Since the spring of this year, individual applicants, production companies, key organisations in the AV field and our sister organisations in the music sector have all joined us in the fight against the cutback to be made to the compensation for private copying. The compensation is AVEK’s most significant source of funding.
We did good and impactful work. We have been heard and we have gained spokespersons within the Parliament, but the result does not match our wishes. The Parliament’s Christmas cheer did not extend to increasing the compensation for private copying.
The year 2024 is nearing its end, and it seems that it will be recorded in AVEK’s history as the last year before the great change.
Since AVEK’s future level of financing has been uncertain, we were forced to close AVEK’s application system at the end of October, as regards continuous applications. This course of action has proven to be the right one, as we have been able to make decisions on this year’s distributable funds, and the last compensations will be provided to applicants this week. The decisions on Kehittämö and Mediarata, which operate under separate funding, will be made next year.
A record number of applications for work grants were received this year. Over the course of this year, we have processed 678 work grant applications, whereas the corresponding number last year was 535. At the end of October, 225 work grant applications were pending a decision from our commissioners. This makes up 30% of the applications for the entire year. The commissioners have overcome the work load of the past weeks, and the applicants will receive the decisions within a reasonable time. Unfortunately, most of the decisions are negative and many will be left without a grant, because there simply are not enough funds to go around.
I would like to remind every applicant that a dismissal is not a statement regarding your skill and potential as a creator or the quality of your work.
At the end of October, there were 100 pending applications for scriptwriting support alone. I got involved to lighten the work load by prereading the script applications. It is clear that, with these application numbers, good applications will unfortunately be left without support. The approval percentage of scriptwriting support dropped to about five.
I would like to remind every applicant that a dismissal is not a statement regarding your skill and potential as a creator or the quality of your work. Amongst all of our other decision criteria, the urgency of each specific application was emphasised, along with our aim to support multiple creators during the year. Once we resume support distribution next year, we will start with personal grants.
Due to the large number of applications, we will not be able to provide feedback before the turn of the year. Correspondingly, any agreements will be drawn up in January. You can request feedback regarding your application as a message through the application system.
On Friday 13 December, our entire application system was closed until further notice. We are now waiting for information on how the Ministry of Education and Culture will divide the compensation among the various operators and what the share of the distributable funds in 2025 will be. This wait may take a while.
We will not be sitting idle during this time.
Minister of Science and Culture Sari Multala appointed a rapporteur to assess the possible methods of arranging the compensation in the manner required by the directive and at a sufficient level. We have informed the rapporteur of our stance, that of Kopiosto and AVEK, on how the compensation should be arranged in the future.
The budget-based route has now come to an end. Despite the fact that it was clearly expressed during the preparation of the current legislation that the compensation cannot be used to balance the budget, this is exactly what was done. Furthermore, the budget ensures that even those who do not engage in any copying will have to pay for it. Copying from one artefact to another has all but vanished. Instead, the methods and forms of copying have expanded and changed since the previous legislation was set. The harm that copying causes to the creative industries is now greater than ever.
Even though our ability to support your work will be slightly diminished for the next few years, I firmly believe that the system reform will enable us to conduct our work in a better and more stable way for the coming decades.
Our view is that the compensation should be collected on the sale of devices used for recording, as is the case in other EU countries. The tariff should also better account for the detriment caused by copying. In addition to personal compensations, the legislation should entail a percentage to determine the indirect compensations, such as those provided through AVEK, the Foundation for Music Promotion (MES) and the Centre for the Promotion of Visual Art (VISEK), that are circulated back into the field to support new works and accumulate new compensations.
The wonderful statements about the significance of AVEK’s work that have been provided by all of you in the field are a great help in defending the compensation and conveying its impacts to decision-makers. I am very grateful for your words and have been moved by them many times over the course of the year. The support you have shown us has been very important to us.
The Finnish Documentary Guild granted us a documentary film production award for our efforts. I would like to dedicate this award to all of you who have worked with us. AVEK makes your work necessary. AVEK itself does not have intrinsic value, your creative work does. Even though our ability to support your work will be slightly diminished for the next few years, I firmly believe that the system reform will enable us to conduct our work in a better and more stable way for the coming decades.
I wish you all a merry Christmas and a better new year.
– Ulla Simonen, Director of AVEK