39 763 | 20.3 | 44 774 | 21.6 | 12.6 |
| Russia | 30 183 | 15.4 | 30 757 | 14.8 | 1.9 |
| Sweden | 8 412 | 4.3 | 8 382 | 4.0 | -0.04 |
| Somalia | 7 468 | 3.8 | 7 465 | 3.6 | 0 |
| China | 6 622 | 3.4 | 7 121 | 3.4 | 7.5 |
| Thailand | 6 031 | 3.1 | 6 484 | 3.1 | 7.5 |
| Iraq | 5 919 | 3.0 | 6 353 | 3.1 | 7.3 |
| Turkey | 4 272 | 2.2 | 4 398 | 2.1 | 2.9 |
| India | 4 030 | 2.1 | 4 372 | 2.1 | 8.5 |
| United Kingdom | 3 878 | 2.0 | 4 048 | 2.0 | 5.3 |
| Others | 78 933 | 40.4 | 83 357 | 40.2 | 5.6 |
| TOTAL | 195 511 | 100 | 207 511 | 100 | 6.1 |
Source: Statistics Finland, Cultural Statictis 2014, 28-30.
Table 5: Total Finnish population by home language and the number of foreign citizens in 1990-2013
| Year |
Total population | Finnish | Swedish |
All Sami languages |
Other languages | Foreign citizens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 4 998 478 | 4 675 223 | 296 738 | 1 734 | 24 783 | 26 255 |
| 1995 | 5 116 826 | 4 754 787 | 294 664 | 1 726 | 65 649 | 28 566 |
| 2000 | 5 181 115 | 4 778 497 | 291 657 | 1 734 | 99 227 | 91 074 |
| 2005 | 5 255 580 | 4 819 819 | 289 675 | 1 752 | 144 334 | 113 852 |
| 2006 | 5 276 955 | 4 828 747 | 289 609 | 1 772 | 156 827 | 121 739 |
| 2007 | 5 300 484 | 4 836 183 | 289 596 | 1 777 | 172 928 | 132 708 |
| 2008 | 5 326 314 | 4 844 047 | 289 951 | 1 778 | 190 538 | 143 256 |
| 2009 | 5 351 427 | 4 852 209 | 290 392 | 1 789 | 207 037 | 155 705 |
| 2010 | 5 375 276 | 4 857 903 | 291 153 | 1 832 | 224 388 | 167 954 |
| 2011 | 5 401 267 | 4 863 351 | 291 219 | 1 870 | 244 827 | 183 133 |
| 2012 | 5 426 674 | 4 866 848 | 290 977 | 2 195 | 266 949 | 195 511 |
| 2013 | 5 451 270 | 4 869 362 | 290 910 | 1 930 | 289 068 | 207 511 |
Source: Statistics Finland, Cultural Statistics 2014, 28, 31.
Despite the decentralisation efforts in the case of refugees, some 44% of the foreign population has settled in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, e.g. some 82% of Somalis have established their homes in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, while Russians and Estonians are spread more evenly around the country. This makes the Somalis a visible and audible minority in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, in the sense of community spirit, religion, and habits, while the Russians and Estonians have been characterised as "invisible" and "inaudible" minorities. Russians, Estonians and Somalis are the largest immigrant groups in Finland.
In the mid-1990s, the human rights stipulations of the constitution were reformed to expand rights covering all persons living in the country and these reforms were enshrined into the new codified constitution of 1999. Promotion of diversity has been reflected mainly in continuous reforms to improve the position of national minorities (the Sami, the Roma). Enhancing the rights of immigrants and refugees has been on the agenda of the recent governments, but most progress has been made in measures that help to integrate these groups economically and socially into Finnish society. Control of the refugees' entry into the country however has been made more restrictive and cultural rights of immigrants, though included in the new legislation, have been implemented only by a few direct measures. The Ministry of Education and Culture has in its budget a small appropriation for supporting minority and immigrant cultures, fighting racism, for multi-cultural events and projects and for supporting immigrant artists. In 2011 this sum was 650 000 EUR.
As for cultural services, a public multilingual library (books for adults, young people and children in approximately 60 languages) has been maintained since 1995 as an annex of the Helsinki City Library. The multilingual library collection is situated in Helsinki, but all Finnish libraries can request interlibrary collections from the multilingual library.
