Ministry of Education looking for new ways for international promotion of Finnish art

Rauno Anttila

Hannu Kähönen

Eija-Liisa Ahtila

Juulia Kauste

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The Ministry of Education and Culture plans to concentrate the promotion and exports of the Finnish arts, including visual arts, design, handicraft, and other forms of art, in one organisation.
      On Thursday, Director Rauno Anttila of the Ministry of Education and Culture was appointed to carry out an inquiry into what type of new organisation is required to continue the work of FRAME, the Finnish Fund for Art Exchange.
     
FRAME is a private fund that was established within the Finnish Fine Arts Academy Foundation in 1992 to act as the international promoter of Finnish art.
      The funding of FRAME has been provided by the state, while the Ministry of Education has been the largest backer of the fund.
      FRAME had long been suffering from a poor atmosphere in the workplace, and after trying without success to resolve the problems in cooperation with the staff, the Board of FRAME eventually decided to terminate all permanent employment contracts.
     
At Easter, the ministry announced that FRAME would not be able to carry out its duties in the future.
      The ministry has also invited Professor Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Museum Director Juulia Kauste, and Artist Professor Hannu Kähönen to support Anttila in his work.
      The group is to submit its report by December 31st, 2010.
     
”I am expecting the report to shed light on which fields of visual arts would like to be involved in the new organisation”, says Minister of Culture and Sport Stefan Wallin (Swedish People’s Party).
      In the course of their work, Anttila and his team will be hearing representatives from visual art institutions and associations as well as other actors.
      "The Ministry of Education and Culture cannot dictate how the activities should be organised. Hence we need to proceed by extensively discussing various options”, Wallin notes.
      Even though the Ministry of Education and Culture is preparing to withdraw from the Board of FRAME, the Ministry emphasises the importance of ensuring that FRAME's activities related to the export and internationalisation of Finnish art will be carried out in 2010 without causing any disruption to artists' international projects.
      Berndt Arell, the Chairman of the Board of FRAME, says that he is ”a little surprised” at the decision. Nevertheless, he believes that FRAME will be able to continue to act as the international promoter of Finnish art until the end of the year.
      However, the employment contracts with more or less all employees will be terminated already at the end of June, which is why new fixed-term employees will have to be hired, Arell reports.
      Rauno Anttila says that in the future an organisation covering the entire spectrum of arts from music to cartoons could be a possibility.
      ”There would be no overlapping administrative costs. However, all fields of art should have a strong intrinsic value of their own, as the export procedures of various fields are really different from each other”, Anttila contemplates.
     
At the outset, the purpose was to combine all fields of visual arts. The aim is also to set up a communication centre for those fields that do not have one yet, for example visual arts. Moreover, an export organisation is to be built for fields that do not have one, including handicraft and architecture.
      Anttila notes further that the organisation would require new funds, as it would assume new tasks.
      ”Particularly visual artists have stressed this, as a number of new fields would be involved in the new organisation”, Anttila adds.
      Petra Havu, the Executive Manager of the Artists’ Association of Finland, feels that the new organisation could well comprise all fields that are close to visual arts, but the exports of more industrial fields should be handled by a separate organisation.
      Salla Heinänen, the Secretary General of the Finnish Association of Designers Ornamo, is pleased with the Ministry’s decision to give a possibility to be involved in the new export promotion organisation even to Ornamo’s members in the fields of interior architecture, textile, clothing and furniture design, industrial design, arts and crafts.
      Mikko Kalhama, the Managing Director of Design Forum Finland, believes that setting up a new export organisation could be a good idea, provided that its staff will have expertise in different fields of art.
      ”All fields of culture should have a proper expertise in their own courses of action and in international systems”, Kalhama notes.
      Kalhama notes further that such a joint organisation could reduce costs, as it would require only one managing director, one office, and one administration.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Troubled Finnish Fund for Art Exchange gets support from abroad (27.4.2010)
  Ministry of Education no longer willing to back Finnish Fund for Art Exchange (1.4.2010)
  Finnish Fund for Art Exchange is facing deepening crisis (14.1.2010)

Links:
  Ministry of Education and Culture
  Artists´ Association of Finland

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