06.06.2025
Cultural Bank expands to Northern Ostrobothnia - service opens in autumn 2025
The Cultural Bank of Finland is a nationwide online service that brings together art and culture professionals and the services they provide. In the autumn of 2025, the service will also expand to Northern Ostrobothnia, and all art and culture actors in the region will be welcome to join in. The service originated in Pirkanmaa and has been widely praised throughout Finland. "The Pirkanmaa Cultural Bank has been admired and such a service has been actively requested for Northern Ostrobothnia as well. Now it is a pleasure to announce that this will happen just before the opening of the European Capital of Culture year," says Auli Suorsa, Senior Specialist at the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. In Northern Ostrobothnia, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia and the City of Oulu are jointly responsible for the regional maintenance, communication and financing of the Cultural Bank. The Cultural Bank is an investment by organisations in Oulu 2026, the year of the Capital of Culture, and the development of the creative industries. The Cultural Bank increases the visibility and job opportunities of authors and provides an equal platform for different fields of art. Professional art and culture creators can register for the service. Each person can create their own profile and add on-demand services, such as workshops, presentations or trainings. The use of the service will be widely communicated during the autumn and information and training sessions will be organised in different contexts. The service is free of charge for art and culture creators who produce content for it. Subscribers – such as municipalities, schools, care units, companies, event producers and also private individuals – can easily find and order services that suit them through the Cultural Bank. At national level, the goal is to compile approximately 6,000 author profiles, 4,000 commissioned services and 1,000 registered subscribers into the service. A total of 14 counties from all over Finland are participating in the extension of the service. The Cultural Bank is not only an online service, it has already created a nationwide network of developers in the creative sector. It includes provincial federations and central cities. The service supports cooperation between municipalities, counties, welfare areas and vitality services in particular. At the same time, it strengthens the possibilities for smaller municipalities to fulfil their statutory role in supporting professional art activities. The expansion work of the Cultural Bank is coordinated by the City of Tampere. As of May 2025, Red & Blue Oy is responsible for the technical maintenance of the web service. Funding has been extended by the Ministry of Education and Culture and comes from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). Additional information: Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia: Auli Suorsa, Specialist, Culture. Tel. +358 50 386 8443 / auli.suorsa@pohjois-pohjanmaa.fi…
18.06.2024
Cultural Bank expands to Northern Ostrobothnia
A grant of EUR 300,000 has been granted for the further development and expansion of the Pirkanmaa Cultural Bank online service launched at the beginning of 2023 from the Ministry of Education and Culture's structural support for the renewal of the cultural and creative sectors. As a result of the grant, the service will be extended to eight other regions in addition to Pirkanmaa. North Ostrobothnia is also included. Practical work in the area is carried out in cooperation between the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia and the City of Oulu. Pirkanmaa Cultural Bank is a free online service maintained by the City of Tampere that brings together cultural and artistic creators and their on-demand services. The aim of the online service is to increase the employment, visibility and networking of artists, as well as the availability and diverse use of culture. At the moment, the service has 500 cultural and artistic authors and more than 400 on-demand cultural and art services. The user experience of the service has been positive. The Cultural Bank can be found at Kulttuuripankki.fi. "For a long time, North Ostrobothnia has been looking for an easy-to-use online platform from which different actors can acquire cultural and artistic services for their own needs. The Cultural Bank responds to this desire," says Auli Suorsa, Culture Specialist at the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia. The grant was awarded to the City of Tampere. The project partners are the City of Espoo, which is responsible for the Uusimaa region in cooperation with the Regional Council of Helsinki, Vantaa and Uusimaa, the City of Turku and the Regional Council of Southwest Finland, the City of Lappeenranta and the Regional Council of South Karelia, the City of Kuopio and the Regional Council of North Savo, the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, the Regional Council of North Karelia and the City of Joensuu, the City of Mikkeli and the Regional Council of South Savo, as well as the City of Oulu and the Regional Council of North Ostrobothnia. Further information: Kulttuuripankki.fi website City of Tampere website news about the expansion of the Cultural Bank. Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia: Auli Suorsa, Culture Specialist, tel. +358 50 386 8443, auli.suorsa@pohjois-pohjanmaa.fi City of Tampere: Anna Szalay, Development Manager, tel. +358 44 481 1774, anna.szalay@tampere.fi Photo by Leena Törmälä.
