Separate Grant Call: Special Grant for Regional Cultural Hobbies

The comparison and assessment of applications emphasises projects that identify obstacles to children and young people engaging in hobby activities and aim to respond to them by offering low-threshold artistic and cultural hobby activities. The intention is to have the projects justifiably target their activities to children and young people who do not engage in hobby activities as well as residential districts where there are fewer participants in hobby activities, in particular. 

Special attention must be paid to accessibility, the feeling of safety and those children and young people who do not have role models or support at home when it comes to hobby activities. In order to target the measures, the hopes of children and young people must be taken into account, the significance of gender and origin must be observed and the young people who would like to engage in guided hobby activities but are not given the opportunities must be identified.  

The following is considered an advantage:  
•    joint projects with several operators 
•    cooperation between associations and community operators 
•    development of new types of operating models and finding permanent practices 
•    development of participation among children and young people 
•    permanent instructor or other adult providing support to children / young people 
•    activity life cycle and continuity after the project period. 

The measures should pay particular attention to families with low socio-economic status, single-parent families and the role of families in the provision of hobby activities to children and young people. 
The regional hobby activities supported with the grant must be accessible, low-threshold activities that do not require prior experience, long-term commitment, high skill levels or the participant’s own equipment. The possibility of long-term participation is considered an advantage. 

The activities must be open to all and primarily free of charge. They must also first and foremost promote the hobby activities of children and young people aged 9–18. For justified reasons, activities may also be intended exclusively for a specific special group. 

In addition to the prerequisites specified above, the uniform Culture and Library Sub-committee assessment criteria for grants (below) will be applied to comparisons between grant applications. These comparisons stress functional viewpoints and implementation, in particular. Applicants do not need to meet all the criteria in order to receive financial support, but the amount and type of grant will be assessed in relation to the criteria.

Assessment criteria as of 1 June 2022

Artistic basis and content, in the case of which the assessment considers the following:

• The artistic goals and the strength of the idea, and how these are reflected in the planned activities
• How clearly the application expresses the activity’s artistic starting points (e.g. the uniqueness of the activity)
• How professional, ambitious and interesting the activity is, and how significant it is within its field
• How the activity will increase the versatility and diversity of the content on offer in the field of arts and culture in the city
• The activity’s potential to create something new and to allow artistic development to take place

Operational basis and implementation, in the case of which the assessment considers the following:

• How professional and credible the activity is
• The activity’s impact, partnerships and scope
• How feasible and realistic the activity described in the application is, and how uniform a whole the goals, the plan and its implementation form
• How diverse the resources are, and what financial risks are involved in the activity
• How necessary the grant is for the realisation of the activity
• The development of the activity and how the development will be achieved
• The organisation’s ability to evaluate its own activities
• How equality and equity will be taken into account when arranging the activity
• How ecological aspects will be taken into account when arranging the activity

Diversity, accessibility and participation, in the case of which the assessment considers the following:

• How the activity will add to the diversity reflected by the artistic and cultural operators and offering in Helsinki
• How the activity will be made socially, district-wise, culturally, language-wise, financially, age-group-wise, physically or otherwise more accessible to the audience and participants
• How the target groups have been defined and what measures will be used to reach different groups
• How the activity will expand the spectator and participant base in experiencing and creating art and culture, and how it will encourage people to engage in a more extensive dialogue about art
• How the activity will build community spirit in the city and improve the opportunities of residents to participate in and realise activities themselves
• How the activity will utilise and strengthen operating methods that are based on networks and communities

All cultural grants are subject to the general grant allocation guidelines of the City of Helsinki, as well as the grant allocation principles of the Culture and Leisure Division.

• General grant allocation guidelines of the City of Helsinki 28 October 2019 (pdf, in Finnish)(Link leads to external service)
• Shared grant allocation principles of the Culture and Leisure Division (pdf)(Link leads to external service)

The special grant for regional cultural hobbies can be applied for between 22 April 2025 and 21 May 2025 at 16.00. The grants are primarily awarded to three-year projects, and the annual grant sum is intended to remain the same for the entire grant period. The level of the grant depends on the annual appropriations allocated to this purpose by the City Board. Please note that the grant can cover a maximum of 80 per cent of the approved expenses during the three-year project period.

You must fill in a form in a separate application system to apply for the grant. You must register with the system in order to submit an application.

Start completing the grant application (Link leads to external service) (application opens on 22.4.)

Preview the application form (Link leads to external service)

On the form, you will be asked to enter information on the applying organisation and the content, objectives and implementation of the project. All questions on the form are about the project the grant application concerns, not about the applicant organisation’s operations in general.

Submit your application by 16.00 on the last day of the application period. You will have a further 24 hours after this to make changes to the application you submitted. No grants will be awarded based on applications submitted after the application period. We recommend that you submit your application before the last application day, because the service may be slow during the last day due to the high number of applications being submitted.

