The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes
Suomen kulttuuri- ja tiedeinstituutit ry
The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes is an association founded on 5 October, 2005. The reason for the founding of the association was the need, on the part of the institutes and the foundations supporting them, to make their cooperation more effective; another important reason were the guidelines concerning support to the cultural and academic institutes defined by the Ministry of Education working group on cultural export strategy. All the institutes or the foundations supporting them are members of the association.
The purpose of The Finnish Cultural and Academic Institutes is to enhance cooperation between the Finnish cultural and academic institutes abroad and the Hanasaari Swedish-Finnish Cultural Centre in order to promote their common goals in the areas of public relations, administrative services and planning as well as domestic and foreign communications. The association is the service and coordination organisation in the institute network, tasked with the development of the network’s internal and external communications. The association is also in charge of arranging two annual get-togethers for the network.
Commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of Education, the association coordinates information dissemination within the support network for cultural exports. Access to information helps the players to respond to the growing demand for Finnish art and culture around the world.
The Finnish cultural and academic institutes are members of the EUNIC network via their association. EUNIC, the European Union National Institutes for Culture, aims to enhance cooperation between cultural institutes in EU member states and to foster cultural diversity, encouraging dialogue with countries outside Europe as well.
The secretary general of the association is based in Ritarihuone (“House of Nobility”) in Helsinki, sharing the offices with the executive of the Finnish Institute in the Middle East.
From 26 February, 2008, the executive committee of the association consists of Mr. Sakari Lehmuskallio (Benelux), Chair, and Ms. Päivi Bergroth, Mr. Kalevi Kivistö (Finnagora), Ms. Gunvor Kronman (Hanasaari), Mr. Markku Löytönen (Japan) and Ms. Jaana Vasama (Estonia), all members. The Secretary of the executive board is Ms. Ann Sandelin, secretary general of the association.