Finnish regional cultural welfare programme dedicates 1% of citizens' time to arts

Make a healthy start to 2018! A new regional cultural welfare programme in Finland suggests that every citizen should enjoy 100 minutes of cultural activities every week, throughout the year, dedicating one per cent of your time to arts.

Pirkanmaa region in the central Finland is the first one to adopt a regional cultural welfare programme. The plan suggests that every citizen should be able to enjoy 100 minutes of cultural activities every week, throughout the year.

Regional cultural welfare plan of Pirkanmaa underlines that art and culture are basic civic rights which should be within reach of everyone – accessible also to the ones who are not able to leave their homes to participate in art and cultural activities.

The programme reflects Finnish Government’s project to expand the so called one percent for art scheme. The “one percent rule” means originally that up to 1% of the construction costs in public buildings are invested in artworks. This new approach is intended to encourage acquisition of art-based and culture-based well-being services in the social welfare and healthcare sector.