If the application is incomplete, you will be asked to complete the application. If an incomplete application has not been completed by the due date provided by the authorities, the application will be processed based on the information given and rejected if the grant criteria are not met.

Decisions on three-year grants are made once a year based on applications, i.e. the grant must be confirmed annually based on an application for a continued grant. The project activities for the previous year will be reported at that time. The report affects the granting of further funding. 

Attachments required for applications for special grants for regional cultural hobbies: 

• A project plan for the period applied for (a more detailed plan for the next project year and guidelines for the next few years)
• A bank statement or other bank notification with both the bank account holder’s name and account number visible. If the applicant submits a bank statement to the application, they should hide the transactions. The grant cannot be paid if this document is missing. 

The attachments must be submitted through the same electronic service with the application. Grant recipients will be asked separately to verify the right of the person submitting the application to act on behalf of the organisation. Separate instructions on this will be issued.  

The special grants for regional cultural hobbies are discussed in the Partnership Unit for culture promotion services of the City of Helsinki Culture and Leisure Division. Decisions on grants for the project period 2025–2026 will be made in the meeting of the Culture and Library Sub-committee of the Culture and Leisure Committee in August 2025.

A more detailed meeting schedule will be updated on the website in spring 2025. The applicants will be informed of the decisions after the sub-committee has made the decisions. Applicants will be informed of the decisions by post.   

The grants will be paid in one instalment after the decisions have been made in autumn 2025. The grants can be used until 31 July 2026. 

If the recipient of the grant owes money to the City, the City’s recoverable claim will be deducted from the awarded grant. 

The grants will be paid out to the bank account in the recipient's name. If the grant recipient does not have a bank account, they must open one. To verify bank details, a bank statement or other document verifying the name and account number of the account holder must be submitted as an attachment to the application. The grant will not be paid if this attachment is not submitted. 

Please contact Administrative Secretary Minna Leino for further information on payments, tel. +358 (0)9 3108 9044, minna.leino@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) .  

Conditions for the use of the grant

All cultural grants are subject to the general grant allocation guidelines of the City of Helsinki, as well as the grant allocation principles of the Culture and Leisure Division.

• General grant allocation guidelines of the City of Helsinki 28 October 2019 (pdf, in Finnish)(Link leads to external service)
• Shared grant allocation principles of the Culture and Leisure Division (pdf)(Link leads to external service)

The grant can only be used for the purpose stated in the grant decision. If the grant decision does not specify the purpose, the grant must be used for the purpose stated in the application. The city has the right to reclaim the grant in part or in full in accordance with the terms and conditions.

The recipient is not allowed to use the grant for fundraising or for business and investment expenditure, or to increase its financial assets or any other long-term investments.

The recipient of a grant must arrange its accounting and auditing in the manner required by law and so that the use of the grant can be monitored based on the accounts.

The recipient must provide the City of Helsinki with the information the city deems necessary for processing the grant application, awarding the grant and monitoring its use, free of charge. The party awarding the grant has the right to audit the accounts and administration of the applicant/recipient and perform other audits regarding its activities as necessary.

The grant recipient must notify the City of Helsinki of significant changes that affect the use of the grant without delay, by contacting the personnel handling the cultural grants. 

See the contact details for handling cultural grants.(Link leads to external service)

The recipient undertakes to investigate the background of all suppliers used in the activities and to purchase services only from responsible operators who meet their social obligations.

Reporting on the grant 

Reports must be drafted for all use of grants awarded by the City. Reports on grants for regional cultural hobbies must be submitted annually in connection with submitting applications for continued grants, and other interim reporting may also be requested from the recipients. A separate final report must be drafted at the end of the three-year project period. 

Collecting information on the impact of the grants is important for the City of Helsinki, which is why, in addition to reporting on its own activities, the recipient must regularly collect feedback from the participants. Feedback will be collected using a separate feedback form, the use of which will be instructed in more detail separately. 

The recipient of the grant is accountable for the project. Projects must monitor their revenue and expenditure on a separate cost-centre report. The cost-centre report will be submitted in the final year of the project in connection with final reporting.

Using the Helsinki logo

Whenever possible, grant recipients must include the City of Helsinki logo in their information and marketing materials. There is a Finnish and Swedish version, as well as a bilingual version of the logo. In any case, the recipient must mention the City of Helsinki as a sponsor of the event.

Download the logo of the City of Helsinki.(Link leads to external service)

To support project planning, we have compiled background material that includes statistics on children and young people, among other things. 

  Go to background materials (Link leads to external service) (in Finnish).

If you are planning a project in keeping with the Helsinki model or want to know more, you can contact Special Planning Officer Jenni Peisa, tel. +358 (0)9 310 20455, jenni.peisa@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) or Katri Tenhola, tel. +358 (0)9 310 27249, katri.tenhola@hel.fi(Link opens default mail program) .