Assessment of cultural grant applications

• Annual grants are intended for Espoo-based professional art and cultural communities, local heritage associations and cultural associations. The organisation must be registered. An association may be granted an annual grant no earlier than in the year following registration.
• An annual grant is general assistance for its recipient and should be used for activities which are in line with the purpose and operating plan presented by the recipient of the grant.
•  Assistance cannot be granted if the financial situation of the association is so poor that no general operational conditions exist. 
• All the assessment criteria are taken into consideration when assessing the activities or projects of professional art and cultural communities. The assessment is based on artistic and functional quality.
• Basic art educational institutions’ annual grants are assessed on the basis of pedagogical quality. 
• The key assessment criteria for local heritage and residents’ and art and culture associations are inclusion and participation, accessibility and availability, and cooperation and partnerships.

• Event and project grants are intended for the organisation of art or cultural events, city district events or projects in Espoo that increase the participation of residents. 
• The event and project grant may be used for operations in accordance with the application in the year it was granted and in the following year.
• The Culture Committee may award grants, for example, for the implementation of a cultural event even after the event has taken place if the project grant application was received before the event date.
• The key assessment criteria for event and project grants are inclusion and participation, accessibility and availability, diversity and equality, and cooperation and partnerships.

• basic education, vocational education and training or afternoon activities for comprehensive school pupils
• as a general rule, activities for which the City of Espoo and the Cultural Unit have their own service model 
• as a rule, rents on premises
•  party-political or religious events; activities promoting the visibility of parties or religions
• events discriminative against any group of people
• events organised by parents’ associations, or private events or annual celebrations of communities or associations
• an applicant’s two projects with the same content that will take place during the same application period
• as a rule, recordings or publications, such as books, albums, films, games, theses. 

• Development grants are intended for the development of new forms of activity that increase vibrant urban culture in Espoo.
• A development grant may be used for operations in accordance with the application in the year it was granted and in the following year.
• At the application stage, the applicant’s partners should be at least provisionally agreed.
• The assessment criteria for the development grant are in particular cooperation and partnerships, responsibility and sustainable development, as well as inclusion and participation.

Development grants are not awarded for

• basic community activities supported by the City of Espoo’s general grant, such as the annual grant of the Culture Committee
• activities purchased or already supported by the city, as these types of activities are not, in principle, granted overlapping support
• business activities, the potential proceeds of which will be used for the benefit of their owners 
• purchased services where the support is transferred from the applicant to the company or companies in its entirety. 

• Applications for grants for professional artists are assessed on the basis of the artistic quality of the submitted work plan and the professional merit of the applicant. The applicant’s domicile must be Espoo. 
• Artists grants are not awarded for art hobbies, teaching or studies
• The applicant must declare any other grants awarded to the applicant for the same period and/or the same purpose for which the applicant is applying for an artist grant from the City of Espoo.

• The purpose of the three-month artist grants is primarily to support Espoo-based professional artists who are in the early stages of their careers. However, the grant may also be awarded to an artist who has been working in the profession for a longer period of time in accordance with the assessment criteria. 
• As a rule, the three-month artist grant is not awarded to the same applicant more than once per council term. 

• In the case of applications for the one-year grant, consideration will be given to how the artistic work will be visible in Espoo or renew and supplement the local art field.
• The one-year artist grant is not awarded to the same applicant more than once.
• The grant recipient must give up full-time paid work for the duration of the grant period.
• The grant recipient must take out personal pension and accident insurance. The insurance must be applied for within three months of the start of the grant period. The application is to be submitted to the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela. Additional information from the MELA website(external link, opens in a new window).
• The grant includes cooperation with the city’s communications and, whenever possible, the promotion of artistic work and/or artwork in Espoo.