Finnish arts figure Leif Jakobsson is a director with two sceptres

Ex-director of Swedish TV has secretly become a super decision-maker in Finnish art world

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By Teemu Luukka
     
      On Independence Day last year, Leif Jakobsson was made an offer that he could not refuse.
      Finland’s Minister of Culture Stefan Wallin (Swedish People’s Party) rang and offered Jakobsson a position as the Chairman of the Arts Council of Finland for the next three years, starting from the beginning of January.
     
The Arts Council of Finland is a specialist body operating under the Ministry of Education and tasked with awarding grants and subsidies intended primarily for securing the employment of professional artists.
      What makes the offer so significant is the fact that the Council is facing the most important reform in its history.
     
Leif Jakobsson is one of the all-time most successful Finnish media directors, but in this country he is rather an unknown celebrity, at least outside of what is referred to as "the Finnish-Swedish duck pond", in other words, the slightly claustrophobic and incestuous world of Swedish-speaking Finns.
      Jakobsson was born in Pietarsaari in 1953. He studied history, history of art, and archaeology at the University of Helsinki.
      After graduation he toured the world for eight years, working for example as a travel guide.
     
In 1983, Jakobsson became a television reporter, from where his career took off rapidly.
      There have always been some people in high positions who have known whom to contact when a well educated chief has been required for a challenging job.
      Jakobsson does not even remember whether he has ever actually applied for any job.
      That is not bad going, when one considers he had 3,000 subordinates when he was the Director of Programming at the Swedish Television (SVT). Prior to that, he worked in the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE's Swedish department, and earlier as the head of culture at SVT.
      Jakobsson, 56, is a returnee who is now building his second great career.
     
Jakobsson’s ascension to the current position as a major opinion leader in the field of cultural policy started around three years ago when he received a phone call - of course.
      In an interview he had mentioned that he intended to move from Sweden back to Finland.
      The reason for his plan was the fact that the organisation chart of the new SVT CEO offered no suitable post for him.
      Right after the interview, Jakobsson received a phone call from the Finnish-Swedish Pro Artibus foundation in Tammisaari, offering him a position as its Executive Director.
      It did not take long before Jakobsson got another phone call - this time from the Ministry of Education, offering him a position as the chairman of a 30-member committee set up to prepare a strategy for cultural policy.
      Until then, Jakobsson had been rather unknown even at the Ministry of Education, but Martina Harms-Aalto (Swedish People’s Party) - the Special Adviser of Wallin at the time, who also knew Jakobsson - recommended him for the job.
     
This is how Leif Jakobsson, who had long been in Sweden, suddenly became both the reformer of the core organisation of Finnish art and the head of preparing a strategy for Finnish cultural policy.
      Such strategies tend to change into money and actions.
      The previous report on cultural policy was completed nearly 20 years ago, while reports for example on security policy have been issued much more frequently.
     
By now hundreds of people have contributed to the strategy, producing more than enough questions.
      Should we favour culture exports or art because of its absolute value?
      What about the number of arts subjects, or what is the role of art institutions in the health care sector?
      The outcome is largely dependent on Jacobsson’s opinion.
     
After working in the Arts Council for three days and chairing the committee for the best part of a year, Jakobsson is already getting an idea of what should be changed in our cultural policy.
      Jakobsson does not believe that the public sector aims to increase the funding of culture very much in the next few years, which is why for example the use of present premises should be stepped up and they should be available for both institutions and free groups.
      Jakobsson would put a moratorium on the building of any more cultural edifices, as the funds used for walls are not available for content.
      ”There are enough arts institutions in Finland. I do not want that even one single new building would be built. Now we will have to act so that all preventive tensions between institutions and free groups would be removed and that they would both benefit from each other”, Jakobsson argues.
     
As for the rationality of Helsinki’s new Music House, Jakobsson says that he can be sure of his opinion only after he has seen for what purposes it is used.
      ”When it comes to modern art, a terribly large part of it is moving outside the framework of such institutions. Many people prefer to create art on streets or for example at railway stations rather than in institutions”, Jakobsson notes.
     
Even though it is a popular assumption that Finland’s small art circles and cliques form a major problem, it is not necessarily true, Jakobsson claims.
      ”The number of art cliques in Sweden is bigger than that in Finland, where the circles are actually smaller. However, as a consequence of this it is more common and much easier for visual artists to come into contact with authors or composers, for example. It is a major opportunity”, Jakobsson points out.
      ”I regard it as good that people expand their networks and get to know each other. In my opinion, small circles are no problem as far as we know of their existence. We have to benefit from them”, he adds.
     
There is one thing, though, that frightens him in Finland: the intolerance that seems to have been increasing in discussions particularly over the last six months. The strategy for cultural policy will also deal with this problem.
      ”I believe that by means of the arts we could persuade people to understand that multi-culturalism is a process with no return”, Jakobsson notes.
      ”How? That is a question I cannot answer. I have such a strong belief in the power of arts and artists. They know how to present good ideas”, Jakobsson says.
     
Jakobsson is repeating two themes: breaking boundaries and increasing openness.
      At present, the plan is to increase the openness of funding.
      The new Chairman of the Arts Council of Finland hopes that the regional Arts Councils could be able to see more beyond their own territories in order that grants would also be given more easily to new works of art that do not fit together with the traditional forms of art.
      In other words he hopes that it would not be necessary to set up yet another advisory body.
      ”Nowadays interesting things very often happen at the interface between various branches of art”, the Chairman adds.
     
Jakobsson regards the amendment proposed by his predecessor Berndt Arell and the Arts Council of Finland as a good start, albeit a rather conservative one.
      The report suggested for example that the Arts Council should become more independent.
      Jakobsson thinks that the organisation of the Arts Council should be changed more comprehensively in order that it would be able to respond to rapid changes in society and in the world of arts.
     
”The operation of the Arts Council of Finland could be based on an operating licence in the same way as for example that of the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE), with the government granting funding for a period of 3 to 5 years. Such a system would give us an opportunity to work independently”, Jakobsson says, raising his voice while thumping the table with his hands.
      ”Independence is extremely important as arts must be free”, Jakobsson concludes with some gusto.
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.1.2010


Links:
  Pro Artibus
  Ministry of Education: Strategy for Cultural Policy
  Arts Council of Finland

TEEMU LUUKKA / Helsingin Sanomat
teemu.luukka@hs.fi