Grants | Arts

The Kordelin Foundation promotes breakthroughs in society.

Personal grants are intended for goal-oriented work that will set the applicant apart and challenge them as an artist. Collective grants are awarded for ambitious projects that create new kinds of content, practices or audience experiences. We want to support both the internationalisation and national recognition of the arts.

 

icon
Application period: 15.–31.8.2025
Decision: November 2025

Purpose of the grants

Grants for the arts are awarded both to private individuals and collectives. Grants are awarded for the different artistic fields every other year. In 2025, grants are available for visual arts, music, and architecture and applied arts. In 2026, grants will be awarded for literature and the performing arts.

Grants awarded to private individuals will enable the artist to carry out goal-oriented and long-term work for 12 to 18 months, while challenging themselves as an art creator. The focus is on the applicant’s personal development as a professional artist and on distinguishing themselves in the arts sector. The long-term objective of the work is significant international or national recognition.

Collectives are awarded grants for ambitious projects that firstly renew the field of art by bringing in new kinds of content, practices or audience experiences, and/or secondly aim to achieve significant international or national recognition. It is key for the work to be goal-oriented and to have wider effects on the field of art and society.

Who can apply?

Finnish citizens or private individuals operating in Finland and registered collectives with a Finnish business ID can apply for a grant. Working groups may apply, if the official applicant is an organisation, such as an association, a co-operative or a business. In such cases, the organisation applies for the grant on behalf of the members of the working group.

How will applications be evaluated?

Evaluation of the applications will be based on the following considerations:

  • What is the goal of the work, and what will be the result of the work?
  • What is the project’s target audience and how will that audience be reached?
  • How will the applicant challenge themselves as an art creator (private individuals)?
  • How will the work renew the field of art and/or seek to achieve significant international or national recognition (collectives)?
  • What kind of effects does the applicant aim to have, for instance in the field of arts or in society (collectives)?
  • What kind of partner will the applicant have for their work (do they have, for example, an expression/confirmation of interest from a producer, a venue or a publisher, or an invitation to exhibit from a foreign gallery)?

2025 grant applications will be assessed in three pools:

Visual arts
Music
Architecture and applied arts

Each applicant will select on the application form the pool in which the application will be assessed. If your application is cross-sectoral, select a pool based on the sector that you think it most represents.

Please note that the grants are awarded to different artistic fields every other year. In odd years (2025), grants are available for visual arts, music and architecture and applied arts. In even years (2026), grants will be available for literature and the performing arts.

The evaluation process consists of 3 stages:

  1. Division experts assess the applications in pools.
  2. Applications selected for the next stage are assessed and funding decisions are prepared at a joint meeting of the pools.
  3. The board of the Foundation makes the final funding decisions.

Amount and duration of the grant

Private individuals can apply for a personal working grant for full-time, continuous work for a specific time span. The grant is €45,000 and is intended to cover 12 to 18 months of work.

Both working costs and expenses can be included in the working grant. The expenses may cover materials and purchased services, for example. The grant also covers employment pension insurance, occupational accident insurance and group life insurance. For more information, please visit the Mela website. The grant cannot be applied for purely for costs and expenses.

Collectives can apply for a working grant to cover the working costs of project participants and/or for an expense grant to cover the project’s expenses in accordance with the tax authority’s instructions. The grant ranges from €50,000 to €100,000. The duration of the project can be a maximum of 24 months.

The expense grant covers expenses resulting from the project, such as labour costs and purchased services. The expense grant is paid into an account managed by the collective. Working grants are paid directly to those participating in the project. Receipt of working grants requires their recipients to be named on the application. The working grant is €45,000 per person and it is intended to cover 12 to 18 months of work.

Applying for a grant

The application period is from 15 to 30 August 2025. The application period ends on 31 August 2025 at 4 pm Finnish time. You can apply for the grant using the online grant service. Grant applications can be drafted and submitted using the service only during the application period.

Applying for a grant requires signing in with personal bank identifiers or a mobile ID. When applying for a collective grant, the application is filled in by the person responsible for the project. The application and its attachments must be submitted via the online grant service within the application period. The Foundation does not accept incomplete or late applications or attachments.

Attachments to the application

Private individuals

  • CV (mandatory). We recommend using the CV template for researchers created by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity’s (TENK) where applicable.
  • Work plan (mandatory). Maximum length five (5) pages.
  • Confirmation of interest (mandatory). The Foundation requires the applicant to indicate during the application stage that a project partner has confirmed their interest in the project. This can be verified by attaching an email or a document from the partner, such as a confirmation from the producer, venue or publisher or an invitation to exhibit from a foreign gallery. Contracts should not be submitted.
  • Architecture, applied arts and visual arts applications must include an image attachment (mandatory).

Collectives

  • The curriculum vitae of the person responsible for the project and/or the members of the working group (mandatory). We recommend using the CV template for researchers created by the Finnish National Board on Research Integrity’s (TENK) where applicable.
  • Project plan (mandatory). Maximum length five (5) pages.
  • Confirmation of interest (mandatory). The Foundation requires the applicant to indicate during the application stage that a project partner has confirmed their interest in the project. This can be verified by attaching an email or a document from the partner, such as a confirmation from the producer, venue or publisher or an invitation to exhibit from a foreign gallery. Contracts should not be submitted.
  • Architecture, applied arts, and visual arts applications must include an image attachment (mandatory).
  • Project budget (mandatory)
  • Activity report and financial statements (mandatory)

Instructions for preparing and submitting attachments:

  • Name the attachments in a way that describes their content, avoiding special characters.
  • All attachments must be in PDF-format and must be submitted as individual files through the online grant service.
  • The maximum size of each individual attachment is 3 MB.
  • In the image attachment, each image must have a caption or legend.
  • If the application is incomplete, the service will prevent it from being submitted until all the required information has been added.

General terms of the grant

The personal grant is intended for full-time work over a time span of 12 to 18 months. See the amount of part-time work allowed during the grant period. A collective’s projects may run for a maximum of 24 months.

The work or project can begin immediately after receiving a positive grant decision. The work must commence during the following calendar year. If, for instance, the grant is awarded in 2025, the work must commence during 2026.

Grants are not awarded retrospectively.

A report on the use of a previous grant received from the Kordelin Foundation must be submitted before applying for a new grant.

Grant and taxation

For further information please see our Grant Recipient Instructions. Tax regulations can change and interpretation of them may vary to some extent. The Kordelin Foundation accepts no responsibility for the accuracy of the information and provides no taxation advice. In case of doubt, the beneficiary should seek guidance directly from the tax authority (vero.fi).

Frequently asked questions

See also Frequently asked questions.

Decisions

The Board of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation will make decisions on grant awards in November. We will notify all applicants of the decisions via email during November.