A vibrant cultural city is made up of high-quality art and thriving and independent artists.
At the City of Turku, we promote the operating and employment conditions of artists, the structures of the operating environment and cooperation between different actors.
The objective is to increase the visibility of art and culture, strengthen competence, build partnerships and create new and innovative activities in the field.
Operating conditions and employment opportunities for professional artists
By bringing art to the urban space, we promote the job opportunities of artists and make the local, rich art field visible. At the same time, we make it easier for city residents to encounter and participate in art.
Artists can get their works displayed in Turku by participating in our art projects and calls for entries. Calls for entries are organised both on a one-off basis for a specific site or need and recurrently, according to an established programme.
The Pop-up Art Programme call for entries piloted in the Cultural Spearhead Project has in turn become an established part of the city's cultural services. The Pop-up Art Programme is looking for participatory and short-term art projects to enliven the urban environment and to create unexpected encounters amidst the hustle and bustle of daily life. Various calls for entries are also regularly organised with the support of the Turku City Beautification Fund.
New employment experiments are another way to promote the operating conditions of artist. An example of this is the Reppu pilot implemented together with the wellbeing services county of Southwest Finland (Varha). In the pilot, a community artist was hired to join the multiprofessional team at the Family Centre. This allowed Family Centre to promote cultural well-being in its activities.
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Facilities for art production and encounters
Turku has several diverse art and cultural centres, the most recent being Art House Turku. The Art House was opened in the old Rettig tobacco factory, which is now home to numerous artists and cultural actors from different fields.
The City of Turku and its partners are also offering vacant spaces for cultural activities for a limited period. You can apply for these cultural intermediate spaces with an open application during the application window.
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Training and networking
We organise open and free training for creative industries. In recent years, the city has organised or participated in training creative actors in sustainable development, business, productisation, cultural accessibility as well as communications and marketing, for example.
We want to strengthen networks in the art sector and the dialogue between them by regularly implementing cooperation forums and networking events. This supports the creation of new cooperation models between different sectors.
The city is also involved in a project to increase cross-institutional study opportunities at the Culture Campus and Turku's higher education institutions. It aims to promote students' opportunities to complete cultural studies not only in their own but also in other higher education institutions.
Discover partners in the Culture Campus networks
Cultural creators and services compiled in the Culture Bank
Kulttuuripankki (Culture Bank) is an online service that brings together arts and culture professionals and the services they offer. It promotes the employment of artists and makes it easier to find cultural services that can be ordered. Kulttuuripankki is already in use in Pirkanmaa, and now we are also bringing it to Southwest Finland in cooperation with the Regional Council of Southwest Finland.
