Yearly grants | Arts

The Foundation awards grants for professional work in the fields of art

 

 

 

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Application period: 1.–15.8.2023
Decision: November 2023

The Foundation awards grants for professional work in the following fields: visual arts, performing arts, music, applied arts and arts and crafts, architecture, literature, and translating literature into Finnish.

 

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Who can apply and for what purpose?

The Foundation awards grants for specific purposes. The end product of work performed under a grant can be e.g. a work of art, a performance, or an exhibition. Art grants are only awarded to private individuals.

Field-specific guidelines are in force for the time being.

An individual grant can be applied for by Finns or by people who work in Finland for the advancement of Finnish science, culture, and civil society. The grants are for full-time work performed during the calendar year that follows the year the grant was awarded. Grants are not awarded retrospectively. Work may not begin before the December of the year the grant was awarded.

Applying for a grant

The application period is from 1 to 15 August 2023. The application period ends on 15 August 2023 at 4 pm Finnish time. Use the Foundation’s online grant service for your grant application. Grant applications can be created and sent in the grant online service only during the application period.

Net banking identification is required for grant applications. The application and its appendices must be delivered to the online service within the application period. The Foundation will not accept incomplete or late applications or their appendices.

Which field?

You can direct your application to one field. When drawing up your application, you must select the field whose experts you wish to evaluate your application. If your application is multidisciplinary, choose the field you yourself think best fits your project, or which best represents your application.

Criteria for awarding a grant

The purpose of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation is to promote and support Finnish science, literature, arts, and public education. Applicants may receive grants if they, based on prior established work, are in a position to implement the plan that they have proposed. When evaluating grant applications, our experts pay attention to the objectives set for the work, and the intended end result.

Grant applications are evaluated and funding decisions made using the following criteria:

  • Project originality
  • Feasibility of the implementation plan
  • Earlier merits of the applicant
  • Significance of the project. The applicant has carefully considered how the project will promote their own professional development, and what kind of audiences the project could reach.

Grant applications are assessed in six pools as follows:

1. Visual arts
2. Applied arts, arts and crafts, and architecture
3. Music
4. Performing arts, circus, and dance
5. Literature
6. Translating literature into Finnish

Grant applications are assessed in three phases:

  1. Experts assess the applications assigned to the pool based on assessment criteria, select the applications that best fulfill said criteria, and write a commentary on their choices to the assessment system.
  2. The experts acquaint themselves with all selected proposals prior to the pool’s general meeting.
  3. Funding decisions are prepared in the pool’s general meeting and submitted to the Board for decisions.

Duration of the grant period and grant size

Generally, grants have a duration of 12 or 6 months. In some special circumstances, the applicant can apply for a grant with a duration of four months or more, but not exceeding 12 months.

Working grants are intended for the continuous, full-time work of private individuals during a specified period of time. Grants are not awarded for part-time work. The size of the working grant is approximately €2,166 per month.

You can include expenses such as material expenses, assistant expenses and purchased services into your work. Please note that e.g. in a one-year grant, the total of work + expenses may not exceed €26,000. Private individuals cannot apply for grants solely for the purpose of covering expenses. Mela, the insurer of grant recipients, will accept expenses that account for max. half of the received grant. The grant covers employment pension insurance, occupational accident insurance, and group life insurance. More information is available from Mela.

Grants

  • An individual 12-month working grant of €26,000.
  • An individual 6-month working grant of €13,000.
  • An individual working grant in some other amount. In some special circumstances, the applicant can apply for a grant with a duration of four months or more, but not exceeding 12 months.

Grants and taxation

More information is available on the grant recipient page.

Tax regulations may change, and their interpretation can to some extent vary. Consequently, the Alfred Kordelin Foundation cannot be held responsible for the correctness of this information, nor can it provide more detailed instructions on taxation. If there is any unclarity, grant recipients should ask for instructions directly from the tax authorities (http://www.vero.fi/).

