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New organisation to promote exports and the internationalisation of visual arts

Ministry of Education and Culture
Publication date 17.6.2010 12.45
Press release -

The Ministry of Education and Culture has appointed Director Rauno Anttila to carry out an inquiry into what type of new organisation is required to continue the work of FRAME, the Finnish Fund for Art Exchange. The ministry has also invited Professor Eija-Liisa Ahtila, Museum Director Juulia Kauste and Artist Professor Hannu Kähönen to support Anttila in his work. The group will issue its report by 31 December 2010.

"There is a need to develop and expand fine art exports and internationalisation. Demand for international mobility has increased and therefore the expectations on the promotion of fine art exports have become higher. We need a new type of organisation to boost exports and internationalisation in the fine arts," says Minister of Culture and Sports Stefan Wallin.

"Similarly, other visual art forms also have internationalisation needs. I am expecting the report to shed light on which fields of visual arts would like to be involved in the new organisation. This does not have to happen immediately, but the new organisation must have the capacity to operate on a broader basis than FRAME currently does," Wallin says.

"One question that was raised in the visual arts policy programme of last year was how information services and communications in the field of visual arts should be organised in the future. Many other fields have their own information centres and the visual arts would clearly benefit from one as well. Perhaps the new organisation could include this task under its remit," Wallin says.

During the course of their work, Anttila and his team will be hearing representatives from visual art institutions and associations as well as other actors. "The Ministry of Education and Culture cannot dictate how the activities should be organised. Therefore, we need to proceed by extensively discussing various options. The many years of FRAME's activities form a solid foundation for further developing the operating model, Wallin says.

As was reported earlier, the Ministry of Education and Culture is preparing to withdraw from the Board of FRAME. The Ministry of Education and Culture emphasises the importance of ensuring that FRAME's activities related to the export and internationalisation of Finnish art will be carried out in 2010 without causing any disruption to artists' international projects.

The Ministry of Education and Culture has requested the Board of FRAME to submit a proposal on the funding needs for the rest of 2010, taking into account e.g. calls for subsidies and grants yet to be announced this year, co-operation projects such as participation in the Taivex art exchange training programme, as well as salary and rent expenses. The ministry will allocate the discretionary government grantbased on a proposal by FRAME's.

Further information:
- Special Advisor Susanna Korpivaara, tel. +358 400 322432
- Director Rauno Anttila, tel. +358 9 1607 7470
- Counsellor for Cultural Affairs Anna-Maija Marttinen, tel. +358 9 1607 7488