Page 16 - SKR-annual-report-2022-EN

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Agreement with statements concerning
art and culture (%)
■ Completely agree ■ Somewhat agree
■ Don’t know ■ Somewhat disagree
■ Completely disagree
“Funding should be directed at art valued
by professionals and other artists, even if its
audiences are small”
“Art should be funded by taxpayers’ money to
make it available to everyone”
“It is important that people in Finland have equal
opportunities to enjoy art regularly, regardless of
their place of residence”
“Art can in most cases be distinguished from
entertainment”
“Arts funding decisions should be made by
representatives of broader groups of citizens, as
well as by professionals”
“The services offered by cultural institutions are
important for me and my wellbeing”
“Artists should target their messages more at the
public than at their colleagues and critics”
“Critics’ opinions affect my appreciation of
artworks”
“Funding should be targeted at fewer artists to
offer them better working conditions”
“A service voucher funded by taxpayers (similar
to those offered in the social services and health
care sector) would be a good way of letting the
public influence arts funding”
“Besides public funding, art institutions should work
to obtain more funding directly from the public”
0 25 50 75 100
The survey was conducted by Kantar TNS Oy in
February/March 2022 and received some 4,600
responses from people in Finland aged over 15. Some of
the questions were also sent via artists’ organisations
to professionals in the arts, of whom more than 200
responded.
The most popular cultural genres proved to be
books, films and museums. More than four fifths of
respondents read or listened to at least one book per
year, with nearly one half doing so once a month or
more. Libraries were visited by 70% of respondents at
least once a year.
Cinema and museum visits were also popular
forms of culture. But significantly fewer respondents,
around 15%, visited an operatic, circus or folk music
performance each year.
There were few changes in the popularity of genres
compared to the 2013 survey. However, there was a
significant shift in the importance of the offerings of
cultural institutions: 55% of respondents now felt they
were important for themselves and their well-being,
up by 11 percentage points from the previous survey.
“The long pandemic lockdown period may have made
people more aware of the importance of culture,”
Arjava suggests.
Of the functions of art, the addition of entertainment
or comfort to everyday life (86%), the broadening of
general education (79%), and the provision of aesthetic
experiences (78%) were valued most highly by the