The Arts Council of Finland and state art councils will change their grant application procedure as of autumn 2008. The number of grants will be reduced but the sum to be allocated will remain the same. Instead of grant types set aside beforehand for different purposes, the councils will decide on the allocation of their grants for different purposes of use.

As of autumn 2008, artists and their working groups will apply for target grants and corporations for operational or special subsidies. The application time for annual grants for artists will remain unchanged (March).

Application times, too, will be harmonised. Target grants for artists and working groups for 2009 must be applied for by the end of September and operational and special subsidies for corporations for 2009 by the end of October.

Regardless of the new practice, the Arts Council of Finland will issue travel grants and artists-in-residence grants in the same way as before. The reform does not apply to annual grants for artists, support for drama literature or quality support for film productions. Grants and subsidies for writers and translators, public lending right grants for music, public lending right grants for illustrators and comic artists, and public display grants for visual artists are not included in the structural reform either. Their application times and forms will remain unchanged.

New council-specific application instructions and forms will be published on the Arts Council of Finland website in August.

http://www.taiteenkeskustoimikunta.fi/default.asp?WCI=wciFrames&strlanguage_id=en