Families with children in Helsinki have been able to enjoy the Culture Kids service, which offers a wide range of free art, culture and creative physical activity events across the city, since 2020. To date, more than 17,500 children in Helsinki have been registered as Culture Kids, and Culture Kids events are organised by around thirty arts and culture organisations.
It has now been decided to make Culture Kids a permanent part of the services coordinated by the City. This means that children born in Helsinki in 2020 and after will continue to be invited to at least two arts and cultural events each year. The service will be made even more equal and accessible, and barriers to participation will be removed.
“From the start of 2027 onwards, families will be able to choose their favourite arts and culture path from three different options. In addition to this, some of the events will allow you to bring a sibling, and there will also be introductory events that do not require registration. Child-centredness, high-quality cultural content and an artistic pedagogical perspective will remain the cornerstones of the service,” says Culture Director Mari Männistö from the City of Helsinki Culture and Leisure Division.
The ongoing Culture Kids project, which will run until the end of 2026, has been funded mainly by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation. Since 2020, it has offered artistic and cultural experiences to more than 80,000 Culture Kids. During the project period, important lessons and insights have been gathered from a wide range of participating families, sponsors and stakeholder experts.
“Culture belongs to everyone, including the younger members of families. It is a really great goal to provide every child in Helsinki and their loved ones long-term access to a wide range of cultural experiences. It is thanks to the support provided by the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation that we have been able to develop the Culture Kids service,” says Chair of the Culture and Library Sub-committee Jaana Alaja.
Future Culture Kids service providers being sought with an open call for applications
The application process for the special grant for the implementation of the Culture Kids model will begin in spring 2026, and applications will be evaluated in two phases. The first phase of the evaluation will select the most suitable operators to organise events. In the second phase evaluation in autumn 2026, the most suitable operators will refine their applications.
The open call for applications for the Culture Kids special grant will be launched at the start of April. The City of Helsinki will organise two information sessions on Teams about the call with the same content for all interested parties: the first on Wednesday 1 April at 16.00 and the second on Friday 10 April at 10.00. The evaluation criteria for applications include diversity, accessibility and inclusion in the planning and implementation of the content, the child-centredness of the activity, understanding of the children's culture operating environment and experience in event production. The City is hoping to also receive applications from operators specialising in creative movement and physical expression.
In addition to the grant provided by the City, participating operators will also be required to allocate resources from their own budgets to carry out the proposed events. More information on the call for applications will be provided during March on the grants website (link below).
In addition to the operators to be selected in the autumn, the City's own cultural and recreational services will continue as Culture Kids partners.
