Artists collect addresses against cultural cuts

Two a group of artists begins to collect names for an address to oppose the government’s cuts to the cultural sector. Names will be collected for a little over two months, from the beginning of October to the beginning of December, and the address is to be handed over to the decision-makers on December 5th at a rally in Helsinki’s citizens’ square, across from the parliament building.

The Saksset seis campaign is organized by Forum Artis, a cooperation organization of artists’ organizations, and the free-form artist group Mitta on pleni, which organized a demonstration for the cultural sector in June 2021 in the same place during the corona period.

Signatures to this “big cultural address” is collected on the internet site adressit.com. Mitta is working in a full working group Laura Serkosalo cites the 1899 address as an example of the address, which was used to oppose the reduction of Finnish fundamental rights in the February manifesto. Serkosalo expects that the Sakset seis address will receive thousands of signatures.

“If Finns collected more than half a million signatures more than a hundred years ago by skiing from house to house, and we, on the other hand, mobilized more than three thousand people to Mitta on pleni protests, I would think that now we are talking about thousands of signatures,” says Serkosalo.

Signatures collected at the same time as the government’s budget proposal for next year is discussed in the parliament. In the budget rush at the beginning of September, around 17 million euros were added to the allocations for art and culture additional surgeries.

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“The most important thing is to fight these latest, sneaky surgeries.”

According to Serkosalo, the long-term goal of the artist groups is to have the share of culture in the state budget permanently increased to one percent, but this sentiment has a shorter-term goal.

“Now the most important thing is to fight these most recent, sneaky surgeries, which have really come at the wrong place and time,” says Serkosalo.

Parliament vote on the budget shortly before Christmas. At that point, the passage of the budget is already very likely, unless the individual members of parliament of the governing parties slip from party discipline and vote against the approval of the budget.

“Yes, we believe that the voices of reason can be found in all parties, the people who understand what kind of impact this will have on the cultural sector, what we are losing here.”

The planned expression of opinion on the eve of Independence Day is still taking shape, but in any case, the address will be handed over to the decision-makers one way or another, says Serkosalo. This depends on how many signatures we get. For example, the signatures can be printed on paper, projected onto a display, or a reading performance can be organized, for example, where the names are read out loud.

“It will be a big event. Satellite events around the provinces are also planned. The purpose is also to organize small flash mobs in Helsinki.”