In 2009 the then Arts Council of Finland (now the Arts Promotion Centre Finland) started to fund foreign born artists and their projects, or projects by Finnish artists promoting multiculturalism and prevent racism with an annual sum of 100 000 EUR (however, in 2014 the sum was 97 000 euros). In addition, there is a State grant called Art as meeting place, for a project or projects that promote interaction between artists in Finland and artists arriving in Finland. In 2016 the sum allocated for the grant is 30 000 EUR. In February 2016 the Arts Promotion Center Finland appointed a regional artist of cultural diversity for a three year term. The regional artists works at the Arts Promotion Centre Regional Office of Ostrobothnia. The regional artist aims to improve the cultural situation of ethnic minorities in Ostrobothnia through the use of art and cooperates with local cultural operators, municipal organisations and agents that address multicultural issues in their work. In addition, the regional artist will contribute for the national programme of the Arts Promotion Centre Finland to develop cultural diversity, exchange and export
Year 2015 brought significant changes in the flow of refugees and asulym seekers in Finland, as in the whole of Europe. According to the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, in the 2000s, there have been between 1500 to 6000 asylum seekers in Finland per year (in 2014 the number was 3651), while in 2015 the number was 32 476.
As a reaction, The Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture allocated grants in autumn 2015 for projects aimed at promoting the integration of young asylum seekers and refugees through culture, sport and leisure activities. The grant was 1 080 000 euros (funded by the National Lottery) and it was granted to eight nationwide projects. These projects include museum events, different art form (music, circus, theatre, visual arts) workshops and mobile video tuition. The projects also aim at encouraging the positive encounters of the native population and people living in reception centres.
In 2015 The Arts Promotion Centre Finland started a new funding instrument towards promoting multiculturalism and combating racism. For the year 2015 612 000 EUR was allocated.
Although direct arts and cultural policy measures for the protection and promotion of "new" minority cultures are few and limited in scope, the responsibility for the minority and immigrant cultures has been shouldered by the educational authorities, municipalities and cultural and art institutions. The Ministry of Education and Culture in its Strategy 2020 for Culture emphasises the need to prepare its own encompassing Strategy for Newcomers (immigrants).
For the large Russian speaking minority in Finland, the central public actor in cultural and social integration was, until the end of 2012, the Ministry of Education and Culture's international support unit subordinate, the Institute for Russia and Eastern Europe. Its main activities were information services (including a Russian language library), cultural events and training and seminars for authorities and businesses. The institute also implemented projects in the field of cultural industries and participated in the development of the Northern Dimension Partnership on Culture under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Culture. In 2011, the Ministry commissioned a study on the future development of the institute. According to the rapporteur, the institute's main task should be to improve opportunities for the Russian-speaking population in Finland to participate as consumers and creators of culture. Also recommended was that the centre should operate as a private foundation. In 2012 the institute was closed down and its duties were transformed to a newly established Cultura Foundation (http://www.culturas.fi) from January 1 2013. The foundation receives discretionary funding from the National Lottery with a budget of 807 000 EUR in 2015. The former Institute's library services were merged with Espoo City Library.
Last update: March, 2017
Although the flows of immigrants and refugees accelerated in the 1990s, Finland is culturally and linguistically still a very homogeneous country. The share of the Finnish- and Swedish-speaking Finns is still somewhat above 97% and the share of foreign language speakers is thus below 3%. Even the share of Swedish-speakers is only around 5.5-5.7%, and the number of people belonging to other traditional minorities is small: the total number of the speakers of Sami languages, Roma people, Tatars and Jews add up to some 22 000 -24 000 people. A similar homogeneity prevails to religion: 84.6% of Finns belong to the Lutheran State church. The share of the "second" state sponsored church, which is Greek-Orthodox, is 1.2% and the share of other religious communities amount only to 1.1%. The share of the population who do not belong to any religious community has been rising in the 2000s; at the end of the 1990s the figure was 10%, while in 2009 it was already at 18%.
Under the surface of apparent cohesion there are social and economic trends which may in the long run generate tensions and raise new difficult challenges to central government and local and regional decision makers, including those of cultural policy and administration.
One such trend is uneven regional development, or, in other terms, the accumulation of employment opportunities and highly educated people to the Helsinki Metropolitan region and to a number of major cities. This development, together with stringent central government financial policies after the 1991-1993 recession, has started to shape both the audience composition and the content provision by the artists and cultural and art institutions. The result might be, in the longer run, even more rapid concentration of cultural and art supply to Helsinki Metropolitan area and other big city centres. This in turn will increase competition within these centres and subsequent division of labour and content differentiation in art provision and cultural services. This, in turn might have in the longer run negative effects on overall national cohesion.
The second trend is the increasing inequality in terms of income distribution and poverty. Since the recession of 1991-1993, subsequent boosts in rapid economic growth, and the "marketisation" of the public sector, have increased income inequality and relative poverty (the number of people having a net income of less than 60% of the national medium). These trends, and the subsequent inequality in opportunities to consume and enjoy the arts and culture by everyone in every part of the country, are probably the main threats to cohesion promoted by the arts and culture at present.
