Ministerial working group would combine three Finnish arts universities

Theatre Academy, Sibelius Academy, and Academy of Fine Arts would be merged in 2013; dance students are suspicious of the proposed merger

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Four students at the Theatre Academy (TeaK), namely Minna Karttunen, Panu Heiskanen, Soili Huhtakallio, and Elias Girod, do not instantly warm to the idea of a new diversified arts university that would combine the Theatre Academy Helsinki, the Sibelius Academy, and the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts.
     
On Wednesday, a working group handed its proposal over to Minister of Education Henna Virkkunen (National Coalition Party), suggesting that the three independent academies would be merged in 2013.
     
Quantitatively, arts education would not expand, but its quality would improve and it would become more international.
      The three academies’ annual state subsidy of approximately EUR 50 million would require a permanent raise of EUR 18 million.
      ”Personal tuition in small groups would have to be secured”, stressed Päivi Kärkkäinen, the director-general of the Finnish National Opera, who was the chair of the working group.
      The first-year dance students do not quite believe her reassurances.
     
”At the moment, everything is good: small groups, custom-made tuition, a good atmosphere. In a larger university one tends to drown in a mass and can lose one’s own identity”, Minna Karttunen envisages.
      ”If TeaK were a part of a large university, it could be too small to have its voice heard”, suspects Soili Huhtakallio.
      ”I like the idea that there are small communities with a strong sense of unity”, agrees Panu Heiskanen.
      ”Even today, we dance students have hardly any cooperation with those TeaK students who are studying acting or directing. Neither do we have much time for such”, Elias Girod points out.
     
However, all four students would be ready to take part in joint projects with other art schools, which would be possible even without a merger.
      In principle, they are interested in more broad-ranging studies, but because of the shortage of time, they fear that their studies would become too fragmented.
      ”At present it is fashionable to be able to do everything, but on the other hand, it is good to be a specialist in a certain field”, Girod contemplates.
      ”Yes - unless one is some kind of natural talent”, adds Heiskanen who was admitted to study his dream subject when he applied to the university for the first time.
     
     
FACTFILE: Music theatre and modern circus
     
The idea of a common arts university has been proposed even earlier. Then the proposal also involved the School of Art and Design, but this became a part of the Aalto University in 2010.
     
The University of Lapland and the University of Tampere also provide art education, which they both wish to cling on to.
     
The aim is not to force the Theatre Academy, the Sibelius Academy, and the Academy of Fine Arts to join together against their will.
     
Prospective new programmes could include for example music theatre, performance, ballet, modern circus, and installation art.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Planned 2013 launch for new arts university (13.12.2010)

Links:
  Theatre Academy Helsinki
  Sibelius Academy
  Finnish Academy of Fine Arts
  Ministry of Education & Culture
  Aalto University

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