News from Art School Maa 21.3.2025

Image credit: Pihla

In March 2025, Art School Maa begins a development project supported by the Kone Foundation, its aim being the launching of an art school of the future and redefining the operations of Maa. The development work will be done in relation to current pedagogical and societal issues and the current needs and changes in the art field. At the same time we are searching for a sustainable future model for the school. While we are very happy with the support provided by the Kone Foundation for the development project, we have had to react to the Arts Promotion Centre’s termination of our operating grant. The City of Helsinki continues as a long-term supporter of Maa.

Art School Maa has operated since 1986 in the in-betweens of the official education system and the art field. Maa's task has been to question and develop contemporary art education and to maintain public discussion about the art field, its structures and the meaning of artistic thinking. Maa's location in the field of education and its alternative structures have enabled the development of a unique perspective and pedagogical practices. These are distinct from any other institution of art education still in existence. For almost 40 years, Maa has succeeded in providing contemporary art education and work opportunities for both aspiring artists and practising professionals.

Art School Maa’s situation is changing. Like many other art organisations at the moment, we need to react to the cuts by restructuring our operations while caring for our current students and finding a way to sustain ourselves in the future. 

The operating grant from Taike has been the main source of funding for Art School Maa. The termination of the Arts Promotion Centre’s support will be visible in Maa’s operations in 2025. We will have to give up Maa-Tila’s much-loved project and gallery space in Pääskylänrinne, Helsinki, and temporarily focus all resources on our current students and the development of the future art school. It has been important for Maa to be a publicly funded alternative to bigger institutions. The education at Maa has always been realised in close relation to the realities of the art field and its freelancers. The maintenance of Maa-Tila has shaped and influenced the activities and goals of the association as well as pedagogical choices. In recent years, Maa-Tila has organised an annual exhibition programme that has included several first solo exhibitions and countless events from panel discussions to performances. We hope to see Maa-Tila’s work continue but for now Maa-Tila’s current space will host its last exhibition in June 2025.

Art School Maa and Maa-Tila have also aimed to create and support good operating practices in the art field. As a cultural organisation, educational institution and employer in the field of art, Art School Maa strives to promote and maintain diversity, equality and critical thinking. Maa-Tila has, in turn, aimed to  improve the working conditions and visibility of artists through its programme and by paying exhibition fees to its artists with the support of the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the National Heritage Agency. Maa-Tila has also served as an event venue for those without space or possibility to pay rent for a venue.

The cuts to the art and cultural field in 2025 and the planned cuts for the following years have caused concern and uncertainty within the entire cultural sector and art field. Maa, together with many other preparatory and alternative paths to the profession of an artist, ha s worked to ensure that those wanting to study art have more diverse learning environments, possibilities for vocational training and places of study in which learning is continuously redefined, despite the cuts to both art and education. As students' rights and support structures are narrowed down and institutions of art education are decreasing in number, this task becomes even more important and needs many voices to defend it.

Art School Maa wants to define professional skills through interdependencies, community practices and mutual aid rather than individualism. Collaboration between small art organisations maintains the diversity and accessibility of the art scene. Throughout our development project, we want to join arms, form and maintain a polyphonic community around art education. We want to keep employing artists. We want to challenge the logic of centralisation of management, streamlining of represented art forms and inequality policies introduced through the ongoing neoliberalisation of educational institutions.

Sustainable and accessible art education requires artist-led self-organised places of study that are autonomous and critical in terms of content. As art discourse is increasingly maintained by large institutions, alternatives are needed in order to ensure diversity in educational practices. The diversity of educational institutions is directly linked to the equity and accessibility of art education. We believe that this time needs multiple and diverse ways and places for making and learning art.

We are thinking of our fellow artists and organisations struggling with the effects of the cuts. We would like to thank all advocates in the cultural sector, in the arts and in arts education. We are determined that in these times solidarity will grow. 

Follow Maa’s development project and join our events to discuss and think together what all could the art school of the future be. All updates and statements can be found on Art School Maa and Maa-Tila’s websites and social media accounts:

• Instagram: @taidekoulumaa, @maatilaprojectspace
• Bluesky: @taidekoulumaa.bsky.social, @maa-tila.bsky.social
• sign up for our newsletter here or contact us with any ideas for collaboration, ideas and future projects
• share this statement and participate in the discussion

#nomorecuts #artsagainstcuts

#konefoundation #helsinkicity

Image credit: Pihla