The third trend concerns the role of the EU in regional development and the development of national arts and culture. There is a paradox that most industrial and occupational sectors – including the arts and culture – have gained more than they have lost during the EU membership and its trans-national policies; yet the citizens' attitude to the EU as a whole has become increasingly negative. Within the period 2005-2006, the share of people with a negative attitude to Finnish membership increased from 23% to 31% and the share of those positively oriented decreased from 42% to 33%. The division here is scarcely a problem from the point of view of Finnish national cohesion. The intensity of attitudes is neither high enough that the EU issue, if couched in general terms, would cause national divisions. The negative attitudes, however, reflect problems in communication policies of the central government in respect to more specific EU policies. Politicians inform citizens about the "games" played in Brussels, not about outcomes and consequences of specific policies. Failures in "games" are reported by the media, while positive outcome are seldom reported. This happens also to cohesion policy programmes of the EU, which forebodes a better future for national cohesion of the member countries than for the cohesion of the EU itself.
These three assessments are conjectures, but they identify potential basic logics of the interplay between economic factors, national and EU policies and national and regional policies. As an outcome of this interplay, emerge cohesion problems, which should be considered in the financing of arts and in organising the management of cultural and art institutions. The Finnish cultural policy programmes do not deal directly with these trends of development.
This information will be published as soon as possible.
Last update: March, 2017
The Ministry of Education and Culture decided to evaluate the structure, functions and activities and of the Finnish National Gallery (FNG) in 2010. Since 1990 the FNG has been a fully state-owned institution consisting of four operative components, Ateneum Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Kiasma), Sinebrychoff Museum of Foreign Art and the Central Art Archives. The evaluation was carried out by a panel consisting of five leading foreign art museum experts, and one Finnish expert who is a member of the Supreme Administrative Court. According to the report, the biggest challenges of the FNG were related to the organisational and functional structures of the umbrella institution. All three museums were functioning well in general; however the day-to-day routines and activities were not supported and recognised enough on a strategic level. The panellists were of the opinion that the managerial and administrative level of the organisation is excessive in relation to the FNG's size and role as a state agency. https://www.kansallisgalleria.fi/en/julkaisut-verkossa/
In 2011, inspired by the proposals of the international expert group, the Ministry of Education and Culture set up a working group to plan and execute the transformation of the FNG into a foundation-based entity. This has been stated as a central cultural policy objective in the current government programme of 2011-2015. A new law on the administrative structure has taken effect and the foundation-based organisation of the FNG started operations in January 2014 with funding from the National Lottery. The cuts in the funds available to other cultural activities receiving funds on a discretionary basis from the lottery pool were estimated to amount to EUR 20 million per annum. This would have meant significant cuts in activities especially for the two other national cultural institutions with contractual discretionary funding from the lottery, the National Theatre and the National Opera. However in 2013 the Finnish government decided to soften the blow on lottery funds by allocating to the FNG initial capital of EUR 10 million for 2014 and for the following two year period 2015-2016. There has been on average a 3.3% cut for organisations receiving lottery funding, excluding children's culture, organisations outside statutory government funding, grants and prizes and cultural journals. For the National Opera and the National Theatre the cut has been around 1%.
The National Library of Finland (NLF) is the oldest and largest scholarly library in Finland as well as one of the largest independent institutes at the University of Helsinki. It is responsible for the collection, description, preservation and accessibility of Finland's printed national heritage and has subsequently unique collections under its care. The National Library also serves as a national service and development centre for the library sector and promotes national and international cooperation in the field.
In March 2010, the Ministry of Education nominated an international expert panel to evaluate the operations and prerequisites of the National Library of Finland. The panel had three members, two internationally renowned library directors and one Finnish expert well-versed in the operations of Finnish universities and the Finnish research system.
The aim was to evaluate:
- the quality and impact of the National Library services and operations in terms of information society, the academic community, the library sectors and other clientele;
- the effectiveness of the steering, financing and management of the National Library as part of the University of Helsinki and as an institution performing national duties subject to performance steering by the Ministry of Education; and
- in addition, the assessment was assigned to pay particular attention to the strategic choices and organisation of the National Library, to the challenge of preserving and making available the national cultural heritage, and to the challenges of future digital and networked information environments.
The Panel noted first that over the past decade the NLF has successfully assumed a central role in developing the national information infrastructure, which serves all library sectors and effectively faces the challenges of the growing impact of the digital information library. However, as the relative importance of digital information keeps growing, efforts are needed to cope with new demands.
The Panel made some further recommendations pertaining to the development of the dialogue between stakeholders. It also discusses thoroughly the present state and future development plans of the National Digital Library project, which is reviewed in chapter 2.4. The Panel expressed also its worry that the project might not receive funding for a sufficiently long time period and suggests that lobbying should be done to have the NDL included as an important strategic sector in the Policy Programme of the government appointed after the 2011 Parliamentary elections. http://www.minedu.fi/export/sites/default/OPM/Julkaisut/2011/liitteet/okm14.pdf?lang=en