The grant makes it possible for Ukrainian families in Finland to meet in an artistic context on a weekly basis.
Ukrainian families who have fled the war to Finland will be able to carry out creative and
emotionally cathartic activities in nationwide operations coordinated by the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, in which groups of children or families will meet weekly to try various forms of art. At the same time it will be an opportunity to create connections between Ukrainians and Finns.
Thanks to a grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation totalling EUR 400,000, this initiative will reach refugee families around Finland until the summer of 2023. Children’s cultural centres around the country will run free art groups in various parts of the country, either in their own facilities or where the refugee families can be found, reception centres, for example.
Weekly meetings in an artistic context provide a welcome break from everyday worries. There are fun activities for children amid various art forms. The weekly content will be adapted to the wishes and circumstances of the participating children and adults. “The activities will be different in each locality. Some families wish for exclusively Ukrainian groups, while others want to connect with Finnish families. The common denominator will be art,” explains the executive director of the Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, Aleksi Valta.
The project will make use of the experiences gained from group activities directed at Ukrainian families, run by the children’s cultural centres in the spring and summer of 2022. Cultural Centre PiiPoo in Lempäälä, for example, has offered directed and freeform playing, exercise, circus activities, painting, drawing, music and crafts.
“Many Ukrainian refugee children have been engaged in target-oriented art activities in their homeland and miss it. One of the objectives of this project is to direct children who studied art in Ukraine to take art studies in Finland. Non-Ukrainians will be welcomed by any groups which have space,” says the Cultural Foundation’s secretary general, Antti Arjava.
For further information, please contact:
Finnish Cultural Foundation, Secretary General Antti Arjava, antti.arjava@skr.fi or tel. +358 50385 7600
Association of Finnish Children’s Cultural Centers, Executive Director Aleksi Valta,
aleksi.valta@lastenkulttuuri.fi or tel. +358 40 820 5425
