The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the performing arts thoroughly and relentlessly in the first years of the 2020s. The shortsightedness, ambiguity and last-minute nature of meeting restrictions and funding decisions cancelled agreed work across the field, causing anxiety and fatigue among artists and those working within structures alike. The challenges were shared and the means of coping were varied but, in those exceptional circumstances of a public emergency, isolated. On a large scale, the Mitta on täysi (The Measure is Full) movement and the Event Industry Finland Association, among others, were born; at the grassroots level, questions such as “How are you holding up?” and “How did you do this?” were exchanged via instant messages. It was from one of these messages that the joint Kulkue project between ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in Kuopio, Baltic Circle in Helsinki and Hangö Teaterträff in Hanko took shape.
From crisis talk and competition to joint action
In the Kulkue project, three of the most important festivals in the Finnish performing arts scene – ANTI Festival, Baltic Circle and Hangö Teaterträff – combined their resources and expertise to produce an exceptionally large series of co-productions that reached new audiences. Through the Kulkue project, seven Finnish performing arts works were premiered and seen at all three festivals. In addition, the accessibility expertise of the three festivals was enhanced thanks to the project’s funding. The project was born out of the need to create a joint think tank and to share experiences and observations on the art field.
Finnish festivals rarely co-produce works with other Finnish organisations. There is competition for visibility, attention, audiences and which festival gets to premiere which artist’s work. In general, ANTI, Baltic Circle and Hangö Teaterträff are all internationally networked and used to participating in various international projects and collaborations, but there are next to no customs of domestic collaboration in Finland. In the planning phase of the Kulkue project – before it became just that, “Kulkue” – fears, challenges and desires were voiced and connections and opportunities were sought. The core desires were natural, shared and obvious: the desire to produce and bring to audiences high quality art that represents the diversity of the Finnish performing arts scene. The aim was to produce works for different audiences, serving the existing committed audience but also inviting new audiences to each festival. All this with a focus on sustainability, i.e. ecology, social aspects and economic resources.
Together, the festivals identified the field’s stumbling blocks, even outside the pandemic. Touring structures are still in their infancy in Finland, despite a good state contribution system and a large number of festivals with different audiences. Resources for sustainable audience work and improving accessibility are consistently insufficient in festival contexts, but the work itself is essential. Project-based activities do not create continuity and often benefit a very limited number of artists and audiences. There was/is a shared concern about the ever-tightening situation of the performing arts field after the pandemic, with reformed funding, increased competition and growing hopes, expectations and needs.
There were other festivals in the initial discussions, but the final trio wanted to test the potential of collaboration on a practical level. They saw that festivals do not compete with each other but are part of the performing arts ecosystem as stages, production and discussion platforms, and as international experts, bringing artists and audiences together.
As distributors of art, festivals are an essential form; they reach significant audiences in a short time. “In a time of pandemic, an ecological crisis and polarised public discourse, we want to organise ourselves through this project and ask what the festivals’ role and significance is in the re-opening of society and the arts ecosystem, and what it could be in the future,” outlined the project application written in the midst of the pandemic by the then festival directors/executive producers and artistic leaders Heidi Backström, Juni Klein and Tom Rejström (Hangö Teaterträff), Johanna Tuukkanen and Elisa Itkonen (ANTI Festival) as well as Hanna Parry and Asta Teräväinen (Baltic Circle). “As platforms for action, festivals form an excellent partnership for the Kulkue project, as festivals play an important role in the development of the arts field and repetition creates impact.”
From idea to Kulkue
In concrete terms, Kulkue was born when the joint project received three years of funding from the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s Art² Grant. Later on, Konstsamfundet and the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland became additional funding partners.
The project had three different forms:
- Producing works. For artists, the project offered not only premiere productions but also performances at two other festivals. This extended the works’ life cycles and increased the artists’ employment.
- Long-term collegial collaboration between festivals and strengthening the culture of sharing. This was done through regular thematic meetings between the project team and open discussions at the festivals.
- Improving communication and accessibility. The project enabled the festivals to put more resources into all these areas, and to commit to the work it required. As Jonas Welander of Hangö Teaterträff says, the three-year time span reduces stress and gives room for development, both for artists and within structures.
After the project funding was confirmed, Sanna Ritvanen was recruited as the project coordinator. Ritvanen brought the three festivals together in monthly meetings, educated themself on accessibility issues and shared what they had learned with the festivals, and acted as a production expert between the artistic teams and the festivals.
Surprising works in surprising places
The open call for the Kulkue project in early 2022 received 138 applications, of which seven were selected for implementation. The selection process was curated by Elisa Itkonen (ANTI Festival), Hanna Parry (Baltic Circle) and Tom Rejström and Jonas Welander (Hangö Teaterträff), the artistic directors of the project’s festivals at the time.