16.05.2024
Declaration of the Regional Councils on the preparation of the cultural policy report
The joint meeting of the Regional Councils of Mainland Finland was held in Turku on 14 May 2024. The 18 regional federations of Finland issued a joint statement on the preparation of the cultural policy report. The purpose of the preparation of the Cultural Policy Report launched by Prime Minister Orpo's Government is to produce an ambitious vision for the future, which will enable the long-term development of Finland's artistic and cultural policy. In addition to the vision of the future, the report presents the actions that will be taken to achieve the objectives. The aim of cultural activities is to support people's opportunities for creative expression and activities, as well as for making and experiencing culture and art, to promote equal opportunities and participation of all population groups in culture, art and education, to strengthen the well-being and health of the population, as well as inclusion and communality, and to create the conditions for the development of vitality. All provinces want to be involved in this work. The main points of the provincial federations' statement are the following: Art and culture are jobs and livelihoods. The diverse job description of creative professionals must be recognised and taken into account in working life and society's systems. The prerequisites for liberal adult education, basic arts education and cultural education must be ensured in order to realise positive future development. Art and culture must be supported equally throughout Finland. The ability of municipalities to provide high-quality cultural services also in small municipalities and rural areas requires long-term planning and financial support from the state. Read the full statement of the Regional Councils of Mainland Finland (pdf). Additional information: Regional Director Jyrki Kaiponen +358 40 140 8995, steep.kaiponen@keski-pohjanmaa.fi Regional Director Jussi Rämet+358 40 586 3877, jussi.ramet@pohjois-pohjanmaa.fi
26.04.2024
The results of the art pilots of the Cultural Cell project now in the form of a development story
What is my relationship with nature? What does home mean to me? How can emotions be handled and expressed through art? How can art increase the participation of local residents? Could art be part of our daily lives? What is art? Can anyone make art? Could art be used as a means of development? For example, these questions were considered and the answers to them were sought in the recently completed Culture Cell project and its art pilots. In 2023, six art pilots were carried out in Northern Ostrobothnia to meet the development needs of municipalities. They had a total of 97 workshops and produced 29 artworks and events. The pilots were carried out by 17 artists and nearly 3,000 local residents participated. Videos were also made for each pilot. All the results of this extensive work have now been compiled into a development story using a story map. You can find it here: Take a comfortable position, click on the map and get to know Northern Ostrobothnia in a new way! In the development story, you can read a great speech by Katja Koskela at the artwork's publicity event in Pyhänä, of which here is a small sample: For a small town, art is very important. It is open to all ages. There was no age limit for this mosaic work either, everyone was welcome to do it. I immediately noticed how such a joint project united us citizens." The other results of the Cultural Foundation project and the final report can be found on the website of the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia: The Culture Cell project - Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia We would like to thank all the municipal cultural managers, artists, other partners and local residents who participated in the pilots. The sum of its parts in the art pilot was used in art workshops to create wall mosaic works on topics selected by local residents. Here's a blueberry piece for Vihanni's youth space in Raahe. Artists Jenny Grönholm and Jass Kaselaan were responsible for the art pilot. Photo by Auli Suorsa. During 2022- 2/2024, the Regional Council of Northern Ostrobothnia implemented a regional development task under the Act on Cultural Activities in Municipalities through the project Cultural Cell, Cooperation and Impact in Cultural Services. The project was funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. More information about the project: Culture Cell project's social media channels Facebook and Instagram Auli Suorsa, Specialist, Culture and Project Manager, tel. +358 50 3868443 e-mail: firstname.lastname@pohjois-pohjanmaa.fi
