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.
The application period is from 1 to 15 August 2024. The application period ends on 15 August 2024 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.
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.
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:
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
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.
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/).
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.
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.
See also Frequently asked questions and answers
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.
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.
The work plan must include a more detailed description of the exhibition venue (among other things, a description of the conditions associated with holding the exhibition, possible costs and basic information about the exhibition venue).
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.
A grant for planning and implementing an architectural project. Only private individuals can apply for the grant.
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.
See also the grants of the Finnish Musical Arts Support fund.
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.
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.