Arts & culture

Pop, rap, techno and yoik: Festival in the far north of Finland spotlights Sámi music, culture and languages

The annual festival Ijahis Idja (Nightless Night) in the very northern town of Inari showcases modern and traditional music by Sámi Indigenous people. We talk with several performers about their music and heritage.

Arts & culture Technology

Finnish university project seeks to understand video game culture

With the increasing popularity and impact of video games on today’s cultural landscape comes the need to study and analyse them, too.

Arts & culture Cuisine

Food first: Finnish festival cuisine emphasises sustainability and artisanal touches

The recipe for the perfect bite? Sustainable, local ingredients turned into world-class artisanal dishes, served with a smile in a laid-back festival setting.

Number of Unesco World Heritage sites in Finland

Source: Unesco

Arts & culture Finnishness

Visit a scenic Finnish lake essential to the country’s cultural legacy

The shores of one picturesque lake were home to a community of Finland’s most significant artists in the early 1900s – a cultural powerhouse whose legacy and influence is still vibrantly alive.

Arts & culture Visual arts

Urbane renewal: Returning a beloved Helsinki landmark to its original form

We visit a workshop at an undisclosed location where the venerable sculpture Havis Amanda is undergoing a yearlong conservation project. [Update: It returned to its harbourside perch in June 2024 – with a new plan to protect it during major celebrations.]

500,000

Letters received by Santa every year

Source: Posti

Arts & culture Visual arts

Inspiration and influences: 12 artists in Finland talk about life and creativity

On a fascinating journey of discovery, we visit an array of Finland-based artists to find out what ideas animate and inform their work.

Arts & culture Webpick

Finnish composer Esa-Pekka Salonen to receive 2024 Polar Music Prize

Finnish composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen will be awarded the 2024 Polar Music Prize on May 21 in Stockholm, Sweden. The second recipient this year is long-time music-industry mainstay Nile Rodgers.

Arts & culture Circus

Finland’s first circus professor unites many art forms under a big tent

Live video, virtual reality, archery: Finnish circus is going in directions you probably never imagined as a kid. And now circus art has a professor, too.

53.2 per 100,000 people

Most heavy metal bands per capita in the world

Source: Business Insider