Screenwriter and director Suvi West is motivated by a sense of duty. “I usually get a strong feeling, a type of image or vision about a story or topic, that won’t leave me alone. It’s as though it nests inside me until I can let it out in the form of a story.”

The DigiDemo and CreaDemo grants awarded by AVEK to the creative industries will be cut by half in 2021. Distributed for almost 20 years, these grants are funded from a special appropriation granted by the Ministry of Education and Culture that comes from profits obtained from gaming operations. AVEK’s product development support has helped companies and products such as Supercell, Gigglebug Entertainment, Arilyn and Oikiat Design’s Vaatelaastari (FabPatch) get started. The drastic decrease in the amount of financial support is a new blow to the creative industries and threatens their reform and innovation.

“The beginning of new stories is in jeopardy,” writes Director of AVEK Ulla Simonen in her blog. The DigiDemo and CreaDemo grants distributed by AVEK will be cut by half in 2021, and the future of the appropriation is unknown.

Despite the coronavirus pandemic, grants have been awarded normally and the number of applications has increased by 17% compared with the previous year. The grant application process has been developed to be more interactive and equal.

The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK support guidelines have changed, and the new guidelines are valid from the beginning of 2021. Read this article for information about the most significant changes.

According to media artist Marikki Hakola, the interdisciplinary nature of media art has contributed to its rise from the margins to the mainstream. ‘Media art is currently attracting a lot of interest from the public. This can be seen in Kiasma’s audience figures, for example. Or when Amos Rex was opened with big media art works, people queued up in the sleet.’

As the pandemic has most affected filmmakers with fewer possibilities, we felt the need to show solidarity. Thus, AVEK, the Promotion Centre of Audiovisual Culture in Finland will direct 30 000€ to support documentary projects of the global south.

The top 10 list of the most watched Finnish documentaries has been revised this autumn. No less than two new films supported by AVEK have appeared on the list: Aalto, directed by Virpi Suutari, and Lost Boys, directed by Joonas Neuvonen and Sadri Cetinkaya. This is despite the fact that the coronavirus situation has reduced filmgoing.

We distribute the Mediarata grant to projects that promote the production culture of media art. The Ministry of Education and Culture has allocated 200,000 euros of separate funding for the grant.

The 2020 AVEK Award has been awarded to internationally renowned artist Jenna Sutela (b. 1983), whose art studies artificial intelligence and interaction between species. She works diversely on audiovisual works, sculptures and performances.