Circus and dance artists and organizations receive funding for their activities from the state and municipalities as well as private foundations. Circus & Dance Info Finland does not distribute grants or funding to artists or companies, but we have compiled information on the most common providers of grants on this page.
Theatre Info Finland TINFO maintains a grant portal on its own website, where the annual application deadlines for the most common grants can be conveniently found. You can also subscribe to e-mail notifications about the start of application periods.
The Association of Finnish Foundations is an association of Finnish grant providers, which currently has 226 members. Their website compiles general information about grants and a comprehensive list of the entities that provide them.
Aggregated information about different grants can also be found on the Science and research website, which, despite its name, also contains funding opportunities for art. The Fyrk.fi database has also collected information on private foundations, state and municipal funding, as well as Nordic and EU-related forms of support. Luckan maintains the database in Swedish.
Public support
The Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike) is an expert and service agency for art promotion. The State Performing Arts Committee operating under Taike decides on grants and awards for circus arts, stage arts, performance art and dance arts.
Taike has several forms of aid and application periods. Taike distributes artist grants, target grants and mobility support for artists and working groups, special and operational grants for communities and other various forms of support.
The regional art councils are expert bodies of the Arts Promotion Centre, which decide on the grants and prizes awarded to artists, groups of artists and communities in their region. Thirteen targeted and working grants and special grants distributed by the regional arts councils are applied for in February–March.
The Ministry of Education and Culture distributes state subsidies according to the Theatre and Orchestra Act and finances art and culture activities with the help of discretionary subsidies. See all grants available from the Ministry of Education and Culture on the ministry’s website.
Municipalities are also important supporters. For example, the Culture and Leisure Department of the City of Helsinki annually distributes grants and subsidies to Helsinki-based artists, art and culture communities, and art and culture institutions. You should find more information about possible grants on the website of your home municipality.
Foundations and funds
Alfred Kordelin Foundation supports science, literature, arts and public education with grants and prizes. The application period for large cultural projects is January. The application period for the main fund is August, and the application period for city and special funds is March.
Föreningen Konstsamfundet supports Finno-Swedish culture and art. The application periods are in February and September.
Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation provides support for high-level, international research and art and culture. The foundation’s application period is continuous.
Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation is a non-profit cultural organisation that annually distributes grants to promote Finnish intellectual and economic development. The application period is in May.
Kansan Sivistysrahasto supports cultural projects of workers and the labor movement, as well as socially focused research, culture, studies and international solidarity work. The application period is in August.
Kone Foundation provides grants for science and art and for projects combining science and art. In addition, the foundation organizes themed funding calls. The application period is in September.
Niilo Helander Foundation is a grant foundation that promotes Finnish science and art as well as industry and trade. Every year, the foundation announces that grants can be applied for in a few separately announced fields of application. Application period is in February.
Oskar Öflunds Stiftelse awards grants to individuals and communities that operate in various fields of science and culture. Culture grant application is in February of even-numbered years.
Samuel Huber’s Art Foundation annually awards art grants to private individuals and groups working with contemporary art in the fields of music, theatre, dance, circus or performance. The grants are aimed at professional projects and priority is given to freelancers. The application period is in December.
The Finnish Cultural Fund provides grants to individuals, working groups and communities working in various fields of art, science and cultural life. The application period for the central fund is in October, for the provincial funds in January–February.
Svenska Kulturfonden supports Swedish culture and education, the Swedish language and Finno-Swedish activities in Finland. The application period for the General Fund is in November. You can also apply for travel grants and other forms of support.
The purpose of Tiina and Antti Herlin Foundation is social well-being, culture, environment supporting and promoting science and related research and teaching.
The TOP Foundation supports and promotes scientific research activities as well as culture and art based in the Varsinais-Suomi region. In addition, the foundation grants scholarships to support talented students. The application period is in August–September.