At the General Assembly of the National Union of University Students in Finland in November 2025, representatives of TaiYo raised issues concerning art students in their speeches. Below is the speech by Oula, Vice Chair of TaiYo’s Board.
Hyvä liittokokous, Dear General Assembly, Vänliga Förbundsmöte.
Dear friends,
In the autumn, it became clear that the film industry would be deprived of almost eight million euros in business subsidies that support its vitality. Although many people had time to think so, this decision was not a sign of malice towards the cultural sector, but pure ignorance. It turned out that when the proposal was drafted, those sitting at the operating table did not know which sectors were covered by these so-called "business subsidies".
Median läpäisseen AV-kentän kohahduksen myötä hallitus yritti siirtää leikkaukset vuorostaan taiteen perusrahoitukseen, vain lopulta ilmoittaakseen, että puolivahingossa suunniteltu leikkauserä peruttaisiin suurilta osin. Onneksi taiteen ja kulttuurin rahoitukselle löytyy edelleen puolustajia – tästäkin hallituksesta.
In the spring, when we expressed our concern about the cuts to the core funding of universities, the ministers we met tried to remind, comfortingly, of the investments they had made to increase the number of new students and to increase the funding for research, development and innovation.
We had to remind them that it is not responsible and it is not possible to train more artists in terms of resources. You don't become a conductor in mass lectures, and you can't study to be a dancer by sitting in a library.
The change seems short-sighted in a situation where the student financial aid system has already been changed to be more loan-based and students have been removed from the general housing allowance. It is thoughtless to look an art student in the eye and instruct them to work alongside studies that require 100 per cent attendance and take out a loan to support them without a clear picture of their chances of finding employment in the future.
And as far as the new innovation funding is concerned, the criteria for RDI funding do not fit the nature of the research and activities carried out at Uniarts Helsinki, and therefore this support is not available to us through it. This is despite the fact that artistic research is of a high standard in terms of research and internationally recognised.
The ministers' expressions became more serious. And so did the expressions of art students who stand at the intersection of this government's incomprehensible decisions.
Dear decision-makers of the future,
Lack of understanding is not a mistake, but the use of power without responsibility.
I would like to remind us of our shared responsibility to take decisions based on information, consultation and familiarisation. Listen to your acquaintances who work in different fields. Ask the experts when you don't know something exactly. Familiarize yourself with the things you decide on.
Kiitos, Tack, Thank you.