Basic education in the arts is progressive and goal-oriented instruction in the different arts, primarily for children and young people. It equips students with the skills to express themselves and for entering vocational or higher education in specific arts disciplines.
Basic education in the arts is based on the fundamentals of the arts, set by the Finnish National Agency for Education, which are specified for the following art forms: architecture, visual arts, handicrafts, media arts, music, literary arts, circus, dance and theatre arts. Helsinki offers all of these!
Currently, around 18,500 children and young people are enrolled in basic arts education in Helsinki. The City of Helsinki develops basic arts education in cooperation with various stakeholders.
There are currently 48 educational institutions offering basic arts education in Helsinki. Visit this page to view(Link leads to external service) a list of institutions in Helsinki that have an approved curriculum for basic education in the arts.
The city provides grants for basic education in the arts. Grant applications are processed by the Culture and Leisure Division’s Cultural Services and Support partnership unit and decided on by the Culture and Leisure Committee’s Culture and Library Sub-committee(Link leads to external service).
Grants for basic education in the arts are aimed at educational institutions with an approved curriculum and that have been approved by the City of Helsinki as providers of basic arts education. It is possible to apply for a grant for basic education in the arts once a year for the following year.
Grants will be awarded in 2023–2025 for development projects in basic arts education that will last 1–3 years. They aim to strengthen the regional accessibility of basic education in the arts and diversity in the artistic disciplines that are available. These grants aim to allow experimentation with and establishment of new operating models and to promote cooperation between operators.
An annual budget of EUR 300,000 has been set aside for these grants, and the call for applications is aimed at operators who are not covered by the state funding system for basic arts education in Helsinki.
For the 2023–2025 period, the Culture and Library Sub-committee of the Culture and Leisure Committee awarded development grants for basic arts education totalling EUR 300,000 in 2023.
Read about the development projects currently under way here(Link leads to external service).