Project title
Description of initiative
Taikusydän is the Arts & Health Coordination Centre in Finland. Taikusydän is a multisectoral coordination centre and national network for arts, culture and well-being in Finland. They work towards connecting the people working across this growing and diverse field. The objective of Taikusydän is to make arts and culture a permanent part of well-being services and health and well-being promotion in Finland. Taikusydän operates nationally through 14 regional networks in the area of 16 counties. Taikusydän is administrated by Turku University of Applied Sciences. The coordination centre is projectbased and it has been active since 2015.
The main activities of Taikusydän:
1) They communicate and deliver information on research, projects, funding, policy development, events, publications, and education, and publish a monthly newsletter with 1200 subscribers (in Finnish). They are also active on social media. They have 15 000 website visitors every year.
2) In their website they compile a databank gathering information about publications, practices, research (including international research), projects, concepts, education, and operational models in Finland.
3) Taikusydän acts as a development partner in various projects and working and steering groups, organizes seminars and workshops, gives lectures and webinars about arts & health. In 2021 they took part in 50 events and reached nearly 4000 participants.
4) Taikusydän coordinates a national network of researchers, fosters interdisciplinary discussions, and disseminates information about the arts & health research. This has been extremely important.
5) Taikusydän operates nationally through 14 regional networks in 16 counties.
6) Taikusydän influences decision-making and creates greater understanding of how to support wellbeing, inclusion, health and learning through the arts.
The activities are also the results of the project, that has already been going and funded for seven years. They have created a functional model for national networking, dissemination of knowledge and collaboration in the arts & health field in Finland.
Themes: Culture and...
Keywords
Target group
Cultural field
Timeframe
Sources of funding
Results, benefits, impact and lessons learnt
During the years Taikusydän has increased the knowledge of the well-being impacts of arts in Finland by publishing information cards, research reviews and articles in Finnish & English. They have been active in coordinating the Nordic cooperation and disseminated the WHO report results actively in Finland. They have been involved in founding the Nordic Journal of Arts, Culture and Health, established in 2019 (https://www.idunn.no/journal/njach).
They have also made several proposals for the politicians and decision-makers how to support well-being with the arts. They have made proposals for the last Finnish Government Programme, municipal elections 2021 and regional elections 2022.
In 2020 an important action was the establishment of a national Culture & Wellbeing Pool with the key mental health organizations and cultural organizations in Finland.
The need for national arts & health coordination centre is evident. When Taikusydän started to operate, there were only three regional networks for arts & health in Finland. The number of networks has raised to 14 during the years. Taikusydän has together with other active actors in the arts & health field in Finland developed the structures, such as regional strategic wellbeing plans, that strengthen the use of arts and culture for health and wellbeing. Taikusydän is also permanent expert in the collaborative cross-ministerial working group for arts, health and well-being between the ministry of culture and education and the ministry of social affairs and health. In 2021, Taikusydän received from the Finnish Heart Association the Health Promoter of the Year Award. Taikusydän is also active in the reform of healthcare, social welfare and rescue services and promoting and developing the role of culture in collaboration with the wellbeing service counties, municipalities and NGO’s in Finland.