The artistic directors of the festivals told TINFO Theatre Info Finland (5.5.2022) that “the selection process emphasized finding artwork that would be novel and exceptional for both the artists themselves as well as audiences. The selected projects approach the performance environments in an unexpected and fresh way and take the residents of the festival cities and other spectators into consideration through means such as supporting the needs of local communities and creating new ways to participate in art. The works are site-specific, which means that their implementation and overall look may vary depending on the festival and location where they are presented. One of our main selection criteria was our assessment of the capacity of the proposed works to reach wide audiences that may not have prior experience of contemporary performing arts.”
The aim was to create productions that were impressive and substantial on a performing arts scale.
The Kulkue project opened at Hangö Teaterträff in 2022 with the three-day club programme Church of 4 Floors of Whores. Created by 4 Floors of Whores aka Emilia Jansson, Riku-Pekka Kellokoski, Herman Nyby, Astrid Stenberg and Lara Tacke, the second part of the work took the form of a workshop and a procession through Kuopio in the same year, and ended in 2023 with a ritualistic stage performance in Helsinki.
In addition to 4 Floors of Whores, Kulkue brought Plant Based Stories by Pia Sirén, Ilona Valkonen and Mirella Pendolin to Kuopio in the first year of the project, and the communal flower art continued at Baltic Circle at the end of the year, where the working group was joined by Ada Katz. During that first year, Tea Andreoletti’s Yellowcake, which explores community through cooking, and Henriikka Himma and working group’s I was living in a strange place, which uses empty office and retail spaces as a stage for its architectural theme, premiered in Helsinki.
In the second year of the project, Emma Fält and Sonja Jokiniemi’s Wear & Tear, a workshop on wear and preservation, premiered at ANTI, and a series of walking performances on urban spaces by Sebastian Lopéz-Lehto, Maarit Utriainen and Riikka Vuorenmaa – Kortteli 526 (Hanko), Plan 884 (Kuopio) and Väylä 45 (Helsinki) – were performed at all festivals.
The last year of the project marked the premiere of Mira Eskelinen, Frank Stankiewicz and Miranda Kastemaa’s Hibernation, an archive of trans dreams that was built at each festival in disused production or commercial spaces. By the end of 2024, versions of all seven Kulkue works had been seen in Hanko, Helsinki and Kuopio. The performances took place on city streets, squares, islands, in commercial spaces, retirement homes and clubs, among other places.
The general feedback from the artists involved in the project was that there is a need for long-term projects like Kulkue that bring audiences from different cities together around the works. Its uniqueness as a platform for artistic research and performance development was recognised.
The outcomes
“We were able to offer the selected artists a 2–3 year supported process and some kind of temporary structures and working communities. This long collaboration with the artists also supported the festivals’ goals of more sustainable operating models,” says ANTI Festival’s Elisa Itkonen of the project’s outcomes. “Another important thing was that the project also provided a structure for the festivals through which our employees could share knowledge and good practices and develop matters that were perceived as important by all.”
A concrete achievement and tool that goes beyond the project period is the safer spaces tool box, training material built with the needs and circumstances of performing arts festivals in mind. It has been used by ANTI Festival, Baltic Circle and Hangö Teaterträff to train staff and volunteers.
With the project funding, a Salmi Platform audience survey was carried out at each festival to map, among other things, the carbon dioxide emissions of festival visitors and collect additional feedback. In addition, the accessibility of the festivals was improved by revamping the ANTI and Hangö Teaterträff websites.
The “shared producer” model has also attracted interest in the field, even outside Finland. Having a shared producer gave each festival additional expertise, and the artists had more time with a producer than would otherwise have been possible.
All of the partner festivals have a strong background in site-specific work, but producing seven premieres was a learning experience. “Practically all of the works ended up premiering in all three cities, as the venues were atypical and specific to their cities. Instead of seven premieres, we had 21 works in the project. This raised questions about festivals producing works in the future; what kinds of works could and should be produced, and how, as funding dwindles or becomes increasingly project-based,” Hangö Teaterträff’s Jonas Welander highlights when reflecting on the follow-up questions the project generated. “It would make sense to continue Kulkue with these observations and background.”
The lessons learnt from Kulkue concern largely sharing, both in terms of knowledge and financial responsibility. Sharing requires openness and trust. Collaboration rather than competition is possible. I was about to write “Collaboration is possible instead of competition, even at a time when competition for resources is intensifying”. In reality, I should write: “Collaboration is an opportunity instead of competition, especially at a time when competition for resources is intensifying.” Kulkue is an example of how collaboration can be done in a way that benefits all project partners, artists and audiences. And the funders, the municipalities and cities, and the field as a whole.
Heidi Backström is a cultural producer, writer and curator who worked as Hangö Teaterträff’s executive producer in 2020 and 2021, and was part of planning the Kulkue project.