Cultural education program The activities of art testers continue with state funding.
The government proposes an allocation of 3.5 million euros for the program for the academic year 2027–2028. The government announced this on Tuesday at the press conference for the budget meeting.
The funding enables one art visit for every eighth grader in Finland. Until now, the Art Testers have offered two visits per school year. The cultural education program started in 2017.
The continuation of the program was uncertain for a long time, as the ten-year funding period of the Finnish Cultural Fund and Svenska Kulturfonden, which acted as its main financiers, ends in 2027.
Without government funding, the program would have ended next summer.
The Ministry of Education and Culture had proposed an allocation of 3.5 million euros for the program, but the Ministry of Finance left it out of its own budget proposal. However, the government decided to include the funding in its budget proposal.
“I am happy that the importance of cultural education work has now been recognized at the government level,” says the head of the Art Testers program Joonas Keskinen From the Finnish Children’s Culture Association to HS.
Art testers the annual budget has been almost seven million euros. Lower funding than before means that instead of two art visits, every eighth grader can be offered one visit next school year.
Every year, the art testers take eighth graders with their teachers to, for example, theater, concerts, opera and art exhibitions. Visits and transport are free of charge for schools.
About 140,000 art visits have been made through the program per year. In January of this year, the millionth visit in the history of the program was exceeded.
“The activity gives young people the opportunity to discover art and culture. Involving young people in Finnish art and cultural life is an important thing,” says Keskinen.