Finland - Jyvaskyla Region - Final Self-Evaluation Report.pdf

The School of Cultural Studies at the Jyväskylä Polytechnic and the Faculty of Humanities at the Universityof Jyväskylä offer a strong cultural knowledge reserve, based on a high-standard of education and R&D.There is a growing demand for experts in the fields of the arts and culture in both traditional professions(museums etc.) and, for instance, in media business, diverse culture projects, in IT companies and others,which require expertise in content as well as a critical view of the relationship between culture andtechnology. Both the staff and students of HEIs also provide an important potential resource for the diversecultural events organized in the region, including, for example, the annual one night arts festival”Yläkaupungin Yö” (Box 6.5).Box 6.5 Gathering the creative people together in one nightYläkaupungin Yö is an annual one night arts festival. Libraries, museums, galleries, bars and theatres inthe Yläkaupunki area of the City of Jyväskylä keep their doors open for festival goers and the festivalsite is abound with music, dance, theatre, exhibitions, performances, workshops, games etc. All theevents and exhibitions are free of charge.The creator of the festival was an active member of the University of Jyväskylä Student Union’sSubcommittee for Cultural Affairs (JYY). The first festival was organized in 1992. The original aim togather different cultural organization, artists and people interested in culture together is still the mainmotivating factor of the event today. The festival’s annual programme consists of more than 200different performances and activities, with approximately 700-800 artists performing. The main stage ofthe festival is the Seminaarinmäki Campus of the University of Jyväskylä.Financial support for the festival is provided by the City of Jyväskylä, the Arts Council of CentralFinland and other sponsors and participating firms. The University of Jyväskylä is also an importantsupporter, offering stages for the festival free of charge. The volunteers form a necessary group oforganizers (500 annually) and a proportion of them are members of the University of Jyväskylä StudentUnion. The JYY also participates in the event’s communication and marketing. The differentdepartments and units of the university organize some programme activities such as, lectures, workshopsand exhibitions. Thus, the University of Jyväskylä contributes considerably to the organization of theregional festival.The School of Cultural Studies educates professionals for the fields of music, clothing and communication,and carries out different cultural development projects in the Jyväskylä region and Central Finland. One ofthe school’s basic missions is to build a creative well-being society. They see that the importance of culturein the regional development is increasing, something that encourages them to systematically develop thecreative sector in Central Finland together with the Regional Council (Box 6.6). The aim of developing thecreative sector is to support the existing actors and their creative know-how and, at the same time, to createpossibilities for new actors and modes of operating by promoting entrepreneurship and generating of newjobs.90