Appendices

We recommend that you attach only the mandatory appendices to your application. If the application is incomplete, the service will prevent it from being sent until the missing information has been added.

Instructions for appendices

  • All appendices must be in pdf format, and they must be sent via the grant online service as individual files.
  • The maximum size of an appendix is 3 MB.
  • Name the appendices in a way that describes their contents, and avoid special characters.
  • An image appendix must include a caption/explanatory text for each image.
  • The length of a working plan must not exceed five (5) pages.

Before writing your application

Check from the list below what are the fields and purposes for which the Foundation awards grants, and also check the field-specific appendices.

Check that you have submitted a usage report on previously received grants before applying for a new grant.

Decisions

The decisions on awarded grants are made by the Board of Directors of the Alfred Kordelin Foundation in October. All applicants will receive information on the grant decisions in November via email.

Fields

Only private individuals can apply for the grant. A group of individuals cannot act as an applicant. Also, working groups cannot apply for a personal grant for the same project with multiple applications. Only one application will be made for the same subject.
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Visual arts

Grant for creating works of art and organizing an exhibition abroad. Grant applications can be submitted only by professional visual artists (private individuals) as they exhibit their art abroad, in e.g. private exhibitions, group exhibitions, biennales, or festivals. The Foundation requires the applicant to have an invitation to exhibit abroad already in the application phase. This can be verified e.g. with an email message from the museum/gallery.

Appendices

    • CV (mandatory)
    • Work plan (mandatory)
    • Image appendix (mandatory)
    • Invitation (mandatory)

Please also look into the grant offering of Frame Contemporary Art Finland:

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Applied arts and arts and crafts, architecture

 

Applied arts and arts and crafts

Grant for planning and exhibiting pieces of art. A grant can also be awarded for the product development of pieces of applied art. Only private individuals can apply for the grant. The Foundation requires the applicant to be able to indicate in the application phase where the piece will be exhibited, or to name a production/exhibition partner. This can be verified e.g. with an email message from the exhibiting party.

Appendices    

  • CV (mandatory)
  • Work plan (mandatory)
  • Image appendix (mandatory)
  • Place of exhibition for the piece (appendix)

Architecture

A grant for planning and implementing an architectural project. Only private individuals can apply for the grant.

Appendices

    • CV (mandatory)
    • Work plan (mandatory)
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Music

A grant for preparing a piece for performance, i.e. composing, writing lyrics, arranging, and preparing the piece (for example, selection of the program, planning and rehearsal of the performance, costuming and staging, marketing and communication).

Only private individuals can apply for the grant. The Foundation requires the applicant to be able to indicate in the application phase where the piece will be performed. This can be verified e.g. with an email message from the performance venue.

Appendices

  • CV (mandatory)
  • Work plan (mandatory)
  • Place of performance for the piece (appendix)

See also the grants of the Finnish Musical Arts Support fund.

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Performing arts, circus, dance

A grant for preparing a piece of performing arts for performance, i.e. writing and dramatizing a manuscript for a play or a circus or dance performance, and preparing the piece for production (for example, planning and rehearsing the performance, costuming and staging, marketing and communication).

Only private individuals can apply for the grant. The Foundation requires the applicant to be able to indicate in the application phase where the piece will be performed, or to name a production/performance partner. This can be verified e.g. with an email message from the  performance partner.

Appendices

  • CV (mandatory)
  • Work plan (mandatory)
  • Place of performance for the piece (appendix)
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Creating a piece of literature and translating literature into finnish

Grant for creating a piece of literature or translating a piece of literature, such as a novel or a collection of poems, into Finnish.

The Foundation requires the applicant to demonstrate in the application that a publisher has expressed their interest in publishing the work. This can be verified e.g. with an email message from the publisher.

Grants are not awarded to debuting authors. Only private individuals can apply for the grant.

Appendices

  • CV (mandatory)
  • Work plan (mandatory)
  • Confirmation of interest from a publisher (mandatory)