Taikusydän

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.

Launched in 2010, the national Art and Culture for Well-being action programme (2010–2014) from Finland sparked extensive development operations across administrative borders. The aim of the programme was to promote health and well-being through culture and to strengthen social inclusion at the individual, community and society level. Earmarking an allowance for the establishment of a coordination centre for the well-being impacts of art was considered an important proposal for further action in the final report of the programme. Thus, Taikusydän was created. The administrative-level programme was unique on a global scale and aimed to promote the impacts of art and culture that support well-being.
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.