Good to know about grants in Finland
GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT GRANTS IN FINLAND
Applying for grants and funding for arts and culture is possible from public bodies (various ministries, the Arts Promotion Center, regions, cities) as well as from state-subsidized and private foundations and funds.
You can find information on current grants in these databases:
• Research.fi is the national funding database for science and art. The database lists funding of over 400 organisations and new funding opportunities are constantly added on to keep the database up to date.
Fyrk.fi (in Swedish only) has been launched and maintained by Luckan Helsinki since 2003.
You can apply for grants as a private individual, a working group or through an organisation (association, co-operative, company etc.).
The number and conditions of grants from different granters vary annually. Grants are considered as tax-free income.
The recipient of the grant must pay out the pension and insurance costs. The insurance must be applied for within three months of the start of the grant. The application is submitted to the Farmers’ Pensions Institution Mela.
More information on our site about Mela here.
The insurance covers all those grant recipients living in Finland whose grant is intended for at least four months of artistic work in Finland. Also, some of the foreign grants are covered by the insurance. A person over 68 years of age or a retirement pension cannot take out insurance.
If a grant is applied to the work of the members of the working group, the signatory of the application will be responsible for the grant to the granting authority and, where appropriate, to the pension institution (appellate) and the taxpayer.
If the grantee is an association or other community with legal status any remuneration paid by it to an artist is regarded as salary, for which the income tax and statutory social contributions must be paid. This should be taken into consideration when planning a budget. There are some free internet programs to be used in calculating and administrating salary payments to artists such as e.g. Palkka.fi. To organise salary payment, a legal community has to have a Katso organisation identification code. You can find information on that HERE.